Bench Time

[Danglekt]

I've been going a couple of years and done back to back gigs and even some dual running so probably not going to give you the info you want to be throwing at them.

[northernladuk]

I've been going a couple of years and done back to back gigs and even some dual running so probably not going to give you the info you want to be throwing at them.

That's the funny thing about this though. If you are bloody good at what you do your defence completely evaporates.. If that makes sense.

[DaveB]

I've been going a couple of years and done back to back gigs and even some dual running so probably not going to give you the info you want to be throwing at them.

That's the funny thing about this though. If you are bloody good at what you do your defence completely evaporates.. If that makes sense.

Is the multiple client thing something else we want to highlight. Not everyone manages it but a fair few of us do.

You can still count gaps between gigs even if you had a second client running at the time

[northernladuk]

Is the multiple client thing something else we want to highlight. Not everyone manages it but a fair few of us do.

You can still count gaps between gigs even if you had a second client running at the time

Yeah but I meant networking, keeping contacts, delivering well, keeping abreast of new techs so and so forth. You could argue a successful contracting career can be measured against lack of enforced bench time , not being walked and other things that we are highlighting as defense. Maybe I'm wrong about this.

[pr1]

i have a mate that plays for a championship football team and he gets 5 grand a week sitting on the bench... /offtopic

[SteelyDan]

Yes there is always that risk unfortunately but HMRC have asked for facts and figures so that's what we're giving them - I think their perception is that either contractors don't really care about the proposals that they're making or that they'll have a negligible impact (there were only 3 responses from contractors to the last consultation!). I don't think that either perception is correct and I am doing what I can to prove it

Sorry, didn't mean to be negative on your much appreciated efforts.

Not sure if it should be included here, but it's part & parcel of contracting & the wider picture.

What about highlighting situations where we are currently in contract, but that contract is coming to an end imminently; we get calls from agents to ask if we're interested/available, then we potentially lose out because we're not actually available when the potential client wants (as it always asap & the client won't wait), and then we end up on the bench purely for reasons of bad timing. We are then waiting for the next 'bus' to arrive, which in some cases could be weeks, or months, as indicated by the responses here?

[NickNick]

So...
Contracting since 2005, no bench time.
Contracts are of between 3 months and 1 year. Most being 3 to 6 months in length.

[anonymouse]

The last 5 months hasn't been waiting for a 'phone call to offer me a contract. When the last one finished, I had a new 12 month gig lined up, which got cancelled. I've had 5 further interviews, with 3 offers that all got binned for one reason or another, one interviewer never even bothered to call. The latest one is due to start in a couple of weeks, but I'll believe when I see it & payments starts.

[Bod]

Contracting for 9 years.

Contract lengths between 6 months and 3 years, mostly under 18 months

Bench time between 10 mins (once) and 5 months (twice), usually 2 or 3 months

Bench time is character building, it's when you find out what you're made of

[CloudWalker]