The only way to do this is with luck, and by worming your way into an organisation. Therefore I suspect you'll be quicker to get what you need by going permie for a while.
I'm a contract PM, currently working alongside a contract PMO. She is really, really good, and definitely PM material. She wants to go that way too. I've been doing a bit of coaching (hey, once a manager, always a manager) and I think she's about to extend on her current rate (good for a PMO, crap for a PM) because she's going to get the opportunity to try some PMing. She is very lucky (although she's earned some of her own luck by being good) as she wouldn't get the chance to do this mostly. I'm actually leaving myself shortly (will probably be back at some point) but in this case it helps that the organisation is very people-focussed- it's a smaller place than is typical working in FS. So yes, we get treated like glorified permies (which I don't care about, because I choose to operate inside IR35 anyway and it gets me some opportunities I wouldn't get otherwise) but that's part of the reason she's getting the opportunity she is. She's a contractor, on a contract rate, but essentially being given 'development opportunities'. Part of it too is that it's a risk for them every time they get somebody new in, because it's definitely true that the right attitude etc goes a long way and you never really know if somebody will be a good fit until they're there. So to some extent, worth working with what you've got.
I'm amused by some of NLUK's comments about the CVs he's been looking at - yeah, I feel your pain! I've seen a few things on here, and other places, about discarding CVs with typos. Ha! if I'd done that when I was a recruiting manager I'd have interviewed almost nobody. Yes, as has been said, many of the truly good and experienced people have built up the kind of network, whilst they were accruing that experience, that means they area indeed rarely on the bench or actively applying. Therefore what you're left with as a recruiting manager is 'the best of the rest' - and indeed asking your favoured contractors to stake their reputation by recommending other contractors.
And there's a quite separate rant about the ability of agencies to actually usefully filter CVs... but then I guess we don't see the ones they found to start with!
I'm a contract PM, currently working alongside a contract PMO. She is really, really good, and definitely PM material. She wants to go that way too. I've been doing a bit of coaching (hey, once a manager, always a manager) and I think she's about to extend on her current rate (good for a PMO, crap for a PM) because she's going to get the opportunity to try some PMing. She is very lucky (although she's earned some of her own luck by being good) as she wouldn't get the chance to do this mostly. I'm actually leaving myself shortly (will probably be back at some point) but in this case it helps that the organisation is very people-focussed- it's a smaller place than is typical working in FS. So yes, we get treated like glorified permies (which I don't care about, because I choose to operate inside IR35 anyway and it gets me some opportunities I wouldn't get otherwise) but that's part of the reason she's getting the opportunity she is. She's a contractor, on a contract rate, but essentially being given 'development opportunities'. Part of it too is that it's a risk for them every time they get somebody new in, because it's definitely true that the right attitude etc goes a long way and you never really know if somebody will be a good fit until they're there. So to some extent, worth working with what you've got.
I'm amused by some of NLUK's comments about the CVs he's been looking at - yeah, I feel your pain! I've seen a few things on here, and other places, about discarding CVs with typos. Ha! if I'd done that when I was a recruiting manager I'd have interviewed almost nobody. Yes, as has been said, many of the truly good and experienced people have built up the kind of network, whilst they were accruing that experience, that means they area indeed rarely on the bench or actively applying. Therefore what you're left with as a recruiting manager is 'the best of the rest' - and indeed asking your favoured contractors to stake their reputation by recommending other contractors.
And there's a quite separate rant about the ability of agencies to actually usefully filter CVs... but then I guess we don't see the ones they found to start with!
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