Two months contract - is it worth it?

[clearedforlanding]

I've been in the game for 20+ years. You are shouting into the wind with this Clients should do this, Agents should do that, HMRC may do this, If I ran the world sort of spiel. The don't care one tulip about you being disguised or not.

I'm just saying what I believe to be the case as per my experience.

We are talking here about BA/PM/SME type project contract roles. if you are doing one to three months in these types of roles then it is obvious you aren't up to the role. I'm not talking about one or two, if I look through your CV and can see for the majority of roles you are not being renewed, it is a bad indicator. If the role descriptions obviously point to what should have been long term roles, (6 to 18 Months) then you are toast.

Yup.

3 months as a BA - you managed to get everyone to sync their calanders in Outlook & hold a workshop. Great, start working.
3 months as a PM - Where do I even ******* start? Stakeholders on the same page, budget signed off, people cooperating with you - answering the phone? Technical team don't think you are a tosser? (Often a constant, they just learn to tolerate you) Great you've had a super induction, you can start working.

PMs & BAs get renewed as projects creep/stakeholders do not want a PM/BA change mid session. 3 months in a PM or BA role? I would wager you got fired. It is not worth the risk.

[WTFH]

My take on this "time period of contract" is that we as true businesses, just deliver to the needs of the client.
If the client knows that a piece of work is 2 months, then it is 2 months! Who are we or our agents to judge us on this, just because the contract was 2 months?
It makes no sense.


The reason could be varied - it may be a POC project, it could be a piece that they want to build for testing the market/waters for their product ideas, and could have hired the consultant to do the job for those 2 months or whatever.
Its entirely driven by the customer.

It is driven by the client, but not entirely.
Also, the client "knows" how long they expect a piece of work to take. That is not set in stone. Project creep (or shrinkage), poor definition, poor requirements gathering, and the quality of the contractor and those that they work with all affect the timescale.


Here's an example... A previous client of mine had a 7 month project, they went to various agents about it. The go live date was set, the timescale was calculated back. 7 months was the time and budget. Problem (for the client) was that I wasn't available. Client contacted me and discussed the project. I said I'd be available but only with 5 months until go live.
The project became a 5 month one, because that meant they got me in to deliver it.

If they do have more budget at the end of the piece, they will certainly have the contract renewed.

False. If the client has budget left over, they will not just renew a contractor on a whim unless they have more work that the contractor is the best person to deliver.

So - just because some one was not renewed, does not mean he was not good or not a committing person.
Its most likely that the customer did not have more budget!

... or requirement.

Most of us are true business - so no worries there!

But some don't seem to be particularly business savvy.

[DallasDad]

What about 1 day then?

Recently on Jobserve (I think)
I saw a gig for one day 'installing servers'
Further reading, it said must have own Van!

The entire thing made me chuckle!
I just could not imagine said white van man being let loose in a machine room.

Apologise to any van drivers reading this........

[clearedforlanding]

Recently on Jobserve (I think)
I saw a gig for one day 'installing servers'
Further reading, it said must have own Van!

The entire thing made me chuckle!
I just could not imagine said white van man being let loose in a machine room.

Apologise to any van drivers reading this........

AKA the most painful thing in the world. Inserting cage nuts.

I'd pass.

[northernladuk]

AKA the most painful thing in the world. Inserting cage nuts.

I'd pass.

It's paying £2500 for the day.....

[clearedforlanding]

It's paying £2500 for the day.....

I'd have to offset it against the cost of the van and a copy of Dragon Dictate.

[MrMarkyMark]

I'd have to offset it against the cost of the van and a copy of Dragon Dictate.

I think this is the sort of guys they were actually looking for:-

[Dactylion]

And I've seen this as well. We let a guy go just before Christmas that gave a good interview but also had a raft of three monthers. Turns out he was less than average so we got rid. He probably has and all he will do is bounce from client to client all his contracting career. Sad thing is there is no way for a client to know what he is really like. All we can do is really grill the next guys CV and make sure we drop them if there is any doubt... Which comes back to my comments about having no dates on the CV or anything different to the norm. If the client is wary then an oddity CV is going to be a hindrance.

Sometimes it's a shame ex clients can't give an honest bit of feedback without getting sued. Would remove the below average contractors out of the system quickly enough.

Nothing at all to do with lengths of contract but........

Is it just me or is NLUK's true mentality peeping out!!

We did this, We did that - FFS man there is no WE - You are supposed to be an independent Business providing services - obviously you are mentally so embedded at Client Co that you expect to get Luncheon Vouchers.

You don't take on Client Co resources - Obviously you may offer advice but to THEM...

AYSYACOTBAC?

[northernladuk]

Nothing at all to do with lengths of contract but........

Is it just me or is NLUK's true mentality peeping out!!

We did this, We did that - FFS man there is no WE - You are supposed to be an independent Business providing services - obviously you are mentally so embedded at Client Co that you expect to get Luncheon Vouchers.

You don't take on Client Co resources - Obviously you may offer advice but to THEM...

AYSYACOTBAC?

'We' being a partnership made up of a multinational group of companies offering a service to a client innit. Most definitely CO

[Scrag Meister]

Tad late to the thread, but I was initially on a 2 month contract, then another 2 months and then 6 more months.

So in essence 2 months as far as my current contract is concerned was just the start.