If you are interested in opportunities and are just keeping an eye on firms websites you are not getting the full picture of the market.
How many times do you look on linkedin and see that X has moved to X and you did not know that firm were recruiting.
That is because good firms will proactively recruit and grow their teams around a good candidate if the department is busy and there is a good business case to do so.
It is worthwhile taking steps to keep in the know of good opportunities and options.
This is one of the benefits of using a recruiter from the candidate perspective.
I regularly speak to candidates who are intrigued to find out what the market is like in their local area in their specialist area of practice.
You might not be actively applying for jobs and might not even necessarily be unhappy where you are but perhaps you might just be keen on 1 or 2 specific firms and interested to hear if they plan on growing the team.
Alternatively, you might be just interested to find out the full picture of who is recruiting locally so you can consider your options.
A good recruiter will be able to do 1 of 2 things in this instance.
They will either know this already from contacts they have with that firm and conversations they are regularly having with partners, heads of teams or HR managers.
Alternatively, they can proactively find out for you on an anonymous basis if there are any plans to recruit in your area.
That does not mean mentioning you, where you work, where you have previously worked or any other identifying factors.
It means approaching firms and enquiring as to whether there may be any plans to recruit into the department and giving an anonymised general profile/overview as to whether your PQE level and experience would fit the bill.
The firm may come back and say yes and you can decide whether it is the right time to explore things. Alternatively, they may come back and say no, but it at least gives you an overview of who is recruiting locally and what they could offer.
It is not possible, or is at least very difficult, to do this directly as they will know you or see your email and work out who you are and most people feel uncomfortable about doing that.
This is what recruiters version of "Mapping out the market"
It is completely free and no obligations to pursue anything - Granted there are a few pushy recruiters out there who might force you into particular direction so always worth being upfront about your situation, but work with a decent recruiter who you trust and they will be happy to do this type of thing for you.
From our perspective as recruiters it is good to make sure we have a good hold on future plans so we keep up to date with our market - So it is beneficial for us to do even if you decide not to progress with anything.
So many great opportunities and dream jobs are secured by people taking that proactive approach so it is worth doing