Never-ending job hunt

I finally received my UK spouse visa back in May and moved back to the UK in June.
I'm in London and have been looking for work since about July.
It's been difficult to say the least.
I'm looking to find a position within PR, although my background is in media/communications/journalism. All of these are basically transferrable.
Anyway, I've used so many sites to look for work. I paid for a professional CV on Monster.com, which has brought me quite a few interviews. I've used Total Jobs, Indeed, Guardian jobs, recruitment agencies, you name it, I've tried it.
I've probably had about 4 or 5 interviews, but just no luck.
I've also tried looking into temp work, but haven't been able to secure anything that way either.
It's really disheartening considering I've got relevant work experience as well as a masters degree.
Is there anyone who can help me out? Perhaps provide any advice or insight that would be beneficial?

I thought the visa was the hard part, looks like I was wrong.

Sorry to hear about your troubles with job hunting.

A couple of things to consider:

- does your CV make it clear that you have the right to work in the UK?

- have you requested feedback from your interviews? If not, it's worth asking for it, so you can see what you did well and what you could improve on

- it's not a fast process to get a job in the UK - in the grand scheme of things, you haven't been job-hunting for very long at all yet... I would allow maybe 6 months to a year of job-hunting

- a lack of UK work experience may be one reason why you're struggling to get a job. It might be worth doing some unpaid volunteering while you're applying for job, if only to get some UK work experience that you can put on your CV

- it might also be that there are simply a lot of people going for the jobs you're applying for and there's tough competition for them

I feel your pain, it must be really hard to keep looking for so long. 

My impression is that it's probably not you or anything you are doing.  The fields you are trying to get work in are incredibly difficult.  The entire newspaper industry has imploded over the last 10 years and all those people are trying to work in PR.  But I don't have to tell you that. 

It's not you.

I feel you. It can be so hard to get a job here. Pretty much any UK work experience will look good on a CV. I also second volunteering to gain experience. You've secured a few interviews, so you're doing something right. Give it more time. I've had a really difficult time with finding a job (although, for a while I wasn't as proactive in the job search as I could have been). Conversely, I know another American who landed a job in her field after just a few months of arriving- with no prior experience here.

A few months after arriving, I volunteered and also worked in retail- just to gain some UK experience and to tide me over while I looked for a job related to my background. There is no equivalent job here to what I did in the states (worked for a government program related to both social work and education. I have a Bachelor's and also did some postgrad study), so the job search was tricky. You're fortunate that you have transferable skills! I was finally offered a job with a local college, but disappointingly the position was eliminated before I even started.

After that, I signed up with a few agencies. One day when I wasn't even expecting it, I got a call from a recruiter. She very quickly helped secure a temp job for me, and there is the possibility of it turning into a perm contract. It's doing administrative work, so not related to my background. But, I'm learning new skills and working with a really renowned organization, so that's great.

Have hope and be patient, it will come!

I finally received my UK spouse visa back in May and moved back to the UK in June.
I'm in London and have been looking for work since about July.
It's been difficult to say the least.
I'm looking to find a position within PR, although my background is in media/communications/journalism. All of these are basically transferrable.
Anyway, I've used so many sites to look for work. I paid for a professional CV on Monster.com, which has brought me quite a few interviews. I've used Total Jobs, Indeed, Guardian jobs, recruitment agencies, you name it, I've tried it.
I've probably had about 4 or 5 interviews, but just no luck.
I've also tried looking into temp work, but haven't been able to secure anything that way either.
It's really disheartening considering I've got relevant work experience as well as a masters degree.
Is there anyone who can help me out? Perhaps provide any advice or insight that would be beneficial?

I thought the visa was the hard part, looks like I was wrong.

Do you have a specialism, or are you looking for more 'PR generalist' type roles? It might be that you seem 'too experienced' because of the master's. Or it could be that the market is rubbish at the moment for your particular set of interests.

I'm also in London, in comms -- specifically medcomms, and having the specialism has really helped. Also just started looking for some new contracts as I'm losing my biggest one due to a restructuring, so the flaming mess that is Recruitment Agents in London is all to fresh. Happy to let you pick my brain. Not sure anything I have to say would be of much use, though. 

Sorry to hear about your troubles with job hunting.

A couple of things to consider:

- does your CV make it clear that you have the right to work in the UK?

