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!