Cancel contract after one week

[vadhert]

Not another "Look at me I've found another gig and am doing a runner" post

[billybiro]

Bit different to what you were saying yesterday.

No it isn't.. Care to point out where I've contradicted myself?

Others have said that it's always "unprofessional" (bad form, will annoy the client, call it what you want) to leave a contract early for the purpose of taking another contract for more money. They have said that one should never leave a contract early for these reasons.

What I'm saying, and indeed what I've said all along, is that it isn't necessarily "unprofessional" to leave a contract early for the purpose of taking another for more money, and that given the right set of circumstances, one absolutely should leave the contract early for the purpose of taking another for more money. It's your fiduciary duty to your limited.

Moreover, this whole thread started when OP stated that they did have another gig and wanted to jump ship, and was afforded the contractual right to terminate the current contract with sufficient notice. Other posters suggested invoking that notice is "unprofessional". I say that it isn't, not for any reason. If either party has the contractual right to do something, exercising that right can never be unprofessional, it's simply business.

[LondonManc]

No it isn't.. Care to point out where I've contradicted myself?

Others have said that it's always "unprofessional" (bad form, will annoy the client, call it what you want) to leave a contract early for the purpose of taking another contract for more money. They have said that one should never leave a contract early for these reasons.

What I'm saying, and indeed what I've said all along, is that it isn't necessarily "unprofessional" to leave a contract early for the purpose of taking another for more money, and that given the right set of circumstances, one absolutely should leave the contract early for the purpose of taking another for more money. It's your fiduciary duty to your limited.

Moreover, this whole thread started when OP stated that they did have another gig and wanted to jump ship, and was afforded the contractual right to terminate the current contract with sufficient notice. Other posters suggested invoking that notice is "unprofessional". I say that it isn't, not for any reason. If either party has the contractual right to do something, exercising that right can never be unprofessional, it's simply business.

Yes, what' you've maintained is that there's no problem in jumping ship.
It's only in your previous post that you expressed doing so with a great deal of caution.

Bottom line is that NLUK and MrMarkyMark are spot on. In certain circles, jumping ship equals burning bridges. As such, it can prove a poor strategic decision to do so.

[billybiro]

Yes, what' you've maintained is that there's no problem in jumping ship.
It's only in your previous post that you expressed doing so with a great deal of caution.

Bottom line is that NLUK and MrMarkyMark are spot on. In certain circles, jumping ship equals burning bridges. As such, it can prove a poor strategic decision to do so.

Indeed, and I don't disagree. However, the reverse also applies:

In certain circles, jumping ship doesn't equal burning bridges. As such, it can prove a fantastic strategic decision to do so.

[psychocandy]

FWIW, I'm not necessarily advocating jumping ship every time you may get a better offer. For me to do this personally, I would have to be sure that the negative fallout (i.e. client potentially being rather ticked off about it as well as likelihood of either contract being canned) would be far outweighed by the gains made from jumping.

What I am advocating, however, is that should a better offer land in your lap and having carefully considered the potential negative consequences and decided they are outweighed, one should not feel obliged to continue with the current contract out of some misplaced sense of loyalty or so-called "professionalism".

Couldnt have said it better myself. Those of you who want to wave your willy around and say how professional are because you won't ever invoke a valid clause in your contract - crack on.

If clients REALLY don't want someone to leave then don't put a notice period in there. No good moaning afterwards. I fully suspect some agree to the notice period because they know that without it, the rate is a bit tulipe and no-one would be interested, but they know there are mugs out there like some of you lot.

I've been on both sides of the coin as a contractor. Took a gig once where the rate was awful BUT it had one week notice. Otherwise I wouldnt have gone near it....

And yes I would have bailed if I got something else. The manager was cool about it - he knew the rate was tulipe and he knew people were going to leave. (In the end, I didnt give notice, something else came up but I just didnt renew).

Current gig has no notice period. Yes I'd rather it did BUT the rate is decent so I don't mind so much. Thats the point, the clients wants to know that someone will stay the full term - fair enough - but you've got to make it worth the contractors while to commit to this.

[psychocandy]

No it isn't.. Care to point out where I've contradicted myself?

