State of the Market

[pjt]

I would take a guess there are a lot less of them around as they used to be, although even in the good times I question how so many of them made a living. In my career agents have gone from being a fairly important part of the process to everything being transactional with them.

I got quite close to a few good agents while I was on the bench at the start of last year. This year a few of them have been posting on LinkedIn that they have left recruitment. Thats the good ones as well so I think they are probably feeling the pain just as much as we are.

[plutocrat]

I see plenty of desperate, haven't worked in a year type posts on Linked-In from both IT folk and recruitment folk. They're definitely in the same boat.

[ensignia]

I know the market is bad for Product people, but the last 2 years have been very lucrative for me as I've taken on multiple clients who've extended me far beyond the original end date.

Dread to think where I'd be if it wasn't for these clients. All Outside IR35 too

[PerfectStorm]

A rather nihilistic thought I came up with for anyone who does public sector contracting - regardless of what happens in other industries, the government's willingness to spend money on absolute rubbish will ensure that at least some new roles will come out in April.

Seeing behind the veil is depressing when you see what the thousands of pounds of tax you pay each month are spent on. But it can also be your salvation...

[Snooky]

Despite being awesome, I do struggle, to articulate tech terms

Or, possibly, you're not as awesome as you believe?

[sadkingbilly]

I would suggest that the poster who referred to the agent as a "snowflake" is one who better fits the description

you may say that, I got banned for a similar comment.

[SussexSeagull]

I know the market is bad for Product people, but the last 2 years have been very lucrative for me as I've taken on multiple clients who've extended me far beyond the original end date.

Dread to think where I'd be if it wasn't for these clients. All Outside IR35 too

What do you do?

[SussexSeagull]

A rather nihilistic thought I came up with for anyone who does public sector contracting - regardless of what happens in other industries, the government's willingness to spend money on absolute rubbish will ensure that at least some new roles will come out in April.

Seeing behind the veil is depressing when you see what the thousands of pounds of tax you pay each month are spent on. But it can also be your salvation...

Not so sure about that anymore, especially long term. The current government seem to have agreed with Dominic Cummins that the Civil Service needs massive reform and while the focus seems to be on the actual Civil Servants at the moment it will no doubt extend to procurement eventually.

That said, I have worked on some fairly failed projects in the private sector so it isn't exclusively a public sector thing.

[pjt]

A rather nihilistic thought I came up with for anyone who does public sector contracting - regardless of what happens in other industries, the government's willingness to spend money on absolute rubbish will ensure that at least some new roles will come out in April.

Seeing behind the veil is depressing when you see what the thousands of pounds of tax you pay each month are spent on. But it can also be your salvation...

I experienced the opposite. Until the end of 2023 I'd only ever worked in public sector and I was cruising. End of 2023 it all changed with all work drying up and my contacts all telling me their was no money for anything. Still hearing the same so public sector doesn't seem to be the gravy train it once was.

Took me 5 months to get something outside the public sector but now I'm on the private sector train I'm seeing a lot more opportunites.

[jamesbrown]

A rather nihilistic thought I came up with for anyone who does public sector contracting - regardless of what happens in other industries, the government's willingness to spend money on absolute rubbish will ensure that at least some new roles will come out in April.

Seeing behind the veil is depressing when you see what the thousands of pounds of tax you pay each month are spent on. But it can also be your salvation...

Tbh, I've seen clownshoe waste in both the public and private sectors over my contracting career. I'm not sure one is drastically worse than the other... but companies engaged in efficiency drives are the worst for destroying long-term value