Manchester is one of the up-and-coming cities of the UK. The Greater Manchester area has been growing steadily since 2007 and is one of the areas of the UK that has recovered most quickly from the credit crunch recession. It is the second largest functional financial region outside of London and shows a growth rate of almost twice that of the majority of UK urban areas. The expansion has been fuelled by large scale investment in services industries, particularly the financial sector. Some of the major businesses with offices and large employee bases in the Manchester region are Vodafone, the BBC, Thomas Cook, the Guardian, Kellogs, ITV and the heinous internet ogre Google.

Between them, they provide a wealth of job opportunities, however, the appeal of Manchester to job seekers is that there are also plenty of other industries. The main industry is the financial sector; banking and insurance but other opportunities are available in retail and telesales in particular. Manchester is a centre of excellence for the service sector including logistics. The latter is natural since Manchester is at the hub of the UK’s transport network with motorways and rail links radiating out in all 4 cardinal directions. There are some highly specialised niche industries that have centred on the area for example, biotechnology and environmental technology; perhaps due to the presence of the Manchester Institute of Technology (MiT) which produces many scientific and technically qualified experts.

On a human scale rather than economical scale, the city and its environs are cosmopolitan and there is a thriving cultural scene. The latter has attracted creatives to the city – check any search engine and you will find pages of advertising agencies and other creative companies based here. These include digital and print advertising, packaging design, marketing, media… the list goes on and on! So not is it a great area for technical job searches, it is also great for those on the other side of the coin looking for creative jobs. Whilst looking through available jobs, I found an unusually high (well it seemed high to me) number of jobs for linguists too – the travel industry required Polish speakers; a car rental company needed someone who spoke excellent Norwegian and there were openings fr French speakers in retail!

Salaries in Greater Manchester are very varied. For telesales and basic retail jobs, they are as low as 12,000, but you don’t have to look far for well paid managerial and technical jobs that offer 40 – 50K plus. So in other words, there is pretty much something for everyone, depending on their skills and experience.

How to find a job in Manchester

Online is a good place to start. It will save you a lot of time and several bus fares! There are thousands of advertised jobs on the usual websites like gumtree, Monster and fish4. But a really good site for job seekers is Reeds, a national recruitment agency as you can see how many others have applied for the jobs in which you are interested. For creative jobs, check out ‘The Drum’ and remember to check out the Guardian jobs pages too.

But before you even start, you should re-vamp your CV. This is best left to professionals who, after exploring the type of employment you are looking for, can provide you with an edge over the others. They will advise you on the best type of CV (yes, there are several effective ways to present a CV) and use your skills and experience to paint you in a very positive light. You, after all, are an amateur in the field, unless of course you are in HR!