Recruitment websites - help

[poppymango]

I’ve been applying for jobs on Indeed, but never ever get a response. Where possible I’ve emailed the company directly, but had no luck with this either.

Are there better ways of finding jobs? Other recruitment websites I should be aware of? I currently work in a reception/admin role and ideally I would like something where I can work from home, as my boyfriend lives abroad and this would mean I could spend more time with him. I’d also save time and money on travel.

I know I don’t exactly have a stellar CV but I’ve literally had no responses and it’s really getting me down. I used to work in hospitality and it was much easier to find that kind of work - this is my first proper office job and I feel like I don’t really get how it all works, like I’m missing something.

Please help!

Bump 🙂

In 2023 my friend applied for 143 positions and the response rate was 17%.

She didn’t get an interview from any of them and she has an excellent CV in Talent Acquisition.

I don’t know what’s going on OP but it’s not just you.

OMG 😳

Well I guess I should be glad that I'm not (necessarily) the problem... but yikes, that's a bit scary!!

I'd say the majority of companies will be using a recruiter, so it's highly likely those roles aren't even being advertised. Register with as many agencies as you can and build a relationship with them. That means picking up the phone when they call you! Post your CV on all the jobs websites too so you're searchable. Get your LinkedIn up to date and set your profile to open for work.

Also, just because your job is remote doesn't mean you can go and do it from any country. You can't. There's tax laws to consider & many companies will have rules around accessing their data from outside the UK.

Good luck!

I would try and get with a temp agency if possible? Often with the number of applications employers receive, they automatically reject ones that haven’t recently been in a very similar role.
what kind of work are you looking for? I find some job applications better than others, ie one I did recently got me to answer questions as if I was actually doing the role, and that helped as it looked at ability not just experience

Are you redoing your cv for every role? Making sure you match all the skills required?

It may be a hard sell though, to ask for an office job but working from home if you've never had an office job. You may need to get some experience in the office first before a fully remote role.

Sorry if I was unclear - I do currently work in an office, but all my jobs prior to this one have been in hospitality and retail. Current role is reception based, but most of what I actually do day to day could easily be done remotely (emails, admin, room bookings, phone enquiries, etc.)

I have a friend who rents out his flat, and the person he deals with at the estate agent is based in South Africa - I just thought maybe I could do something like that and have a bit more flexibility with my life.

Sigh. Adult life is hard.

Wanting fully WFH is very limiting.

Ah cool, ignore me then. Sorry I misunderstood

Make sure that you tailor your CV to every role that you apply for. A decent covering letter (relevant to that particular role) is always a good idea. Also, please make sure that if the advert asks for evidence for a particular skill or qualification, that you have highlighted that in your CV.

Definitely register with agencies specialising in your field of work and keep in touch with them, they will call active candidates way before advertising. Indeed is a bit of a nightmare for recruiters as you get so many completely unqualified candidates through and the uploading of jobs takes so long (I've stopped using them), take look at some of the other major job boards such as CV Library, Total Jobs and Reed and get your CV registered on there too.

You can always ask the agencies that you've registered with to advise you on how to improve your CV, most will help out with that.

The WFH (and the WF abroad aspect) is more problematic. Most of my clients now insist on 3 days office based, 2 days WFH.

I think fully remote jobs seem pretty rare these days, especially entry level unfortunately.