Anyone else suffering from a holiday lull?

[Yonmons]

I have been contracting 16yrs, apart for the last crash (when I had to bug out and do something different for 12 months) this year has/is very quiet. I am back with a Bank I have contracted to 4 times They enquired if I was available for a role. I snapped it up. Draw backs almost 4 months in the 4.20 am x 3, and 5.10am x 2 gets up per week, 9 hrs on site, and a 54 mile car commute each way is taking its toll. I have been extended until next July, but I know I`ll never make that far. I have been desperate to get something local and get something like a normal weekday life back but in truth there is nothing out there. Its BOBBINS ! I get the odd call, most I have the experience to know I shouldnt get excited about.

I very much doubt that it will pick up now this year, and even think that contracting as we know it may well have had its days, oh for the return of years ago and the Friday calls from agencies asking if you were available to start Monday. As they say ooop norf "Yed down keep gewin"

[squarepeg]

I have been contracting 16yrs, apart for the last crash (when I had to bug out and do something different for 12 months) this year has/is very quiet. I am back with a Bank I have contracted to 4 times They enquired if I was available for a role. I snapped it up. Draw backs almost 4 months in the 4.20 am x 3, and 5.10am x 2 gets up per week, 9 hrs on site, and a 54 mile car commute each way is taking its toll. I have been extended until next July, but I know I`ll never make that far. I have been desperate to get something local and get something like a normal weekday life back but in truth there is nothing out there. Its BOBBINS ! I get the odd call, most I have the experience to know I shouldnt get excited about.

I very much doubt that it will pick up now this year, and even think that contracting as we know it may well have had its days, oh for the return of years ago and the Friday calls from agencies asking if you were available to start Monday. As they say ooop norf "Yed down keep gewin"

This year has been rather good to me. I kept getting 3-4 calls per day with good offers and was going from one contract to another without a gap in between. Then the market just died in September.

[oliverson]

This year has been rather good to me. I kept getting 3-4 calls per day with good offers and was going from one contract to another without a gap in between. Then the market just died in September.

That's because I started looking in September!!!

Fortunately I have an offer for a financial firm back in the City but it took some arguing to get a £ 550 rate. And to think that I turned own a £ 650 one a few months back. Ah well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I'm just glad the search is over really, it becomes all consuming. Good luck to everybody else that is looking but I also shared the view that contracting is a dying industry.

[Andy2]

That's because I started looking in September!!!

Fortunately I have an offer for a financial firm back in the City but it took some arguing to get a £ 550 rate. And to think that I turned own a £ 650 one a few months back. Ah well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I'm just glad the search is over really, it becomes all consuming. Good luck to everybody else that is looking but I also shared the view that contracting is a dying industry.

what's your skill set, if you don't mind sharing

[oliverson]

what's your skill set, if you don't mind sharing

WPF, Rx, C#, .NET

[No2politics]

add to that
calling 6 times a day, each time a different person, asking you to still lower the rates further.

btw they have this concept of "anytime" interview,
no specific time for interview but someone will call for telephone interview either today or tomorrow anytime.
I hope they FOAD.

Haha i just woke the misses up laughing at that

[achilles]

Yes, the contract market is rather quite at the moment but I've read somewhere that the whole UK services sector has declined considerably in the last quarter to levels seen previously in the last recession so this might explain it!

[uk contractor]

Yes, the contract market is rather quite at the moment but I've read somewhere that the whole UK services sector has declined considerably in the last quarter to levels seen previously in the last recession so this might explain it!

In about 3 months the BBC & mainstream media will talk about it then as they cannot possibly panic the general population before Xmas shopping spree season can they! Shopping on credit cards= BOE official policy how to get out of the stagnation zone we are stuck in!

[squarepeg]

After talking to clients and agents for the last few weeks I am beginning to think that this lack of contracts has more to do with the fear of permies jumping ship, that's probably why clients want to convert contractors into permies so bad. I'm growing tired of these clowns.

I have spoken to maybe the sixth agent today who has confirmed certain client's behaviour (lying about looking for a contractor while trying to convert contractors to a permie role during the interview). This client is now known by most agents dealing with the London market.

Another lie clients keep telling more and more these days is the length of the contract (6 months on the job site, 3 months in the job spec you get from the agent, 1-2 months when you talk to the client). One client whose CTO bragged about his past startup exists and told me he "would convert me to a permit for sure" in July is now desperately looking for contractors because their permies ****ed off for better pay in contracting, but the CTO is so overloaded with work that he does not have the time to interview candidates.

Fortunately, there are some green shoots. Agents got scared and went through the trash cans and septic tanks of their clients and managed to dig up some new roles. I hope things will improve for everybody once the clients realise that work does not get done while they keep searching for the elusive highly-skilled permie with 20 years of experience in HFT salivating over a princely offer of £35,000,- in central London.

[Yonmons]

I love these jobs you see advertised on the sites as Temp - Perm (usually at a low rate) I am quite clear with any Agent that phones me that "I dont do Perm" under any circumstances. Some cant seem to get their heads round it. Contract market remains quiet, another few weeks and we are in the traditional run up to Chrimbo routine and its traditional quiet period. Stand by for the calls from agents representing companies you have never heard off having seen "Your CV on a Jobs Board, and its perfect for a role I am recruiting for" Location never mentioned in the VM they leave you.