Getting back into Contracting after Extended Leave

[LadyChatterley]

Hi Everyone,

I'm after some advice and words of wisdom (yeah I know this is CUK!) from my fellow Contractors.

Out of the game so-to-speak for 5yrs now (had a baby) & I'm looking finding something in the New Year.

The little one is now at school FT & I've had more than my fair share of a daily dosage of Peppa Pig & Tw*tsy & Tim to last a lifetime & the WC is severely depleted. Thus, where do I start? Would I have to insert a paragraph on my CV? Take a lower rate? Start from scratch again? I'm feeling pretty much out of it and de-skilled I don't know where to start and also how to explain this absence on my CV.

I mean I hear Agents wanting up to the minute skills.

TYIA

[Jeebo72]

Hi Everyone,

I'm after some advice and words of wisdom (yeah I know this is CUK!) from my fellow Contractors.

Out of the game so-to-speak for 5yrs now (had a baby) & I'm looking finding something in the New Year.

The little one is now at school FT & I've had more than my fair share of a daily dosage of Peppa Pig & Tw*tsy & Tim to last a lifetime & the WC is severely depleted. Thus, where do I start? Would I have to insert a paragraph on my CV? Take a lower rate? Start from scratch again? I'm feeling pretty much out of it and de-skilled I don't know where to start and also how to explain this absence on my CV.

I mean I hear Agents wanting up to the minute skills.

TYIA

I would put a line in CV stating such and take any old contract that is going to get you started. Even if the rate is pants. Once you're back working it's easier to command a decent rate.

[nomadd]

Hi Everyone,

I'm after some advice and words of wisdom (yeah I know this is CUK!) from my fellow Contractors.

Out of the game so-to-speak for 5yrs now (had a baby) & I'm looking finding something in the New Year.

The little one is now at school FT & I've had more than my fair share of a daily dosage of Peppa Pig & Tw*tsy & Tim to last a lifetime & the WC is severely depleted. Thus, where do I start? Would I have to insert a paragraph on my CV? Take a lower rate? Start from scratch again? I'm feeling pretty much out of it and de-skilled I don't know where to start and also how to explain this absence on my CV.

I mean I hear Agents wanting up to the minute skills.

TYIA

Go permie. Seriously. With a young family, contracting is simply not worth the hassle these days (even if you find one.)

[BrilloPad]

Good luck!

Remember that clients will assume you have been in prison for years. So expect to be grilled closely.

[LadyChatterley]

Good job I steered well clear of the 'body art' trend then. I don't mind the grilling, not much they can really grill me about a) having a sprog & b) fighting cervical cancer. But all is well now.

I would also consider a permie role, if one was found on my doorstep/commutable. There's no way I can take gigs far afield anymore plus the hubby can do that (being a contractor too).

Don't miss living out of a suitcase week in, week out. Red eye flights etc.

[psychocandy]

5 years = long time. Think its going to put a LOT of people off. Rightly or wrongly....

I guess only way would be to get a cut price gig and start from there.

p.s. sorry to hear about the toilet!

[uk contractor]

Sorry to sound overly harsh but realistically you have little chance unless you have a very niche skillset which is still a very niche skillset. Getting past the agencies will be your no1 problem. Its hard to even get your cv past them onto the client after just a few months out of contracting so years is going to be way harder.

If you were the hiring manager & you saw a CV which states 5 years off for noble reasons & most of the other cv's did not state this your highly unlikely to give priority to the person raising the family, fighting an illness & not working are you!

As an exercise start firing your CV off now see how many responses you get to gauge your marketability. Then you can verify what people are saying on here that its not going to be easy at all. No agency will ever tell you straight (they cannot can they its positive discrimination).

Good luck BTW but have a plan B, C, D etc etc the job market has changed a lot in recent years.

[gables]

I had a gap of 5 years (2002-2007) from IT per se during which I ran my mountain bike shop, both bricks and mortar and online with online shopping\payment processing etc and asked a similar question on here about getting back into IT\contracting.

An agent, who I found very helpful, suggested finding a big bank or public sector and go permie initially, then look to contracting when back up to speed. The reason being that a lot changes in IT in 5 years (well I found this to true as well as false), but also in the case of contracting it'll be even more difficult.

[Boo]

Don't put dates on your CV.

Boo

[DieScum]

You'll be fine but might be a pain to get you first break back in.

Rather than contracting look at permie or fixed term contracts. After six months to a year start looking for something better but foot in the door first. Once you're back working nobody will be bothered about the gap.

I took a year out a while back and then spent four bleak months job searching. I found it helpful to use the time to do some public speaking in my area of expertise (meet up groups, etc) and do online courses (edx, coursera, udacity). Really wish I had the time/energy to do more of that now! Looks good in interviews but more importantly the new skills come in very handy!