Chances of getting a contract based on old experience?

[squarepeg]

Don't give the Agents too much credit though, I left and old CV on Monster that had my HNC in Electronic Engineering on it but had 15 years IT work and I was still contacted a few times for Electrical Engineering roles.

:-) I still get agents calling me about PHP and Drupal jobs (I haven't touched either in 10 years) :-) No, they are not listed on my CV and I keep my JobServer/Monster clean of this stuff. :-)

[AnotherGuy]

I wonder if cutting your rate, lowering your expectations, might be a potential option here?

To reintroduce yourself into something you've not been working with for a long time, it might be worth getting £X/day less than what you would get with the stuff you've been doing the last few years, so in the short term you would earn less money, but you will prepare yourself better to be able to take contracts with both tech stacks in the future and to not have so much reliance on the current one.

This, of course, granting the client care about the "discounted" rate, or the agents even talk to you, and pass the discount, etc... so many variables.

[unixman]

Yes, old skills carry weight. But it depends on everything else. Current client is looking for a contractor but CVs have been poor. So they are attaching weight even to stuff the guy did 4 or 5 years ago.

If you were configuring vlans 5 years ago, that is still somewhat useful to clients seeking vlan experience, more than the other candidate who doesn't know what a VLAN is. Clients are often looking for a range of (sometimes unrelated) skills and candidates will have different experience of each.

The belief that every contract is filled in 10 nanoseconds by a contractor who can supply 99% of the skills from day 1 isn't really true. IMO it is likely a myth created by agents to bluff rates down. If it were true we would all be working for £6.50 an hour.

[northernladuk]

The belief that every contract is filled in 10 nanoseconds by a contractor who can supply 99% of the skills from day 1 isn't really true. IMO it is likely a myth created by agents to bluff rates down. If it were true we would all be working for £6.50 an hour.

What's wrong with that??