Others have said that it's always "unprofessional" (bad form, will annoy the client, call it what you want) to leave a contract early for the purpose of taking another contract for more money. They have said that one should never leave a contract early for these reasons.

What I'm saying, and indeed what I've said all along, is that it isn't necessarily "unprofessional" to leave a contract early for the purpose of taking another for more money, and that given the right set of circumstances, one absolutely should leave the contract early for the purpose of taking another for more money. It's your fiduciary duty to your limited.

Moreover, this whole thread started when OP stated that they did have another gig and wanted to jump ship, and was afforded the contractual right to terminate the current contract with sufficient notice. Other posters suggested invoking that notice is "unprofessional". I say that it isn't, not for any reason. If either party has the contractual right to do something, exercising that right can never be unprofessional, it's simply business.

Billybiro I love you - at last someone gets it....

[ceebeepps]

Personally I wouldn't because I believe what goes around comes around. Just a personal thing.

[MrMarkyMark]

Couldnt have said it better myself. Those of you who want to wave your willy around and say how professional are because you won't ever invoke a valid clause in your contract - crack on.

If clients REALLY don't want someone to leave then don't put a notice period in there. No good moaning afterwards. I fully suspect some agree to the notice period because they know that without it, the rate is a bit tulipe and no-one would be interested, but they know there are mugs out there like some of you lot.

I've been on both sides of the coin as a contractor. Took a gig once where the rate was awful BUT it had one week notice. Otherwise I wouldnt have gone near it....

And yes I would have bailed if I got something else. The manager was cool about it - he knew the rate was tulipe and he knew people were going to leave. (In the end, I didnt give notice, something else came up but I just didnt renew).

Current gig has no notice period. Yes I'd rather it did BUT the rate is decent so I don't mind so much. Thats the point, the clients wants to know that someone will stay the full term - fair enough - but you've got to make it worth the contractors while to commit to this.

Yes, but you also think its OK to claim Jobseekers while on the bench.
Still, each to thier own.

there are mugs out there like some of you lot.

Why are we mugs if we have a valid set of reasons for not doing this?

Why is it we hear much purile drivel about all the problems you have with clients, contracts etc. pretty much on a daily basis?

[LondonManc]

Couldnt have said it better myself. Those of you who want to wave your willy around and say how professional are because you won't ever invoke a valid clause in your contract - crack on.

If clients REALLY don't want someone to leave then don't put a notice period in there. No good moaning afterwards. I fully suspect some agree to the notice period because they know that without it, the rate is a bit tulipe and no-one would be interested, but they know there are mugs out there like some of you lot.

I've been on both sides of the coin as a contractor. Took a gig once where the rate was awful BUT it had one week notice. Otherwise I wouldnt have gone near it....

And yes I would have bailed if I got something else. The manager was cool about it - he knew the rate was tulipe and he knew people were going to leave. (In the end, I didnt give notice, something else came up but I just didnt renew).

Current gig has no notice period. Yes I'd rather it did BUT the rate is decent so I don't mind so much. Thats the point, the clients wants to know that someone will stay the full term - fair enough - but you've got to make it worth the contractors while to commit to this.

But you've carried on to try!

You paint a sugar-coated picture of the contracting world. Simple fact is that we're at the thin end of the wedge when it comes to holding any power. They pull the plug, you've got no money. You jump ship and unless you're jumping with the same agent, you'll get a reputation for being a jumper. We're not in true business-to-business relationships while agents are involved. When you have a third party who can significantly influence who goes forward to clientco then you've not got a level playing field. Similarly if there are two fairly even candidates and one has a record of seeing the job out while the other doesn't, guess who wins?

[pr1]

But you've carried on to try!

You paint a sugar-coated picture of the contracting world. Simple fact is that we're at the thin end of the wedge when it comes to holding any power. They pull the plug, you've got no money. You jump ship and unless you're jumping with the same agent, you'll get a reputation for being a jumper. We're not in true business-to-business relationships while agents are involved. When you have a third party who can significantly influence who goes forward to clientco then you've not got a level playing field. Similarly if there are two fairly even candidates and one has a record of seeing the job out while the other doesn't, guess who wins?

have you not considered that saying one thing on an anonymous internet forum (but doing the opposite) to try and encourage other contractors to make mistakes is in the interest of someone in a similar field?