How to get a City contract?

[SpontaneousOrder]

The 600+ a day contracts are almost impossible to get unless you have the exact skills, proof of applying them and hit it off with the interviewers. In Investment banking anyway a lot of the work is on trade capture systems and they mostly work the same sort of way. Hence once I had experience in Statesteet's I was easily able to get to grips with BNPP's, BoA's etc. It will be people like me (or like I used to be) that you are up against. People who have often done very similar work as a contractor in a very similar institution and can show we did it well and that we can handle the culture.

I had a set of mates across the banks and we would look out for vacancies and if one opened and one of us was out of a contract we would try to get them in. If one of us was interviewing you whilst trying to get one of our friend's in then you might as well forget it.

Rates are dropping, contractors are facing increased competition due to the amount of lay offs happening in the finance sector as well as the lack of pay rises etc. which is causing more and more people to leave the permie world for the world they imagine contracting is.

I have only worked in investment banking in London but I would guess that other sectors of finance are similar. Keep applying and good luck but do not get disheartened if you end up just chasing shadows. You can barely swing a cat without hitting an experienced contractor in London who would jump on a 600+ a day contract.

Yeah. Try your luck, but I would think that 450 to 500 is more likely.

[oliverson]

Yeah. Try your luck, but I would think that 450 to 500 is more likely.

It all depends. There are still some very big rates to be had but for specialists only. As for server-side .NET in banking, forget it. The model is mostly (or used to be), .NET front-end and Java server-side. Only problem is the .NET front-end has been ravaged by HTML5 and Angular, meaning there's not place for .NET any more. Very worrying. But if you have front-end .NET experience (WPF) and know AngularJS then you're in £ 650 land again and greenfield work.

[oliverson]

Just an update to this thread following on from a conversation I just had with an agent I know well but haven't spoken to for a couple of months. Says the reason he hasn't been in touch until now is because this is the first contract he's had IN OVER TWO MONTHS. My skillset is/was widely in demand and this agent is one of the big players. Work that one out. He also confirmed what I already knew, in that a couple of banks are having a headcount freeze and others are slashing rates again. Also confirmed that the market hasn't woken up from the traditional summer period. So my question is this. Just WTF is going on in the IB sector again? I mean, the rest of the economy is recovering nicely. It's been over 7 years since Lehmans went under. An ex-client (Asset Management) took prided in telling me at interview that they'd never cut contracts rates and whilst that is still true, I see from the Egos 'contractor breakers' site that they are imposing a mandatory 'time off' period this Xmas.

Oh, and my pal, same skillset as me, is currently on the bench for the first time since 2007. He's just chalked up his first month. Massively experience and several years in the banking sector. Crazy.

[clearedforlanding]

Just WTF is going on in the IB sector again?

Simple CAPEX/OPEX. Economy in decline, reduce OPEX next 2 Q. Hire beginning of Q3.

[uk contractor]

IB's are always ahead of the general economy they anticipated a downturn so enforced hiring/headcount freezes now some are starting to staff up again for early 2016.

I have seen a few signs of activity in the last few weeks though so the thaw is starting to bite but xmas will slow it all down again if you get an IB contract in the next few weeks its unlikely to start until Jan 1st due to onboarding security checks etc etc anyway!

[oliverson]

IB's are always ahead of the general economy they anticipated a downturn so enforced hiring/headcount freezes now some are starting to staff up again for early 2016.

I have seen a few signs of activity in the last few weeks though so the thaw is starting to bite but xmas will slow it all down again if you get an IB contract in the next few weeks its unlikely to start until Jan 1st due to onboarding security checks etc etc anyway!

Bizarrely my pal has just got an offer and a start date of early December. Good rate as well. Talk about 11th hour. Good luck to him.

[heyya99]

I got an email from QDos about tax insurance. Should I go with it? Is tax insurnace just a gimmick?


Your Tax Enquiry Insurance was part of a special offer where it was provided free of charge for 2 months. If you wish to renew this will be at the standard premium of £99. Full policy terms and conditions are available by logging in to your account.

[SueEllen]

I got an email from QDos about tax insurance. Should I go with it? Is tax insurnace just a gimmick?


Your Tax Enquiry Insurance was part of a special offer where it was provided free of charge for 2 months. If you wish to renew this will be at the standard premium of £99. Full policy terms and conditions are available by logging in to your account.

If you search the forums rather than write random posts on someone's thread you would see tax insurance is discussed a lot.

[uk contractor]

Bizarrely my pal has just got an offer and a start date of early December. Good rate as well. Talk about 11th hour. Good luck to him.

Its changed a little in the last week I am up for several 12 month IB contracts on good rates with Jan start dates.

[heyya99]

If you search the forums rather than write random posts on someone's thread you would see tax insurance is discussed a lot.

I have searched and I cannot find anything sufficient. The search function on this site isn't good enough.