Anyone else suffering from a holiday lull?

[Andy2]

There is some life in the market this week. Got a few calls but the rates are piss poor and yes most contracts now are from big consultancies.

[achilles]

There is some life in the market this week. Got a few calls but the rates are piss poor and yes most contracts now are from big consultancies.

Contract rates through consultancies are usually piss poor because the end client is changed several multiples of what the contractor gets.

I wonder why though this change from us indepedent contractors to the consultancies. Is it because they now charge much lower rates?

[clearedforlanding]

Contract rates through consultancies are usually piss poor because the end client is changed several multiples of what the contractor gets.

The client expectations are set at what the consultancy charges however....... Which leads to problems.

[uk contractor]

Actually, the article you linked to states that demand has risen in each of the last 6 months, it's just the rate of increase in demand is falling - demand itself is rising still.

Boo

Santa claus is real as well you know

Virtual demand is rising only!!

Real world vacancies not jobs which the agencies either advertise more than once, duplicate job ad with another agency, fake jobs etc etc mean there is way less work around. Just because a survey says its risen for 6 months means nothing without context. US payroll rises the stock market rallies then next month it rises again but not by as much as expected it drops several % due to the numbers being way less than expected.

These surveys are flawed to begin with as they count any expansion above a value of 50 as positive but fail to explain in detail how they get their numbers.

Which goes back to the real world scenario where IT contracts are fewer & harderer (unicorn syndrome) than ever to get apart from a few niche skillsets the market is stuffed more than a xmas turkey with on the bench contractors & agencies padding their workloads out to ensure they do not get the sack.

[GJABS]

I wonder why though this change from us indepedent contractors to the consultancies. Is it because they now charge much lower rates?

Perhaps it is because contractors won't be able to claim travel & subsistance tax relief whereas consultancies will still be able to.
Another factor is that as the economy grows companies will be happier taking on permies, leading to lower demand for contractors.

[Cirrus]

the market is stuffed more than a xmas turkey with on the bench contractors

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

[rapid]

In the past month approx. 10 contractors have been let go at my place, mostly project managers, scrum masters and .NET devs.. all except 1 have found new opportunities.. the 1 who hasn't is in the interview process with Amazon for a perm role.

This is all based in/around London.

[clearedforlanding]

In the past month approx. 10 contractors have been let go at my place, mostly project managers, scrum masters and .NET devs.. all except 1 have found new opportunities.. the 1 who hasn't is in the interview process with Amazon for a perm role.

This is all based in/around London.

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.

[Boo]

I wonder why though this change from us indepedent contractors to the consultancies. Is it because they now charge much lower rates?

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

Boo

[clearedforlanding]

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

Boo

Not quite, but search companies house and look at the non exec director positions partners & governance at consultancies hold at blue chips.

Apart from the Indians & Chinese, then anything goes.