Blue Arrow is a good place to head to if you find yourself a little strapped for cash and with time…read moreon your hands. It's an employment agency, specialising in the catering industry. They will pretty much hire anyone, on a casual staff basis. If you've worked in catering before, you might even end up being offered a job as a supervisor. This has it's advantages and disadvantages, you end up with a job as a supervisor...in charge of people who have never even seen a bar before, let along worked on one. But as it's a casual basis, you can turn down shifts if you're busy so that's really good. The best place you'll end up being sent is Old Trafford on a match day, getting paid to watch the game! Fun times!

A great recruitment agency. I've been working as a temp for them for the last 3 years and they have…read moregot me some brilliant jobs. Their rates of pay are very satisfactory for temporary jobs and I haven't found myself without a job for more than a few days. The people who work there are all really friendly and easy to deal with and the office is quite a nice and welcoming place to visit.

Hays Recruitment at Manchester have helped me find a good job twice. Both times I found them very…read moreprofessional and they have people that actually listen to what you are looking for. They had some of the top firms in their portfolio and once you have given them your CV you know you are in good hands and can trust them to get you interviews in the firms you want. Their salary negotiation skills are notable and they can give you honest and good advice on the current market situation. I will go back to them should I need a new job!

If you have the misfortune to have to drag your lazy good for nothing ass to a jobcentre to sign…read moreon, make sure its Longsight. As far as jobcentres go, this is a pretty good one. The staff are friendly rather than judgemental, plus they really do make a genuine effort to help you find work. I only signed on for a month or so but I never hated going to the job centre as much as friends of mine did, and i think the Longsight branch had something to do with this. Its a fairly large centre with plenty of sofas to sit on while you wait and a cluster of job-search machines in the centre of the room which readily spit out job opportunities on little receipts. The staff are kind and helpful and the two security guards seem more friendly than burly, but perhaps I never caught them on a bad day. If you live in the vicinity and are thinking about signing on, request Longsight job centre and you'll be back on your feet before you know it.

My last two job placements have been with Alexander Hancock. I didn't expect much when I stepped…read moreinto their small office in Altrincham and did a couple of tests on an old keyboard. Upon meeting Liz, she was really enthusiastic and didn't mind me turning down roles that I felt I was not suited to. I thought that this was her sales pitch but no, every time I speak to her she is full of enthusiasm, she believes in me and talks to me as if she's my aunty, not just someone on her books. Being a small recruitment office, they care about you and constantly ring you up with opportunities. I would definitely recommend this firm to my friends, family and anyone I hear who is looking for work.

I was a jobseeker who was treated with no regard for my personal circumstances…read more I notified AH I was going on holiday for a week. Despite me notifying AH of this, I was bombarded with calls and emails about my prospective job hunt. A job interview was arranged without consulting me first (I even asked for it to be arranged after my return with minimum of 48 hours notice so I had sufficient time to prepare for the interview). I was late coming home due to my flight being cancelled and due to uncertainty of my return, I asked to cancel/postpone the interview but my request was rejected. That kind of behaviour is contemptuous and no decent agency/employer would treat their staff like this. I still have the emails to support what I have said in this review which cannot be disputed and I am happy to share with anyone who is interested. I remember having a reply back saying they were "shocked and upset" by what I had said. They were only shocked and upset because someone called them out on their unprofessionalism. Do yourself a favour and don't work with agencies. There are plenty of job opportunities in Manchester and it's relatively easy to get one without the "help" of an agency. I managed to find a new job without an agency within weeks.

I would go as far as to say that the University of Manchester careers Service is one of the best…read morethings about the University. If you want direction in your career they will provide it for you. Not only do they allow you access to hundreds of great jobs, graduate programs and internships, they'll actually meet you if you book a one to one session and sort your life out for you. Personally I'm doing a masters, but so many of my friends are now in careers, almost all of which they got onto through this wonderful service. If you're like me though, and don't need a career just yet, they still provide services for you. They have hundreds of great part time jobs advertised through the careers service, so that businesses can get students or graduates of Manchester University to fill their posts. In fact, its how I got my job for Yelp (which is amazing)!! Its also a great place to advertise jobs if you run a business because you can guarantee that all the applicants will be graduates of a top class university. A wonderful service that works to benefit all parties, I too am thankful that I have access to this joyous opportunity!

All universities should have a careers service, but a quality careers service is a little harder to…read moremeet. I don't know, judging from my time at University of Leeds, they're both pretty good. I've made use of the literature, the newspapers, the information booklets, the CV help service, the psychometric tests books, all a lot of good information. However they run a mock interview session if you get a job interview but never seem to have any sessions free. They insist that you have an interview secured before you can make an appointment but most of the time interviews are short notice and I'm always always missing out. However the advisors are pretty good on giving general advice and for giving you a confidence boost and you can really tell that they want you to genuinely get the job. There's many talks and information sessions to attend and you get the regular emails to inform you of the new things going on as a current student. There are actually forums and blogs that you can keep up to date with if you're a fan of the online. Overall having the careers service there gives me the confidence that I'll get somewhere as a University of Manchester graduate. Thank god.