Hi Julie,

There's a lot to think about here, but essentially I think you are hugely disadvantaged by your location (and not being UK based). That said, I appreciate that won't help you whilst faced with your current predicament . . .

I'm interested to hear why you feel LinkedIn may not be working for you - do you have a full profile? What messages are you delivering to potential Hirers and is your candidate proposition clear? Are you fully utilising LinkedIn (would it be worth upgrading to premium while you transition?). Think about your personal brand and how you represent yourself online. Is your CV pinned on your Profile? Have you got the right keywords littered across your profile (so recruiters can find you?) Is your Careers Tab open? Are you engaging (in the right places/with the right people) to draw attention to your profile and are you reaching out/getting noticed by potential Hirers? What is your target market and are you targeting companies/individuals? What's your job search strategy?

Don't forget there are other ways to set hares running, without relying on LinkedIn, but whilst overseas, LinkedIn is probably a great place to start. Don't forget to fully utilise your network on LinkedIn - and ask the very same question, maybe in a post? (Add hashtags to your post too for maximum effect.).

Also, make sure you are taking to recruiters who specialise in your sector and you are on their radar. Pesonneltoday.com is a good place to start. Whilst they may not necessarily have any suitable career opportunities for you, they can be a great source of advice and guidance.

So much to think about, but hopefully, that might help improve your endeavours on LinkedIn, for starters.

Best of luck with your job search endeavours.
Ginnie

Dear Julie,

There is a very good saying in life which I have said before and will say again. 'If you want a job in New York, you already need to be in New York.' Physically living there with your feet on the ground

Exactly the same scenario here applies to the UK. Unless for highly specialised or executive level roles where the relevant employer concerned is willing to select you on the basis of an telephone and Skype interview, pay your fare to fly you over or interview you at an office where you currently based, if you are applying at a distance and outside of the country, the employer automatically assumes, rightly or wrongly that:

(1) You don't have the automatic legal right to live and work in the UK and hence they will need to go down the visa sponsorship route which is highly time consuming, complex, costly and uncertain for them if a local then also applies;

(2) They can't meet, see and interview you in person at short notice. If a company in Manchester who had an HR role and who were interested in you called up and wanted to see you next week, would you have the time and resources to fly over at short notice?

(3) They think that they may have to reimburse part of your travel and hotel expenses for you to come over to attend an interview;

(4) The time zone difference or being five hours behind does not accommodate them so easily, unless again it's for a highly specialised and executive level role;

(5) LinkedIn is a good social and professional networking tool, but don't rely on it solely alone to get a job out of it. When you apply online there with the click of the profile button, thousands of other people worldwide have also done the same. They are mainly for experienced hire roles that seek a direct or near identical profile match, most are not read, and for those which are, it's not often a person but a computer quickly glancing over your profile looking for key buzz words. The same roles are also advertised on a multitude of over websites, job boards and may even have been filled, yet not taken down, or already earmarked to be filled either internally or via an agency, but they just advertise it out as a legal formality or see if they can catch some exceptional external talent.

Those are therefore the reasons why, as I myself have also tried to get HR roles around the world including Dubai, Sydney and they all come back saying the same thing. They only bother interviewing people already inside the country as they want the in person and not the online meeting, with the time zones to Australia ever greater.

If you do however need to secure a role in the UK in advance before moving back, what you could however do is to try to come over on a holiday to visit for a month and have already set up some job interviews in advance, so they can see and meet you on the ground here, and you might have a job offer in the bag up the time you have returned to Barbados.

Finally, most people who get jobs overseas or at a distance are already working for an organisation in the UK that directly transfers them over to another branch office of the same organisation in another country, or headhunted in advance by a global executive search boutique.        

I hope this is of help.

Best wishes

Andre.