I, personally, have just finished a contract in Australia with the intention of moving to the UK and getting work there. I've sent in a few CVs to UK recruitment firms but had no response; but I almost expected this.

When I moved to Sydney a year ago it was pretty much the same thing; prior to moving to Sydney I had one agency get back to me, and actually organised an interview on a one-week trip to Sydney prior to moving. This landed me a contract role (however I didn't last long in that job).

Later, in Sydney, finding myself unemployed, I looked for work and must have submitted over a hundred online applications for jobs. Of which maybe 2-5% resulted in responses (and in the end almost all the responses were for roles that were actually inappropriate - but at least I got a couple of interviews).

It wasn't until my original recruitment agent discovered another of his employees working at a different firm knew of an opening at that other firm. That is, word of mouth. Had the interview, got the job on the spot.

Funnily enough I had a series of strong arguments with another recruitment firm that was taking a cut of my pay, because I had applied for the same position through them online several times with no response. They were getting a cut because they were one of a select few agencies authorised to recruit for the firm I was working for. (I cannot identify this agency although they begin with C and resemble something that burns.. their senior managers can be very unprofessional, and outright dishonest).

So I guess in summary I would have to say this: finding work is hard, especially on-line. Being available for interviews, picking up the phone and getting in recruitment agents' faces is vital. Finally, be aware that a lot of agents are lazy and only interested in legally binding you into large commissions. There are some good agents out there, however. They are diamonds in the rough!


In reply to Re: Distant Job Search Challenges by monarch
in thread Distant Job Search Challenges by freddo411

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