State of the Market

[Fraidycat]

I know the market has been tough for a long time but If you're making 500, 1000 or god forbid, 3000 job applications without success then surely you must question your whole approach as that many applications must be a huge waste of time if you're not getting a good number of interviews?

3000 sounds like a lot, but its only 12 per day. Could do that in just one hour a day or even less.

At the end of the day sending 1000s of applications costs zero out of pocket. Luckily we don't have to post CVs anymore, 3000 stamps aren't cheap. The last time i posted my CV by snail mail was in 1996

[willendure]

Jobserve down to 16K vacancies now. The biggest surprise is that Jobserve still exists, given most recruiting has moved to LinkedIn.

I am surprised to read this, as I never found LinkedIn was good for contract work. I actually deleted my LinkedIn profile earlier this year, as I got fed up maintaining it when it gave me no benefit I could see. I think this may have been a mistake, although I can always create a new one and try and reconnect with some of my old contacts. In fact, that sounds like a good idea, since it will give me an excuse to catch up with some great folk I have not heard from in too long!

LinkedIn is now a better place to find contracts?

[willendure]

For those holding their breath for an interest rate cut... you really don't understand how this works. There won't be a cut until the economy cracks, possibly not even until we are in the midst of a full blown crash like 2008 or 2001. An interest rate rise takes maybe 18 months to bring the economy to its knees, and a cut takes maybe 18 months to bring it back again - its called the lag effect. So buckle in kittens!

On the other hand, if there is a stock market crash and interest rate cut, and you happen to have built a cash position to prepare there will be good pickings to be had at around that time.

Sorry to hear the hard luck stories of some on here. We are highly skilled and talented people working in a dynamic sector of the economy and don't deserve this kind of siutation. But we are also contractors and must expect it as its all part of the contracting game. I agree with others that if you are not getting anywhere, keep trying new approaches until you succeed - rewrite your CV, learn new skills, try and make new contacts, and so on. Each time I get work, I find that the contracting landscape has changed and it takes something different to find a way in.

[TheDude]

I used to go out drinking with had a mate who was a C++ developer in London, Canary Wharf I think so he must have been one of the early ones down there. That guy's philosophy was 'dress like a professional and get paid like one'.

Sounds like the sort of life coaching idiot that dispenses advice on LinkedIn and spends their days cold calling people.

[OzzieExpat]

Just started looking for a new contract. I've been working down under for a couple of years. I started looking for new work about a month ago. Is it just me or are things absolutely dead? Normally I'd expect to be getting calls and interviews at this point. Is something bad going on with the market?

[northernladuk]

Just started looking for a new contract. I've been working down under for a couple of years. I started looking for new work about a month ago. Is it just me or are things absolutely dead? Normally I'd expect to be getting calls and interviews at this point. Is something bad going on with the market?

Read back a couple of pages. We've been going on about htis for awhile now. It's a nightmare.

[OzzieExpat]

Read back a couple of pages. We've been going on about htis for awhile now. It's a nightmare.

Sh*t, just read a few back. Seems like it's a least as bad as you say. Rates seem to have rolled back 10 - 20 years in to the past. I've only been out for a month, but something this time feels very different.

[sreed]

I am surprised to read this, as I never found LinkedIn was good for contract work. I actually deleted my LinkedIn profile earlier this year, as I got fed up maintaining it when it gave me no benefit I could see. I think this may have been a mistake, although I can always create a new one and try and reconnect with some of my old contacts. In fact, that sounds like a good idea, since it will give me an excuse to catch up with some great folk I have not heard from in too long!

LinkedIn is now a better place to find contracts?

Irrespective of whether you use LinkedIn as a job board or not, I’d definitely maintain a LinkedIn profile as (imho) that’s the first place people go to to ‘check someone out’ professionally that they don’t know otherwise. At least that’s what I do when I’m involved in any kind of recruitment.

[CheeseSlice]

Irrespective of whether you use LinkedIn as a job board or not, I’d definitely maintain a LinkedIn profile as (imho) that’s the first place people go to to ‘check someone out’ professionally that they don’t know otherwise. At least that’s what I do when I’m involved in any kind of recruitment.

Don't forget to keep connected to previous clients and hirers and anybody else controls budgets. Congratulate them or hit the like button when they post a job update, new achievement or something self-infatuating*.

*except for virtue signalling and other cringe posting of course.

[Fraidycat]

For those holding their breath for an interest rate cut...

I don't think anyone is holding their breath.

Just not many perm jobs around either.

So anyone out for more than three months with a small war chest has to decide when they try 'out of industry', eg a delivery job etc.. thats a very hard pill to swallow and most wont do it except as a very last resort, when things get desperate..