CJS Survey results, feedback and developments

Find vacancies close to home.
In our 2013 survey we found that many readers were not aware that CJS online jobs are divided into regions to make it easier to find vacancies close to home or in your preferred area. You can click on the region mentioned in the details below the job description, each will take directly to the list for that area.  Or to make it even easier we've detailed the regions and the counties included in each on its own unique page.
Vacancies in the Republic of Ireland are included with Northern Ireland all other international vacancies appear on every region page.

You also asked for the Scottish region to be subdivided, we agree it's a huge geographical area and are watching the frequency of vacancies in various regions with a view to splitting it, reasonably evenly, into two or even three new areas.

Volunteers.
Yes, there are hundreds of adverts and the list posted online is heavy going.  You asked us to make it easier. We've subdivided the volunteer vacancies into 'proper' placements, that is anything that requires a minimum of three days per week for three or more months, these are now in Part One and have the VOL ref. Occasional or regular volunteers where you help out for a few hours a week or a couple of days a month are now in Part Two and have the ref VOLR.
The online list is further divided, the full placements are under headings according to the type of work you'll be doing whereas the regular volunteers are now in geographic regions (same ones as the online jobs).
We're planning to use the same regions to divide up the work days and conservation tasks list which up until now has been in chronological order but we feel it would be easier to see what's happening near you instead of next week at the other end of the country.  Don't worry the calendar will still be posted in CJS Weekly in the last edition of each month and the regular events twice yearly.

More jobs!
Is always the cry, sometimes there just are not any more available but this time around you've made specific requests for more outdoor activities and field studies type work, more horticulture and gardening (this one surprised us a little); more work with animals including wildlife rescue type work; and less promotion and marketing type jobs.  We're looking into sources for these and will be contacting employers with a view to adding them to our listings, probably initially in CJS Weekly as a free advert is rarely turned down!
We're looking at ways to increase the Digest section of CJS Weekly and there will more detail on this in due course.

Advice provision.
Quite a few people, especially those who use the online service, asked for more advice and guidance on how to get a job or how to transfer from another field.  We think it's pretty well covered in our Helpful Hints but we are looking at producing a one off publication on countryside careers, this will be quite an undertaking so it's not going to appear overnight!  Also under consideration is some form of interactive group or forum.  In the mean time we will review and update the Hints and promote it a little more to online readers.

Training.
We were really pleased to see how many of you use the Training Directory and calendars in the newsletters. You asked for search functions for the online listings (with over 1000 short courses it can be daunting!), with luck and a following wind these will be live sometime soon.