Hitting a brick wall...how do I break through this?

[connore]

Hello,
I came into contracting last year after years as a perm PMO Manager and PM. I held my first contract for 9 months and I absolutely loved it - hard work but so satisfying.

Now I have hit a brick wall in finding my next contract. I have been searching feverishly for a contract since November last year, and my CV never fails to garner interest and I do get call backs and interviews; however that is where it ends - I cannot seem to secure a contract.

After 4 months of being messed around by agencies, hopes built up then let down at the 11th hour, turning up for interviews only to find they have changed the role; being offered a start date then told the role has been 'filled internally' I am beginning to get extremely worried and discouraged.

I appreciate that it is year end, and new budgets are yet to be launched; I also know that a lot of roles are niche or specialist and I wont be shortlisted for interview every time, but I am extremely particular and realistic about what I apply for anyway; it is the agencies that call and push for my consent to apply for roles which they have sourced me for based merely on one matching key word in my CV; that just drives me mad! They are just so appallingly unprofessional.

I am fairly flexible on location, and I always get great feedback from interview. But....??!

Has anyone else faced this type of challenge, and if so, how did you overcome it? Was it just a matter of time and perseverance, or maybe 'right place at the right time'?

I don't want to write this off as a career path yet.

Many thanks.

[uk contractor]

Its not just you...its a buyers market......employers can pick and chose who they want & how much for put an ad online they will get 100s of highly qualified/experienced contractors rapidly.


How many of those are actually any good is another matter altogether. You can either wait it out or try to find another career path but most of those are also flooded with applicants!

[FatLazyContractor]

Now I have hit a brick wall in finding my next contract. I have been searching feverishly for a contract since November last year, and my CV never fails to garner interest and I do get call backs and interviews; however that is where it ends - I cannot seem to secure a contract.

Looking for a contract is part and parcel of your "Work Year".

After 4 months of being messed around by agencies, hopes built up then let down at the 11th hour, turning up for interviews only to find they have changed the role; being offered a start date then told the role has been 'filled internally' I am beginning to get extremely worried and discouraged.

I appreciate that it is year end, and new budgets are yet to be launched; I also know that a lot of roles are niche or specialist and I wont be shortlisted for interview every time, but I am extremely particular and realistic about what I apply for anyway; it is the agencies that call and push for my consent to apply for roles which they have sourced me for based merely on one matching key word in my CV; that just drives me mad! They are just so appallingly unprofessional.

We have all possibly been there. It is something we already know about.

I am fairly flexible on location, and I always get great feedback from interview. But....??!

You are not asking the agent for feedback, are you?

Has anyone else faced this type of challenge, and if so, how did you overcome it? Was it just a matter of time and perseverance, or maybe 'right place at the right time'?

I don't want to write this off as a career path yet.

A few questions to consider:
- Do you have a warchest?
- If you do, how long will it take you without a contract?
- If you don't .... well.
- Time to "rewrite" your CV?
- Spend sometime upskilling?

HTH

[BlasterBates]

No need to panic, you only need to "snap your fingers" and you should get a permie role.

The contractor market is difficult the trend is permies on shore and contractors offshore. There are contracts available but there's a huge amount of competition especially in banks who now have sacked "armies" of contractors and replaced them with "armies" of offshore resources.

Give it a few weeks and then if you're not getting anywhere "snap your fingers, click your heels together" and go into permie land.

[northernladuk]

I'd be worried about taking a PM in that lists PMO as one of his skills. IMO you are one or the other. I know people think they can do both but from my experience neither very well.

[SueEllen]

Hello,
I came into contracting last year after years as a perm PMO Manager and PM. I held my first contract for 9 months and I absolutely loved it - hard work but so satisfying.

Now I have hit a brick wall in finding my next contract. I have been searching feverishly for a contract since November last year, and my CV never fails to garner interest and I do get call backs and interviews; however that is where it ends - I cannot seem to secure a contract.

After 4 months of being messed around by agencies, hopes built up then let down at the 11th hour, turning up for interviews only to find they have changed the role; being offered a start date then told the role has been 'filled internally' I am beginning to get extremely worried and discouraged.

I appreciate that it is year end, and new budgets are yet to be launched; I also know that a lot of roles are niche or specialist and I wont be shortlisted for interview every time, but I am extremely particular and realistic about what I apply for anyway; it is the agencies that call and push for my consent to apply for roles which they have sourced me for based merely on one matching key word in my CV; that just drives me mad! They are just so appallingly unprofessional.

