Independent and free
This was built by one person, working alone, to help people navigate the human impact of a prolonged job search — the parts that are not about CVs and interviews and that most career advice does not go near.
It is not sponsored by any of the organisations listed. There are no affiliate links, no advertising, no tracking, no analytics, no newsletter and nothing for sale. Nobody has paid to be included and nobody can. Inclusion is not an endorsement, and it does not mean an organisation has any connection to this site or knows it exists.
Everything here is free to read, free to share, and free to print. It is not for commercial use.
It is not sponsored by any of the organisations listed. There are no affiliate links, no advertising, no tracking, no analytics, no newsletter and nothing for sale. Nobody has paid to be included and nobody can. Inclusion is not an endorsement, and it does not mean an organisation has any connection to this site or knows it exists.
Everything here is free to read, free to share, and free to print. It is not for commercial use.
How resources are chosen
Four rules, applied consistently.
Free at the point of use, or clearly labelled if not
The great majority of what is listed costs nothing. Where something is paid, low-cost or means-tested, the entry says so.
Established, and answerable to someone
Registered charities, NHS services, government services and recognised professional bodies — plus a small number of well-established, free-to-use commercial services where nothing equivalent exists in the charitable or public sector. Where an entry is commercial, the entry says so. No individual coaches, and nothing that is really a paid product.
Described by what it actually does
Every entry answers the question “why would I click this one rather than the one underneath it?”. A list of names is a link directory; this is meant to be a help directory.
Honest about coverage
Several well-known “UK” services are England-only — NHS Talking Therapies self-referral, the Jobs and Careers Service (formerly the National Careers Service), the main Citizens Advice line. Acas and the Equality Advisory Service stop at the Northern Irish border. Every entry states where it actually applies, and the devolved-nation equivalents are listed alongside.
How the writing is sourced
Every substantive statement on the site carries one of four labels — Research says Evidence suggests In practice Try this — so you can see at a glance what kind of thing you are reading.
Statistics are checked against the original study or dataset rather than against the article that repeated them, which is where most bad numbers come from. Every research claim states its source and the population it was measured in, because “science shows” and “26 people in a sleep lab in 2007” are different sentences. Where a study is small, old, from another country, or measured something narrower than the claim implies, that is stated rather than buried. Where a widely-repeated claim did not survive checking, it was removed rather than softened.
Some well-known job-search claims are contradicted here on purpose. That applicant tracking systems auto-reject CVs for missing keywords, that most jobs are never advertised, that recruiters spend six seconds on a CV — these circulate widely, trace back to marketing rather than research, and are repeated on the assumption that nobody checks.
Statistics are checked against the original study or dataset rather than against the article that repeated them, which is where most bad numbers come from. Every research claim states its source and the population it was measured in, because “science shows” and “26 people in a sleep lab in 2007” are different sentences. Where a study is small, old, from another country, or measured something narrower than the claim implies, that is stated rather than buried. Where a widely-repeated claim did not survive checking, it was removed rather than softened.
Some well-known job-search claims are contradicted here on purpose. That applicant tracking systems auto-reject CVs for missing keywords, that most jobs are never advertised, that recruiters spend six seconds on a CV — these circulate widely, trace back to marketing rather than research, and are repeated on the assumption that nobody checks.
Maintenance
Last reviewed
August 2026. Phone numbers, services and eligibility rules change — sometimes without notice, and organisations close. Where an entry here disagrees with an organisation's own website, believe theirs.
Found something wrong?
A broken link, an out-of-date phone number, a service that has closed or merged, a figure that looks incorrect — please tell me at mark@quantumtreesearch.com. Corrections are genuinely welcome and are the main way a site like this stays worth trusting.
Suggesting a resource
If you run or know an organisation that belongs here, send it to the same address with a line on what it does and who it is for. It will be assessed against the four rules above.
Using this material
Share it, print it, send it to someone, link to it from anywhere. If you would like to reproduce a substantial part of it, get in touch first.
Privacy
This site collects nothing. There are no analytics, no cookies set by us, no tracking pixels, no advertising networks, no embedded videos or social widgets, and no login. Nothing you read here is recorded, and nothing is shared with anyone. The search box runs entirely in your browser — what you type is never sent anywhere.
Two honest caveats. The site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts, which means Google's servers see a request from your browser when a page loads. And the site is hosted on Netlify, which keeps standard server logs. Neither is linked to anything you do here, and neither is used by me for any purpose.
If you email me, I will have your email address and whatever you write. I will use it to reply and to fix whatever you have told me about, and for nothing else.
If you are worried about someone seeing what you have looked at, most browsers have a private or incognito window, and your browsing history can be cleared. On a shared computer, that is worth knowing.
Two honest caveats. The site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts, which means Google's servers see a request from your browser when a page loads. And the site is hosted on Netlify, which keeps standard server logs. Neither is linked to anything you do here, and neither is used by me for any purpose.
If you email me, I will have your email address and whatever you write. I will use it to reply and to fix whatever you have told me about, and for nothing else.
If you are worried about someone seeing what you have looked at, most browsers have a private or incognito window, and your browsing history can be cleared. On a shared computer, that is worth knowing.
What this site is not. It is not clinical, medical, legal or financial advice, and it does not replace any of them. It is not a substitute for your GP, a therapist, a debt adviser or a solicitor — it is an attempt to help you work out which of those you might need, and to make reaching them easier. If you are struggling right now, the urgent help page is the shortest one here.