- have you requested feedback from your interviews? If not, it's worth asking for it, so you can see what you did well and what you could improve on

- it's not a fast process to get a job in the UK - in the grand scheme of things, you haven't been job-hunting for very long at all yet... I would allow maybe 6 months to a year of job-hunting

- a lack of UK work experience may be one reason why you're struggling to get a job. It might be worth doing some unpaid volunteering while you're applying for job, if only to get some UK work experience that you can put on your CV

- it might also be that there are simply a lot of people going for the jobs you're applying for and there's tough competition for them

I think the competition is quite difficult for sure.
I've gotten feedback, which has all been nice, but I have been either over-qualified or under-qualified. It's been hard finding the right niche.
Otherwise, I supposed I can add the eligibility  to my CV and see if that helps. I've been working part-time to find at a pub in the meantime, just to keep the days open for interviews, so it's just been difficult to find volunteer work otherwise...

I feel you. It can be so hard to get a job here. Pretty much any UK work experience will look good on a CV. I also second volunteering to gain experience. You've secured a few interviews, so you're doing something right. Give it more time. I've had a really difficult time with finding a job (although, for a while I wasn't as proactive in the job search as I could have been). Conversely, I know another American who landed a job in her field after just a few months of arriving- with no prior experience here.

A few months after arriving, I volunteered and also worked in retail- just to gain some UK experience and to tide me over while I looked for a job related to my background. There is no equivalent job here to what I did in the states (worked for a government program related to both social work and education. I have a Bachelor's and also did some postgrad study), so the job search was tricky. You're fortunate that you have transferable skills! I was finally offered a job with a local college, but disappointingly the position was eliminated before I even started.

After that, I signed up with a few agencies. One day when I wasn't even expecting it, I got a call from a recruiter. She very quickly helped secure a temp job for me, and there is the possibility of it turning into a perm contract. It's doing administrative work, so not related to my background. But, I'm learning new skills and working with a really renowned organization, so that's great.

Have hope and be patient, it will come!

I'm glad that's worked out for you!
Yeah, having patience is the hardest part.
It can be so disheartening to put so much out there and not hear anything back.
I guess for now I'll look into volunteer work.

Do you have a specialism, or are you looking for more 'PR generalist' type roles? It might be that you seem 'too experienced' because of the master's. Or it could be that the market is rubbish at the moment for your particular set of interests.

I'm also in London, in comms -- specifically medcomms, and having the specialism has really helped. Also just started looking for some new contracts as I'm losing my biggest one due to a restructuring, so the flaming mess that is Recruitment Agents in London is all to fresh. Happy to let you pick my brain. Not sure anything I have to say would be of much use, though.

I don't have a specialism really. I guess my idea was keeping it broad, in hopes of securing something. My speciality is actually media communications, I've done some work alongside some broadcasting corporations, but upon coming back to the UK, I wanted to switch to something that would hopefully grant a bit more success, as working in the media is pretty difficult.
Looks like it's all pretty difficult though.
I'd love to pick your brain though, at this point anything helps!

I am in a professional field similar to yours. As part of my move to Scotland I received outplacement help from an HR professional. She is helping me rewrite my CV, LinkedIn page, and is advising me on the differences in culture between the US and UK. It is so helpful. Do you have access to anything like that?

Dude as someone who is doing media/journalism, it's super hard to get a job in this field. I've been trolling sites for ages, and it's mostly about persistence. I'm still working on it since August so yeah...

I've asked around for similar advice, and I get familiar themes: keep looking for experience (I've done a couple unpaid work experiences for local papers), make sure to keep your skills sharp (maybe start a blog/youtube/etc) and keep trying.

I do agree that looking for an HR professional or recruiter would be a good way to go. It can really help with just finding out how to tune up your CV/cover letter.

I've read a lot on here that you will wait a long time for a job so unfortunately, we're in it for the long haul.

Other things that I've found helpful have been Facebook groups (there are loads of journos and PR people), Mediargh sometimes has communications/PR jobs, Gorkana, etc.

Honestly, I wish you the best of luck as I am still looking myself so I understand the struggle.

I am in a professional field similar to yours. As part of my move to Scotland I received outplacement help from an HR professional. She is helping me rewrite my CV, LinkedIn page, and is advising me on the differences in culture between the US and UK. It is so helpful. Do you have access to anything like that?

Is that the equivalent of a recruiter?
I've had Monster do my CV, which helped quite a lot honestly.
I actually got phone calls after it was done.

No, she is not a recruiter. More like a career counselor who helping me adapt my resume and other marketing materials, coach me on differences in business culture, and rehearse interviews British style to keep me from making more stupid mistakes than absolutely necessary! She charges by the hour.