I am fairly flexible on location, and I always get great feedback from interview. But....??!

Has anyone else faced this type of challenge, and if so, how did you overcome it? Was it just a matter of time and perseverance, or maybe 'right place at the right time'?

I don't want to write this off as a career path yet.

Many thanks.

Try and be more flexible on location as well as rates.

Be aware that you are completing against people who have been contract PMs for years.

It's always a general rule of thumb that a second contract is harder to find than the first.

[jjdarg]

I'd be worried about taking a PM in that lists PMO as one of his skills. IMO you are one or the other. I know people think they can do both but from my experience neither very well.

WHS

Be one or the other.

I fell into PMO and am kind of stuck there after 11 years. When I am on the bench, though, it takes a while to find the next role, mainly due to my seniority - but whenever there is a genuine role listed on the boards I am usually called about it (I was once called by 7 different agencies over the course of 2 days for one role) rather than applying for it myself, so something must be working.

When I am working, the rates are pretty good, so I just recharge the war chest and pay down the mortgage.

It took me 3 months to get offered the role I am about to take up, and I had a lot of time wasted in between and even applied for permie roles, but the people doing recruiting in permiedom are even bigger time wasters than the contracting recruiters. Previous time I was on the bench it was for 7 months (5 months, really, with the last two waiting for vetting to come through).

I know it can be dispiriting, but look at the time off as a chance to recharge and maybe read that pile of manuals you keep promising yourself you'd get to, and spend more time doing stuff you enjoy. I'm getting to know my two-year-old daughter a little better, that's for sure, and aside from the tantrums, loving every minute of it. My wife, on the other hand, worries enough for the both of us! (I keep telling her this is why I am paid so much for my services and sock the money away, but after 9 years of my contracting, she still hasn't quite internalised it.)

FWIW, I think the typical PMO worker bee engagement is going toward offshoring (except for government work) because, rightly or wrongly, it is viewed as strictly admin for suites of PPM tools. I can see a point where the only good contracts will be almost consultant-like in their approaches, which is why I'm boning up on things like Lean Six Sigma and Agile methodologies to be able to speak the lingo that businesses are increasingly using.

[DieScum]

Just keep going, mate. It's a tough shift but keep doing the right things.

My longest spell looking was four months and it was awful. I was trying to distance myself from previous skillset and move towards stuff I enjoy more. So imagine the fun chats with recruiters about that.

Ended up taking a cruddy fixed term contract for five months. It was utterly awful... but after I got my foot in the door I convinced them to switch me to four days a week and I just kept on battering the job search.

The job was a horrendous, humbling experience but it looked ok on the CV and it gave me the breathing room to continue the search for the next decent gig with the mortgage and bills paid and no CV gap.

Next role was a big step up in the area I want to be.

So keep going, cast your net wide and something will turn up.

[heyya99]

In my 3 years contracting, I've had 2 spells out. One 3 month and one 4 month. They were stressful, yucky times. I perservered though and haven't had a contract break in 2 years now. Just keep trying and the breaks will come.

[Project Monkey]

Hello,
I came into contracting last year after years as a perm PMO Manager and PM. I held my first contract for 9 months and I absolutely loved it - hard work but so satisfying.

Now I have hit a brick wall in finding my next contract. I have been searching feverishly for a contract since November last year, and my CV never fails to garner interest and I do get call backs and interviews; however that is where it ends - I cannot seem to secure a contract.

After 4 months of being messed around by agencies, hopes built up then let down at the 11th hour, turning up for interviews only to find they have changed the role; being offered a start date then told the role has been 'filled internally' I am beginning to get extremely worried and discouraged.

I appreciate that it is year end, and new budgets are yet to be launched; I also know that a lot of roles are niche or specialist and I wont be shortlisted for interview every time, but I am extremely particular and realistic about what I apply for anyway; it is the agencies that call and push for my consent to apply for roles which they have sourced me for based merely on one matching key word in my CV; that just drives me mad! They are just so appallingly unprofessional.

I am fairly flexible on location, and I always get great feedback from interview. But....??!

Has anyone else faced this type of challenge, and if so, how did you overcome it? Was it just a matter of time and perseverance, or maybe 'right place at the right time'?

I don't want to write this off as a career path yet.

Many thanks.

In contracting there are only two types of interview feedback:

1) Well done, you've got the gig.

2) Sorry mate, better luck next time.

Ask yourself which one of these is great feedback?