Don’t just rely on one method to find a job – by using all of the suggestions below, you will maximise your chances.

Job sites
Vacancies covering a wide spectrum of environmental jobs appear in publications such as CIWEM’s monthly magazine WEM, Wednesday’s Guardian, the New Scientist, Nature, the Environment Post and the Countryside Jobs Service newsletter.

Online, useful websites include:

www.ciwem.org/jobs/
www.environmentjobs.co.uk
www.environmentjob.co.uk
www.jobs.ac.uk/sector/environment/
www.ends.co.uk/
www.utilityjobsearch.com
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/jobs
http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/environment
www.environmental-expert.com
www.technojobs.co.uk

Speculative Applications
You might like to consider speculative letters to organisations which interest you. Research and target them carefully - you will need to find out the name of the person who recruits for posts that would interest you and then write a short letter outlining your interest and the kind of work you are after, along with your CV. Be prepared to do anything, however menial, and be persistent. Ask them to keep you CV on file in case anything suitable becomes available.

Recruitment Agencies
There are a number of specific recruitment agencies for the environment sector. The advantages are that they may know of jobs not otherwise advertised and they will have specialist knowledge of their sectors. Remember, they are not careers advisers so you will need to be specific in your job requirements or you may end up wasting everyone’s time. You will also need to keep in touch with them regularly to remind them that you are still in the job market.

Acre Resources
Anders Elite
Hays Recruitment
Sentinel
Eco UK
Allen York
Evergreen Resources
WasteRecruit Ltd

Networking
Networking can lead to the discovery of a vacancy.

This could be done through friends, family and teachers, telling them what kind of job you are looking for and asking for advice on how to find out more. Follow up any contacts they give you, stressing that you want information and advice rather than expecting a job. They may give you further contacts and so on, before you get to talk to someone who does know of a vacancy. This can be a long process but you will gain a lot of relevant information in the meantime.

Alternatively, joining a professional body like CIWEM as a student or graduate member leads to social and professional networking opportunities, such as conferences, seminars, technical site visits and events.