What is better in a career game?

Starting unemployed with sunday league rep. Is it better to apply for bigger jobs as I go along or wait to be approached?

I tend to wait until I am approached. Plus applying can upset the club you are currently in charge of.

I always play safe in between- not applying any jobs (unless the current situation is too bad) but declare interest to those positions I would like to move to. Most boards would be disappointed with my declaration, but only disappointed without any consequences. And this way clubs who are interested in taking me would notice my intention to move and allow more interviews to come in the future.

I wait. Seeing who I'm linked with also gives me an idea of what level of club to aim for when I decide to go elsewhere.

In my save I left my first job, (as a Ukrainian side), after being linked with the Shakhtar Donetsk job. I wasn't at all convinced I'd get the job, but thought I'd get other offers even if they turned me down.

They gave me an interivew, but went for someone else. A couple of months later I had an offer from Brighton who had recently sacked their manager.

While employed at Brighton, and at every other club since, (Benfica, Tottenham,Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid), I've been approached for other. Never shied away from applying for jobs though if the right clubs become available.

I go on a holiday and apply for everything.

If there's an approach and if it is the only one between the interview and up to the contract negotiations i'll take the first club approaching me.

If there are more i'll take the one that i believe i can get the most out of.

The way I read the OP, it's asking if he should do this at the start. If you're at the beginning of the game, with Sunday League rep, you'll be lucky if anyone approaches you ever.

I'd do what Roykela says - go on holiday and apply to everything. Once your rep builds, clubs will start approaching.

For the first job - apply.

When being employed I tend to wait for an approach unless I may expect to have very good chances on a job I want, then I take the risk top apply once in a while

For the first job - apply.

When being employed I tend to wait for an approach unless I may expect to have very good chances on a job I want, then I take the risk top apply once in a while

I act exactly the same.

A related question - does your reputation drop if you're managing a lesser club then the one you were at previously? I say this because I moved from Conference South to Northern Ireland's second division... even though I think I'm going to get my new team promoted, it seems like a step down somehow

For me it depends on the job if it's a massive job I might be tempted to apply but normally if I'm happy at my current club but open to moving I'd wait for an approach. It's always nice to be approached too, shows you're doing a good job

A related question - does your reputation drop if you're managing a lesser club then the one you were at previously? I say this because I moved from Conference South to Northern Ireland's second division... even though I think I'm going to get my new team promoted, it seems like a step down somehow

Apologies if i'm wrong and thus misinforming you.

In my experience, to the best of my knowledge, your reputation will gradually decrease unless you take the club to the equally same "heights", as your previous club(s) on a fairly consistent level.

Having said that i haven't really monitored my reputation too closely, so i might be wrong.

My own experience (though I don't know if it applies to the latest versions) is that your rep can stay very high but a lot depends on the level of your last club. For example in my first FM11 career I started with high rep for the last time, soon got it up to 'world class' with a Romanian title, then it all went pear shaped and not being that picky about clubs was at Southport in the BSP (though why is beyond me). I failed to keep them up and even with the rep bar on my profile staying 'maxed out' I struggled greatly to get another club at any level, eventually getting Furth in the German 3rd Division many months later (though only after I resorted to 'holiday applying', forgot to turn the 'return from holiday when offered a job' option on, went for a bath and returned to find myself at Furth and that I'd already got an English job and been sacked from it for constant applications ). Taking them up allowed me to go to Cordoba in the Spanish Second Division, and taking them up got me Inter, all with the same high rep (well not exactly obviously as it's dynamic) but needing to actually achieve something to gradually keep moving up the ladder again.

I tend to find that I get carried away with the team that I'm at that I forget all about applying for other jobs and I can get a surprise of an invite to interview, just had that as manager of Groningen being offered the Liverpool job.

Apply. Anything else is unrealistic in the lower leagues as compensation is required and most clubs simply do not have it.

Wait for the approach

How many times can you run the same poll?