How do I increase my reputation and/or get a better job?

Started off unemployed with Sunday league footballer reputation. Took over Havant & Waterlooville (in Blue Square South) whilst they were fighting relegation in 2010/11. Managed to steer them to a respectable 8th placed finish. Following season we won the league and were promoted to BSP. 2012/13 came 2nd but missed out on promotion in playoffs. 2013/14 came 2nd and got promoted in playoffs. 2014/15 turned professional but still got relegated. 2015/16 came 5th in BSP and missed out on promotion through playoffs.

When I took over, they were struggling in the BSS, semi-professional and worth 250k. They are now one of the best teams in BSP every year, professional and worth 700k. I thought I hadn't done too badly.

I assumed my reputation would be bigger than 'unknown' after this and that maybe a few League 2 clubs or even maybe League 1 clubs would be interested in hiring me. Instead, I'm still unknown and am occasionally linked with low BSP clubs that are really struggling in the league or BSS/BSN clubs. How can I get a better reputation and find a larger club to move to?

How long and how well have people done with lower clubs (BSS, BSN, BSP) before having the chance to move on to larger clubs (League 2+)?

That sounds almost identical to the start of my career. Here's how mine has gone so far:

Season     Team                 Country    League                   League Finish    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Havant & W           England    Blue Square Bet South    8th              Took over in October
2011/12    Havant & W           England    Blue Square Bet South    3rd              Lost in playoffs, FA Trophy finalists
2012/13    Havant & W           England    Blue Square Bet South    1st              Promoted as champions
2013/14    Havant & W           England    Blue Square Bet Premier  1st              Promoted as champions, FA Trophy winners
2014/15    Havant & W           England    npower League 2          4th              Lost in playoff final
2015/16    Oxford Utd           England    npower League 2          8th              Took over in December
2016/17    Oxford Utd           England    npower League 2          11th              
2017/18    Oxford Utd           England    npower League 2          2nd              Promoted
2018/19    Oxford Utd           England    npower League 1          7th
2019/20    SE Sabadell          Spain      Liga Adelante            17th             
2020/21    SE Sabadell          Spain      Liga Adelante            11th  
2021/22    SE Sabadell          Spain      Liga Adelante            3rd              Promoted via playoffs

I've found myself quite fond of the good ol' H&W but don't seem to be making any progress towards a better club atm :S

Is it just that clubs aren't offering you jobs, or just reject you when you apply?

Based on FM10 - I have found that reputation increases most by cup runs.

Normally I ignore the cups in favour of overachieving in the league, but I discovered this when one season we had a real injury crisis and a terrible start in the league. As the playoffs were therefore highly unlikely I played the first team in the cup games and put a real effort into my tactics for these matches. A couple of wins against better opposition made a huge difference. I put this down to the fact that you are exposed to more and bigger media outlets in press conferences etc.

Another thing could be that the clubs your applying for could be unable to pay out compensation to your current club.

Perhaps save your game and then try resigning and applying for jobs to see if it makes a difference.

petey: I apply for a lot of jobs (nearly all League 2 clubs) and always get rejected. And almost always in favour of a recently retired player.

Colorado: I only ever re-sign for a year at any given time (always in the hope of a better offer) and am only on 500 a week or something. I will try resigning and seeing what happens though, will tell you how it goes.

I think it just takes time as it seems to really need to be in the bigger leagues to convince other teams to pay the compensation to release you from your contract. I've literally just received my first job offer while under contract as I left Sabadell to join Valencia.

is there anyway i can cheat to increase my rep i hate the fact that this job bug is gonna make me have to cheat to get a job offer im on holiday mode 2 seasons in i have only had 2 job offers from staines its really depressing i dont wanna have to wait till march for the next patch.