State of the Market

[washed up contractor]

6 months 6 interviews.
doomed

Hey dont worry! Do what northernladuk does. Go on jobserve and put your skill set in and you'll find more than 20 suitable jobs over a 7 day period.

The market is booming he tells us, boooooooom - ing!

[Cirrus]

Reality is a Cocktail best drunk Cold

Hey dont worry! Do what northernladuk does. Go on jobserve and put your skill set in and you'll find more than 20 suitable jobs over a 7 day period.

He didn't say that.

He couldn't say that because we didn't know the tester's skill set.

Northern could only have found 20 jobs that had a generic job title. They would have been spread over all sorts of technical domains with all sorts of keyword requirements. Those that didn't have specified skills probably actually required them which is why there was rejection at an early stage - you get resourcers who know nothing and do the intiial leg work. They then pass things on to agents who are not geniuses but will have a lot more detailed knowledge of what a particular client actually does.

And of course as with all sales situations only x% of 'buyers' actually finish up buying anything.

Many contractors dart effortlessly between assignments. I did that for a long time. Then others find supply exceeds demand and have to work long and hard to pull in contracts. I also did that for a long time.

Contracting can be tough. My view is if you don't get anything for x months, then carry on for another y months. Eventually you'll get a catch.

[BrilloPad]

I am recently finding jobserve a complete waste of time.

[LadyPenelope]

I am recently finding jobserve a complete waste of time.

So am I. I'm trying Indeed, although I'm not entirely sure it's better. There have been a few direct contracts on there I don't recall seeing on Jobserve.

[PerfectStorm]

JobServe seems the best aggregator for me...

Also got 2 interviews lined up, after moaning yesterday.

[SussexSeagull]

I got one interview off Jobserve in 12 months. The rest were through personal contacts.

[SueEllen]

I feel sorry for AtW. I've got a feeling the poor lad will be up all night frantically posting

That was my point to the tester in the other thread.

If you have been contracting for over 5 years then some agencies and agents should know you, so everything you are available make sure they know.

I have got roles simply from doing that and in many cases get selected for the role long before it hits Jobserve.

[Whorty]

That was my point to the tester in the other thread.

If you have been contracting for over 5 years then some agencies and agents should know you, so everything you are available make sure they know.

I have got roles simply from doing that and in many cases get selected for the role long before it hits Jobserve.

/\ this

After years of contracting you should have a few agents who know you, who know what you deliver and trust you. They would rather go to a contractor they know and trust rather than put an advert on Jobserve and get the world and his brother sending through tuilip CVs.

No guarantee your agents have any suitable roles, but should always be your first port of call.

[ascender]

The client i'm working for is looking for some experienced project managers, ideally who've delivered telephony projects. Experience of working for them previously would also be beneficial.

Of the first 20 cvs they've had through, there's only one who vaguely meets the criteria and they're definitely at the junior end of things in terms of actual experience. The majority of the other ones seem to consist of technical voice people who've added the words "project manager" or "programme manager" in to their previous roles in the hope they can pass themselves off as a PM.

Not sure if there's a lack of good people available just now or if the client is being hamstrung by having to keep going to their preferred agent, but its been a real eye-opener reading through these CVs.

[PerfectStorm]

5 interviews this week... hoping this is a sign of the tide turning.