State of the Market

[Fraidycat]

And the interviewer says - oh yeah your said you were a specialist in "Power BI super duper turbo" and you try and remember what utter tripe you wrote for version 34 of that CV, submitted in x month of y year whilst doing a Morris Dance under a Full Moon.

If you lost track, then Just ask the agent for your CV before the interview.

Once i was even given my CV before an interview by an agent without even asking for it.

Highly tailoring your CV is really important in this bear market, because if you don't then many other applicants surely will.

[WTFH]

Highly tailoring your CV is really important in this bear market, because if you don't then many other applicants surely will.

There’s a big difference between tailoring your CV and lying through your teeth.
Tell the truth, then you don’t have to remember as much.

And secondly - know what the role is that you have applied for, and who the client is. When preparing for an interview, think about your past experiences and how they could be pertinent to the role.

Rather than asking for a copy of a document you wrote, ask for the names of who will be interviewing you and do some research on them. If you’re actually good at what you do, you will probably find out that they know someone you have worked with in the past who will say positive things about you.

As has been said in other threads - professionalism makes a big difference, and disappearing from one client to go to another, or fabricating your CV is not professional and gives you a bad reputation.

[BritishLad88]

The problem with this approach is you end up with 50 versions of your CV
You then have to remember which version of the CV you used for each job

.

I don't see this as a problem and is exactly what i've done in past whether it's for perm or contract.
I usually create a new folder for each application i make and just dump my tailored version of CV in there along with other optional stuff like notes and cover letter for instance.

something like this:

CVs-Applications/
opportunity1/
cv.pdf
opportunity2/
cv.pdf
...
..and so on


you just have to be organised, structured, and methodical with the whole process.

[hungry_hog]

Fair play
Probably explains why I only got 3 offers in 15 years
Thank god for LI

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

This is all pretty bleak. I'm in a gig thank god until july but it's *awful*, I am counting the days until it ends, every day is torture.

However if offered a renewal... it sounds like it might be a good idea to take it!?

How's the rest of the world doing, I would rather take a permie job anywhere in the EU or the UK than renew if I can avoid it.

[tsmith]

This is all pretty bleak. I'm in a gig thank god until july but it's *awful*, I am counting the days until it ends, every day is torture.

However if offered a renewal... it sounds like it might be a good idea to take it!?

How's the rest of the world doing, I would rather take a permie job anywhere in the EU or the UK than renew if I can avoid it.

Getting anywhere with perm has been a nightmare for me. Depends on how old you are, how in demand your skillset is, how long you've been a contractor etc

If youre youngish, not been contracting long and have relatively niche skillset - assuming your wont have much of a problem

https://www.reddit.com/r/ContractorU...absolute_dead/

Interesting thread - its mostly 'the worst Ive ever seen it'

[eek]

Getting anywhere with perm has been a nightmare for me. Depends on how old you are, how in demand your skillset is, how long you've been a contractor etc

If youre youngish, not been contracting long and have relatively niche skillset - assuming your wont have much of a problem

https://www.reddit.com/r/ContractorU...absolute_dead/

Interesting thread - its mostly 'the worst Ive ever seen it'

That group is depressingly full of idiots

[umeshk]

It's been awful, been on the market since finishing my last contract end of Dec 23, went away for a month, back on the market since February. Had a couple of interviews for perm roles but once you mention been contracting they get spooked. it is very quite.

[pjt]

It's been awful, been on the market since finishing my last contract end of Dec 23, went away for a month, back on the market since February. Had a couple of interviews for perm roles but once you mention been contracting they get spooked. it is very quite.

Snap! Been on ther bench since end of 2023 with very little in the way of promising leads since. First time in 16 years I've had more than 2 weeks on the bench and at the moment its looking like I might be waiting a good while yet for the next role.

[dsc]

This is all pretty bleak. I'm in a gig thank god until july but it's *awful*, I am counting the days until it ends, every day is torture.

However if offered a renewal... it sounds like it might be a good idea to take it!?

How's the rest of the world doing, I would rather take a permie job anywhere in the EU or the UK than renew if I can avoid it.

Europe is slightly better I'd say, UK still has positions but way more people applying, typically anything IT related is 100+ applications in the first 6-8hrs, this is hybrid mind you, anything remote is way more. Downside with Europe is having to know the local language, unless it's a big corp or Scandi (everything I've found in German speaking countries needed German).

I'd still take the renewal mind you, market might be better Q3/Q4 and there might be more roles.

I'm in the same position, end of July and it's like on bloody death row, especially with not a lot of work (you get even more "the end is near" vibes).