State of the Market

[sreed]

As long as you can do 1-2 days Hybrid London (might well turn out to be largely remote in reality), The market looks fairly decent for generalist PM roles with insurance experience, at least at my level (mid).

My client has been trying to hire permie PMs and BAs from an insurance background in the 70-90k range for a good few months now but it hasn’t been easy.

[avonleigh]

Looks like another dead week, month. How long can this continue for?!

This is ridiculous now. I hate this.

Market is always quiet this time of year. Will pick up when schools go back. But when it gets back to some sort of normality is anybody's guess.

[oliverson]

Most bizarre thing happened to me in 20 years contracting. Client notification that they want to increase my rate!! Needless to say I'm not objecting!

[edison]

As long as you can do 1-2 days Hybrid London (might well turn out to be largely remote in reality), The market looks fairly decent for generalist PM roles with insurance experience, at least at my level (mid).

My client has been trying to hire permie PMs and BAs from an insurance background in the 70-90k range for a good few months now but it hasn’t been easy.

One of my past insurance clients has had the same problem after they decided to start getting get rid of most of the contractor PMs and BAs about a year ago. I know a few PMs who turned down perm roles there at first but eventually got better offers over £90k and decided to accept.

[Bluenose]

Looks like another dead week, month. How long can this continue for?!

This is ridiculous now. I hate this.

At least until after the October statement from Reeves.

[edison]

I've been doing this for 19 years (just started my 20th year of trading) and I've spent three months, two on the bench, unsuccessful in securing the next gig. Rates are down and expectations are up. Agents won't look at CV if it doesn't exactly look like the spec. My network has nothing coming up in their pipelines, whereas previously I'd be expecting one or two approaches from people wanting to line me up for their projects.

Irrespective of rates, higher client/agent expectations seem to be very common in this buyer's market, sometimes unrealistically high ones.

In my current role, the client had tried without success for a few months to recruit a permie. Then they struggled to find a contractor. The agent approached me on a hunch and I met less than 75% of the spec; on one of the key deliverables I had hardly any experience at all.

Luckily the hiring manager decided it wasn't a deal breaker and I've been doing the role for two months, I've been able to plug the gap a bit with some self learning too but I still think they might struggle to recruit my perm replacement based on the current JD.

[unixman]

I've been doing this for 19 years (just started my 20th year of trading) and I've spent three months, two on the bench, unsuccessful in securing the next gig. Rates are down and expectations are up. Agents won't look at CV if it doesn't exactly look like the spec. My network has nothing coming up in their pipelines, whereas previously I'd be expecting one or two approaches from people wanting to line me up for their projects.

Definitely going to get tuliped for this, but what exactly do people mean by "my network" ?

- previous clients?
- agents who got you a role in the past ?
- agents you regularly talk to?
- friends/former colleagues, whom you know to be working at <target company> ?
- all of the above?

It's a fairly common term on these forums, but kind of fuzzy.

Jim

[edison]

Definitely going to get tuliped for this, but what exactly do people mean by "my network" ?

- previous clients?
- agents who got you a role in the past ?
- agents you regularly talk to?
- friends/former colleagues, whom you know to be working at ?
- all of the above?

It's a fairly common term on these forums, but kind of fuzzy.

Jim

Yes to all of the above but crucially it also includes people you don't directly know or know well or may be a mutual connection of someone you do know well. Think of it as LinkedIn 1st level connections and 2nd level.

Another way to think of it specifically for finding new roles (perm or contract) is to think of your network as a tree. The trunk is your stronger, closer well known connections or 1st level in LinkedIn terms. The branches are your 2nd level connections and counter-intuitively can be better for introducing you to opportunities rather than friends and close colleagues.

Ultimately the bigger and more diverse your network, the more likely you are to get introduced to new opportunities, work or otherwise.

Can't remember the name of the book but someone did some research on what defines good luck in your life and found that those with larger and more effective networks were considered to have more good luck. It wasn't random good fortune but rather they were more likely to get introduced to more and better opportunities.

[ladymuck]

Definitely going to get tuliped for this, but what exactly do people mean by "my network" ?

Pretty much what edison said. I have maintained contact with several people over the years and we exchange various "are you free/do you have anything coming up" type emails periodically. Sometimes they know someone who knows someone.

I've been fortunate to get most of my work by referrals for about 10+ years and rarely have had to spend as much time as I'm currently doing, trawling job boards and LinkedIn every day.

[WTFH]

I'd add onto that list "my competitors", i.e. other people with a similar skill set to me. The ones that I might recommend to a site if I am busy, or if I'm on the site and the project scope increases.
If you are all looking for work, they are your competitor. If you are in work, they are your friend.