The government have replaced Universal Jobmatch with the ‘Find a job’ service.
It works much in the same way as the old Universal Jobmatch service. It is still a free service provided by the government which allows you to search for thousands of jobs in the UK.
It matches your skills and experience to different jobs that are available.
You should use it if you’re receiving some benefits. This is because the jobcentre staff can see your activity on the website. This is important in proving that you’re fulfilling your job search requirements.
The new service will make it easier to look and apply for jobs. Once you create an account, you can save your preferences to make job searches easier in the future.
The government are now working with job search website Adzuna to provide the service. If you’ve read our ‘How to search for jobs online’ article, you’ll have heard of them. They’re one of the biggest job search engines out there for jobs. If you haven’t read the article, you can find it here:
https://www.jobcentrenearme.com/how-to-search-for-jobs-online/
The old Universal Jobmatch service worked in partnership with Monster. Monster is another UK-wide job search engine.
The information in this article is different for Northern Ireland. If you’re from Northern Ireland, see our section below ‘Searching for jobs in Northern Ireland’. The concept is the same but you will need to use a different service called JobCentre Online NI.
Old Universal Jobmatch accounts
The old system switched over to ‘Find a Job’ in May 2018.
If you had an old Universal Jobmatch account, you could still use it up until June 2018. But by now, it should’ve stopped working.
It will not switch over automatically. You are responsible for creating a new account on the new ‘Find a Job’ website.
The government should’ve been in touch with you via email. This was to tell you to download or save any information you need from your account. If you didn’t do this, the information is now lost.
Basic information about you went across to the new service. But you will find that you have to upload all your documents and preferences again.
Why use the Find a job website?
When you sign up for certain benefits from the government, you have to prove you’re looking for jobs. Most benefits, like Universal Credit, ask that you search for jobs for 35 hours a week.
Sometimes this number can vary, depending on your personal situation. For example, if you have young children, you may not need to look for work at all.
The benefit of the Find a job service is that the jobcentre can track the jobs you are searching and applying for. This will make proving you’ve met the 35-hour rule much easier. This is something you do with your work coach to keep receiving the benefit.
How to create an account
Creating an account on the Find a job website is easy. You can do it through the following link:
It will ask you for your email address. You will also have to choose a password of 8 characters or more, using at least one number and one capital letter. It is a good idea to make this password different than your other accounts to keep your information safe.
Once you register, you will have to verify your email address. You can do this by opening your account and clicking the link in the email they send you. If you can’t spot it, check your spam or junk folders.
Your account should now show you options to:
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- Look at CVs you’ve uploaded. From here you can delete some, upload a new one or make edits to the current one.
- Search for jobs.
- Look at your activity (jobcentre plus can also see this). This tracks past history of your job searches and applications.
- Manage your account. This means things like changing your password or deleting your account.
- Look at your favourite jobs. This is a way you can save jobs you like or want to come back to.
- Manage your email alerts. These are notifications you get into your inbox when a new job that matches your profile appears.
How to find jobs
Searching for jobs on the ‘Find a job’ service is easy. All you have to do is click the ‘search for jobs’ section on your account and over 150,000 jobs will appear.
99% of these jobs won’t be relevant to you. What you can do is refine your search so only things that suit what you’re looking for come up.
Here are the different ways you can refine your search:
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- By industry.
- By salary range.
- By the date it appeared.
- What part of the UK it is in.
- Search by keyword.
- You can also do an advanced search. This will help you find jobs if you know exactly what you’re looking for.
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How to apply for jobs
Open a job that you think looks suitable, you should be ready to apply.
It is a good idea to double check first that you’re happy with details like the location, salary and contract type. This will stop you wasting time by applying for something you’re not interested in.
It will then either:
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- Take you to the website of the employer where you can apply directly.
- Or let you apply through that website. It will ask for your name, email address and a cover letter which is a short message. You also will have to attach your CV. Not sure how to write a CV? See our article:https://www.jobcentrenearme.com/how-to-write-a-cv/
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What you’ll need depends on what job it is, but there are some general things that most job applications ask for. See our article ‘How to apply for jobs online’ for more advice:
https://www.jobcentrenearme.com/how-to-apply-for-jobs-online/
How to upload your CV
Uploading your CV to the website is straightforward. All you need to do is go to ‘Your account’ on the Find a job website.
As we talked about above, you’ll find lots of options here. One of the options is ‘Your CVs’. This is where you can manage your current CVs or upload new ones.
Once you click on this option, you’ll find it asks you to choose the file to upload from your computer.
Once you have done that, click ‘Upload’ and your new CV will be ready on your account.
If you are an employer
This service is not just for people looking for jobs. You can also use this service to list vacancies you have in your company.
When you register on the website, you can choose to sign up as an employee or an employer. Once you’ve created an account, you’ll be able to list vacancies you have.
Searching for jobs in Northern Ireland
The Find a job service is only available for people living in England, Scotland and Wales. If you are a resident of Northern Ireland, then you should use the JobCentre Online NI service.
This works exactly the same way as the Find a job service. It allows the jobcentre to see how much time you’ve spent looking and apply for jobs.
You can register easily on the website the same way that you can with the Find a job service. Once you’ve registered and activated your account, you’ll be able to look for jobs. You’ll also be able to maintain your account the same way we’ve described above.
You will find the website using this link:
https://www.jobcentreonline.com/JCOLFront/Home.aspx
Other ways to look for jobs
Of course there are other websites that list job vacancies. The Find a job service is easy if you’re on benefits because the jobcentre can also see your activity.
If you want to broaden your search, there are also other websites you can use to find vacancies. Keep in mind that the jobcentre will not be able to see your activity here. So you should keep track of everything. Write down how long you spent looking for jobs and what time you spent applying.
If you’re looking for other websites, see our article ‘How to search for jobs online’. This has everything you need to know about searching for jobs on the internet:
https://www.jobcentrenearme.com/how-to-search-for-jobs-online/