Anyone else suffering from a holiday lull?

[suityou01]

Had a number of calls this week indeed, but nothing has materialized into an interview as yet!
The rates are absolute rubbish, and "real" roles seem to be in single numbers overall.

The pimp who spoke to me today was only after my references, "so he can speed up things" apparently
No interviews and no mention of client name, just the city where the role could be! (i.e. a potential contract in "thin air")

But he did say that he too expected the market to pick up from end of August, but he says we are in almost October and no one is signing off anything.
He said if it went on like this until 3rd week of October, then we can forget about signing anything until March!

Market seems to be very dry... anyway, if anybody is looking to make a move, I would say this is not the time please. Beware!!

Any idea what is causing this slump?

[Andy2]

Any idea what is causing this slump?

apparently economy is booming and unemployment at all time low.
thats what the papers say

[suityou01]

apparently economy is booming and unemployment at all time low.
thats what the papers say

Oh ok, nothing to worry about then. Silly me.

[uk contractor]

Zero hour contracts & part time work are booming the rest is actually declining rapidly companies realise the labour market is healthy so they do not need to replace heacount anymore when they can legally use zero hour contracts as a viable profit margin tool.

I'm stuck in banking or financial services sectors as I have done that for so long its brutal for months now few decent roles around.

Headcounts are tight so are budgets is partially causing this downturn perception but you also have to factor in a LOT of people looking for IT work & a LOT of cheap import workers are already here doing this for a fraction of sensible rates UK born workers would chose to work for. By sensible I mean enough to survive on & pay your bills! £90-100 a day for me personally means I will happily sit on the bench for now & live off the warchest. Signing on is a last resort although if I need to I would so should anyone else on the bench its not like we have not paid a lot of income tax is it!

I know a lot of big outsourcers have hired cheap import workers & are using this tactic to offer lower rates to their clients as they pay the import worker so little it increase margins a lot & cuts traditional contractors out of the loop so to speak

[Andy2]

I know a lot of big outsourcers have hired cheap import workers & are using this tactic to offer lower rates to their clients as they pay the import worker so little it increase margins a lot & cuts traditional contractors out of the loop so to speak

My perception is that over the years outsourcing and ICT schemes have eroded contract market so much that now companies use UK contractors only if it is absolutely essential. Time for a permie job or emigrate I think.

[Milkyway]

My perception is that over the years outsourcing and ICT schemes have eroded contract market so much that now companies use UK contractors only if it is absolutely essential. Time for a permie job or emigrate I think.

Where to???

Thanks to the prospect of leaving the EU looming , immigrating to EU is out of question - since we will need visas after we leave EU (and work visas - so simply forget it!!)
Other places (outside EU) are quite difficult to go to for work, as well (given their tight requirements, around visa for setting up consulting or picking up a job there)

So pretty much we are screwed then, Eh?

[BlasterBates]

My perception is that over the years outsourcing and ICT schemes have eroded contract market so much that now companies use UK contractors only if it is absolutely essential. Time for a permie job or emigrate I think.

I have to agree with this. The company I work for has a policy of only using offshore contractors, in the meetings there is now an army of offshored contractors logging in remotely. They do however have plenty of permy positions.open that they can't fill. If they can get a permie they will let go of one or two offshored contractors. What they won't do though is take on a local contractor.

[Milkyway]

I have to agree with this. The company I work for has a policy of only using offshore contractors, in the meetings there is now an army of offshored contractors logging in remotely. They do however have plenty of permy positions.open that they can't fill. If they can get a permie they will let go of one or two offshored contractors. What they won't do though is take on a local contractor.

True, but there is no point blaming the johnny foreigner on this!
The hiring decision is ultimately taken by our own "lot", the British companies and the British managers et al.
Where are these bugger's brains? Just getting tempted by low cost workers from abroad is going to create hell codebase and quality for their products. They don't realize that?
Its our own lot that has to be blamed. They need to help us.
The foreigners wont! They are here to stay! They won't go!

[DelboyTrotter]

My current client has a 2 year rule on contractors, shame as one of our best contractors is being let go and they are looking at replacing with another contractor.
I've worked at other places which have a variable time limit from 2-4 years and good contractors have gone past this time limit.....I suppose at least I'll know that if I get renewed post 18months then it'll be my last renewal here. Although, I don't normally tend to do more than 12 months at the same gig.....

[AnotherGuy]

Current contract coming to an end and not extension offered. My current client is cutting loose as much contractors as they can and only getting on board permies. Extensions were common time ago, with some colleagues working there for more than 2 years. Not anymore.

Looking to secure a new gig since a couple or three weeks now, and the market is terrible. Very few phone calls, few emails (mostly via linkedin) and rates quite low.
I applied for one (gov) role and went for the top of the rate range even tho that meant an effective cut over my current rate. My CV was not shortlisted as obviously there were others willing to take the bottom of the rate range which means £100 cheaper per day.

Fortunately I can manage without a gig for a very long time but considering I've been contracting for a short time now, that's not ideal and not what I were expecting...