We are thrilled to announce that 2018 marks 20 years since jobs.ac.uk was launched in 1998. This is a proud moment for our team, and we can’t wait to start the year of celebrations. We begin 2018 by reflecting on our achievements over the last two decades with some fun trivia that may surprise you about us.
- jobs.ac.uk is older than Google
Yup, that’s right – jobs.ac.uk started life in 1998, the same year that Google was established although we are older by eight months. The old-style jobs.ac.uk was a simple search tool for jobs in higher education, as per the typical search engines during that time. Check out this photo from our vaults of what the website (link to previous article with picture) looked like in 1998. Luckily, we’ve come a long way since then!
- jobs.ac.uk is based at the University of Warwick
The jobs.ac.uk brand is owned and developed by the University of Warwick and has been since its inception. jobs.ac.uk is part of the Warwick Employment Group umbrella of brands, which also includes Unitemps, SearchHigher, and the sister site to jobs.ac.uk, college.jobs.ac.uk – a dedicated jobs board for the FE sector.
- Our views have increased 310 281% in the last 20 years
In the week that jobs.ac.uk was launched in January 1998, the site had a modest 382 page views, although that had soon risen to more than 27,000 by June that same year. Compare that to the 83,803,004 page views we had in 2017 and it is clear that our site is hugely popular and brings together a network of job and PhD seekers.
- We are more than just a jobs board
Here at jobs.ac.uk, we are dedicated to guiding you through your job search and, ultimately, landing you your dream role. This goes way beyond simply hosting the jobs on our site. Over the years, we have developed a hub of careers advice articles on everything from conquering interview nerves through to building a leadership profile in academia.
- We love to hear your stories
Our careers blog lets you have a voice and share your stories with the jobs.ac.uk community. Redesigned in 2017, our careers blog features insights from the people working in higher education right now, from student support workers to lecturers. In 2015, we launched the PhD vlogs series for all our PhD seekers to see first-hand from those who are experiencing PhD life themselves.
- We host regular webinars on relevant topics
jobs.ac.uk work with industry experts to bring you live video Q&A sessions that you participate in to get advice tailored to the specifics of your situation. Topics have included finding alternative career pathways outside of academia once you finish your PhD, a guide to academic careers in China, and how to be a successful digital academic to name a few, and there are more in the pipeline for 2018 – watch this space!
- We work with employers to improve the recruitment process
2017 marked the year we launched our first ever HE Recruitment event. Featuring thought-leaders on digital HR and the higher education sector specifically, it was a fantastic opportunity for our clients to come together and find out more about our advertising process, and reflect the feedback we have received from our jobseekers, for example, in our jobseeker survey and what we hear through our content contributors over at the Career blog.
- Created by the academic community for the academic community
jobs.ac.uk was developed with the support of 37 UAG (Universities Advertising Group) institutions. UAG was established in 1997 to facilitate the procurement of cost-effective recruitment advertising for the benefit of higher education. The original group of universities use the jobs.ac.uk service to this day, along with additional members, University of Liverpool, Greenwich, University College London, and the University for the Creative Arts.
- We send job alerts right to your inbox
The jobs by email feature lets you filter through our job categories so we can send you up-to-date and relevant vacancies that you would be interested in applying for. You can create an account and manage your settings, which mean that you can change your category preferences at any time. You can also decide whether you wish to receive alerts daily or weekly.
- We have a dedicated section of international profiles to help global academics to find their dream roles!
As well as hosting the latest jobs in that area, each section has country or region specific advice on local laws and customs, cost of living and business etiquette to help prepare jobseekers transition into a new life in a foreign country! Check it out here.
jobs.ac.uk celebrates 20 years of connecting job seekers to vacancies this year. You can get involved and take our quiz, or visit the 20 years micro-site for more features on our 20 years in HE.
Happy birthday and many happy returns. Great resource for graduates all over the place.