Anyone else suffering from a holiday lull?

[GJABS]

No, it's because they pay kickbacks to the HR and other execs at ClientCo.

Boo

But larger consultancies have always been able to pay kickbacks etc. The question is what has changed now or in the past few months?

[clearedforlanding]

But larger consultancies have always been able to pay kickbacks etc. The question is what has changed now or in the past few months?

The market is maturing and consolidating. Nothing more, nothing less. The tipping point was probably in 2012 when ICs really started gaining traction.

[uk contractor]

When IPSE do surveys they show relatively few contractors out of work.

Most contractors are not IPSE members though!

[northernladuk]

Most contractors are not IPSE members though!

A very good point and IMO we should really have a view of the number contractors who are IPSE members to understand the numbers. People that join IPSE have half a clue and upwards about what they are doing. A majority of those not in IPSE don't so a very different demographic meaning results won't be a true indication across the entire contracting estate.

[Cirrus]

Maybe a lot of you already know this but people supplied by the big consultancies don't cost what you see on their rate card. There are big, big discounts. And of course, as Tesco etc know, when you start going "Was £2300 per day, now on offer for only £1300", you get a lot of mugs putting things in their trolleys.

[wantacontract]

Amazon? Does he know what he is letting himself in for? Contractor to perm at Amazon is going to be one hell of a culture shock.

too right!!

[suityou01]

A very good point and IMO we should really have a view of the number contractors who are IPSE members to understand the numbers. People that join IPSE have half a clue and upwards about what they are doing. A majority of those not in IPSE don't so a very different demographic meaning results won't be a true indication across the entire contracting estate.

I'm not in IPSE and I have a clue.

[Andy2]

after 3 months on the bench, accepted a contract at a low rate in London.
Big upheaval going on in the office as they are in the process of outsourcing to india.
The place is heaving with about 200 bobs.

[GJABS]

There was a SQL Server DBA role advertised on Jobserve last week for £550/day.
After submitting my CV I called the agent a day later, and he said he'd received over 200 applications, and "he'd never seen anything like it".

Hmmm I haven't applied for jobs with that level of competition since my days as a brand new graduate.
I'll have to think of a different approach. Shall I turn to crime? lol

[Andy2]

There was a SQL Server DBA role advertised on Jobserve last week for £550/day.

No surprises there. Nowadays any role paying more than 500/day with common skillset attracts hundreds of application. Most of the time i dont even hear back from the agents after applying for such roles. God knows what criteria an agent will apply to pickup some lucky cv from that lot.