Contract length

[SarahL2012]

I've got a short one on the CV (its 3.5 months so only short in the eyes of certain agencies). I've now changed the wording to read "short term assignment to deliver...." and that seems to have stopped the questions.

I have had agencies ask why a specific client didn't extend me. They seem a bit surprised when you tell them its because you delivered what you were contracted to deliver and therefore it was time to move on. Sometimes I think they like people with lots of extensions because it means their fees will just keep rolling on in.

[curtis]

I never understand how people cannot understand contractors especially when they are an agency that places contractors so they should know better than anyone or managers who are hiring contractors as surely they know the cirumstances as to why they are hiring that its for a temporary period.

How do these people think we work otherwise?

[vetran]

How's that work then? They review the CV for free and charge you a couple of hundred quid if you want to see it?

I would imagine they say we give it a mark of 10% we can make this 900% better for the nominal fee of £3000

[jmo21]

As others have said, I think this interviewer (or HR) just didn't understand contractors.

There is a line though. Someone mentioned a contractor being rejected as all his contracts were ~1 month.

Some roles may lend themselves to those types of small time frames (designers maybe) but for many more IT roles (most?) this would definitely be a red flag for me too.

3 month contracts are my absolute minimum when considering roles (of course understanding that any role can end early for numerous reasons).

I always prefer 6 month+ roles. While I am a contractor and enjoy the variety, I still want to work on a decent length project, or more with the one client.

[suityou01]

How's that work then? They review the CV for free and charge you a couple of hundred quid if you want to see it?

So far I was called very promptly and given the benefit of the free review verbally. It was quite nebulous, nothing was sent in writing.
Then a further 20 minutes of selling a package, to include full Linked In profile rework, covering letter samples and the CV review and rewrite. This was too expensive for me to sign off on immediately, I personally would need to save up. Obviously people's financial circumstances differ and others may not find the price that big. However to me it was a lot of money, with extras thrown in that I didn't ask for. I was given a 10% discount for just the CV review and rewrite consult, after a few times of asking.

Later on in the call I was presented with an option to fill out a questionnaire and get my CV rewritten based on the answers given for around half the previous cost.

I cannot afford to take this further at present, but if anyone does go for it I would be keen to hear about it.

[suityou01]

I would imagine they say we give it a mark of 10% we can make this 900% better for the nominal fee of £3000

You are 5 times too much.

[vwdan]

As an aside, and as mentioned in my recent thread, I've shunted my CV to be "projects based" so the only contract dates are the dates from when I started at $MyCo. Everything else underneath is just a project with a title and a description. No dates.

I haven't got a job yet, with it, so we'll see how it goes!

[eek]

Suity how come you end up with short term contracts? All mine have been short term but strangely find cash to keep me on while everyone else is shown the door.

As for getting someone to rewrite your CV don't waste your money. Just ask Dodgy to give it an look and see what he suggests to improve it...

To add. Recently we rejected someone with 2 years+ of 2-3 month contracts on the suspicion that they were never renewed as they were crap.

I think most people aren't sacked immediately for being tulip, but stay to the end of the first contract before being replaced. To management binning someone immediately seems to imply that the person hiring was crap at hiring, not renewing is simply saying that it wasn't the managers fault he just didn't fit in.

[suityou01]

Suity how come you end up with short term contracts? All mine have been short term but strangely find cash to keep me on while everyone else is shown the door.

As for getting someone to rewrite your CV don't waste your money. Just ask Dodgy to give it an look and see what he suggests to improve it...

I'm going to assume by that you mean contracts >3 and <6 months in duration.

In my niche I design and build systems based on business processes. Typically a fairly busy business process takes 3 months from design to roll out. A business only has so many processes worth automating.

So they know what they are getting, and roughly how long it should take. It's a lot less nebulous than say "We need another developer", where you can blag it after 3 months and get an extension. I have concrete deliverables all of the time.

[stek]

I'm going to assume by that you mean contracts >3 and <6 months in duration.

I have concrete deliverables all of the time.

You work the mixer on a building site?