Presentation by Catherine Reynolds, Careers Adviser, at University of Sussex, June 2012

1. Local Job Hunting

2. Session will cover……
• Why stay in Brighton / Sussex? Do you know what are you looking
for?
• How many graduates stay in the local area?
• What is happening in the local labour market?
• Commuting within Sussex
• Where to look for jobs
• Careers and Employability Centre Support

3. Why stay in Brighton?

4. Local facts
• In 2010, around 40% of Sussex graduates were still here 6 months after
graduation, combined with a similar proportion from Brighton University
• 42% of the local adult population hold a degree which is a lot higher than the
national average (2008)
• Younger workforce in comparison to other cities resulting in greater competition
• Average earnings are slightly lower than the national average at £18,500
(£20,000 nationwide)
• Average house prices are 12 times the average earnings for Brighton & Hove.
Living in Brighton is often expensive!

5. LMI – Labour Market Intelligence
2010 Sussex Grads were in:
- Health & Social Work (17 %),
- Education (20 %),
- Professional/ Science/ technical (11 %)
- Wholesale & retail (11%).
- Media & Communication (8%)

6. The Local Labour Market
BRIGHTON AREA
• Niche creative & digital media sector in Brighton
• Lots of Small/ medium sized enterprises
• Public sector is a large employer- education, health, local
government
• Service sector & tourism- large percentage of Sussex’s working
population
• Voluntary and community sector
• Strong call centre presence- American Express large employer

7. The Local Labour Market
SUSSEX/ SURREY – Commutable distances
By extending your job search to an hour commute by train, you
open up greater opportunities for work!
Croydon (50 mins)- Home Office
Gatwick/ Crawley (30 mins)- KPMG, PWC, DMH Stallard
Chichester (60 mins) – Wiley Publishing, Chichester Uni
Worthing (20 mins)- Environment Agency
Lewes (15 mins) – East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police
Shoreham- by- Sea (10 mins) – Ricardo (engineering firm)
Eastbourne (40 mins)- Teva (pharmaceutical company)

8. East Sussex/ West Sussex
- Both administrative counties fairly affluent with similar labour markets
- An average of 84% employed in Service Sector which is higher than
national average
- One third of people working in county employed in Public Sector
- Large numbers of SME’s (less than 250 employees)
- Also large numbers of international companies despite SME’s being
most common including Siemens (Crawley), TUI(Crawley), Body Shop
(Littlehampton), DMH Stallard (Gatwick & Brighton)

9. Key Brighton Employers
Public Sector
NHS - http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/
Universities - www.sussex.ac.uk/jobs
www.brighton.ac.uk/workinghere
Education – Check Individual School and College Websites – EFL
And www.jobs.ac.uk
Local Government
www.jobsgopublic.com/
www.lgjobs.com
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/jobs
Police www.sussex.police.uk

10. Key Brighton Employers
Finance
http://www.indeed.co.uk/American-Express-jobs-in-Brighton
(also agencies in Brighton)
Digital Media & IT
Wired Sussex – www.wiredsussex.com
Sussex innovation centre on campus – www.sinc.co.uk
(business incubation environment for 120 companies within IT, biotech, media &
engineering)
Charity/ Not for Profit
Institute For Employment Studies- http://www.employment-studies.co.uk
HIV/AIDS Alliance- http://www.aidsalliance.org
General
www.reed.co.uk
www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk
www.brightonlocaljobs.co.uk & www.sussexlocaljobs.co.uk

11. Sussex/ Surrey Employers
Finance
KPMG, Gatwick- http://rd.kpmg.co.uk/
PWC, Gatwick - http://www.pwc.co.uk/
Deloitte, Crawley- http://www.deloitte.com
Grant Thornton, Crawley- http://www.grant-thornton.co.uk
Publishing
Wiley Publishing, Chichester- http://eu.wiley.com
Charity
Sightsavers International- http://www.sightsavers.org/default.html
Tourism & Heritage
National Trust (manages properties in Sussex) www.ntjobs.org.uk
English Heritage www.english-heritage.org.uk

12. Sussex/ Surrey Employers
Civil service
- Wide range of opportunities in Sussex such as customs (immigration at ports
& airports) & prison service:
General- www.careers.civil-service.gov.uk
Prison Service- www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/careersandjobs
Environment Agency, Worthing- http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Home Office, Croydon- http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
Travel & Transport
Ferries (Newhaven- Dieppe) – www.clydemarine.com
Ports- www.newhavenferryport.co.uk/jobs
Air (Gatwick)- www.baa.com
Trains- Southern www.southern.candidata.co.uk
Buses – Brighton & Hove www.buses.co.uk/information/jobs

13. Searching for work
www.sussex.ac.uk/careers
•Careers and Employability Centre vacancies web pages
•Careers and Employability Centre database of local employers-
apply speculatively!
•We also have a list of local recruitment agencies
• For part time/ vacation work, check out signs in shop windows
also
• The Argus on Thursdays, Friday Ads, Metro, Latest Homes

14. How to find jobs
• Advertised vacancies
• Speculative approaches- paid/ unpaid work
• Networking & ‘Word of Mouth’ vacancies
• Creative Job searching

15. Where to look for contacts
• Family, friends, personal contacts
• Social networking sites
• Colleagues, tutors, supervisors (part- time work, University)
• Web pages - www.sussex.ac.uk/careers
• Prospects – www.prospects.ac.uk
• Graduate Recruiters- come to Gradfair
• Professional bodies
• Local business directories/ councils/ newspapers
• People you meet at conferences/ seminars/ visiting organisations
• Voluntary work- www.ussu.info/getinvolved/volunteering/projectv
• Searching the web- www.yell.com

16. Making Applications
•Letter or email – www.sussex.ac.uk/careers - examples- state
what you are looking for
• Phone call – it’s good to speak to someone! Employers may not
respond to a letter or email if they are busy so follow it up
• Arrange a visit/ meeting
• Online/ social networking

17. Support
•Careers and Employability Centre’s information centre
• Short interviews with a careers adviser
• Review your CV/ application form/ letters
• Events – (virtual) grad fair/ law fair/ employer presentations
• Web based information and resources – look in research section
of our website for further information about making contacts
www.sussex.ac.uk/careers