State of the Market

[Eirikur]

I just lost an opportunity by being completely honest, whilst the guy before me clearly lied through his back teeth.

How do you know that, I suppose you weren't at his interview. Unless you know who it was and what his background is

[cloudy]

'Staggering' trade in fake degrees revealed - BBC News
"Axact, which claims to be the "world's largest IT company", operates a network of hundreds of fake online universities run by agents from a Karachi call centre."


Yet another sad reason why the IT Contract market is going the way it is!

I need to sort myself out a doctorate or two.. Lovely.

[Lance]

I need to sort myself out a doctorate or two.. Lovely.

if you bought a fake degree would it be a valid business expense as there's no training involved?

[uk contractor]

I need to sort myself out a doctorate or two.. Lovely.

Yeah & a few fake references to go with it! I never understand why people get away with this at the referencing stage I know they cannot give a bad reference. Me I would refuse to give a reference to someone bogus which would tell the other company to avoid them. Worked alongside someone a few years ago who used fake references & clearly was not even remotely technical the manager felt he had been tricked so sacked the guy (who was a major a-h0le anyway so not great loss) but he then went to the media & tried to sue claiming it was the race card reason!

[SteelyDan]

Yeah & a few fake references to go with it! I never understand why people get away with this at the referencing stage I know they cannot give a bad reference. Me I would refuse to give a reference to someone bogus which would tell the other company to avoid them. Worked alongside someone a few years ago who used fake references & clearly was not even remotely technical the manager felt he had been tricked so sacked the guy (who was a major a-h0le anyway so not great loss) but he then went to the media & tried to sue claiming it was the race card reason!

..and in which year did punctuation die?

[BR14]

..and in which year did punctuation die?

In the year of the 'smart' phone

[Hawkeye]

How are people finding things? Had two friends tell me that they have been on the bench for a year and just fond something. Have had a few calls a few weeks back myself but then the companies go cold.

At the moment my phone has not rung once...

[chicane]

At the moment my phone has not rung once...

At the risk of sounding antagonistic, are you just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring?

My perception is that the whole arena of recruitment is changing quickly. The days of uploading your CV to Jobserve and waiting for the opportunities to flood in are long gone.

Have you tapped up all your existing contacts from previous clients, updated your LinkedIn profile and marked it as "looking for work"? Are you attending all your local industry meetups?

[Hawkeye]

At the risk of sounding antagonistic, are you just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring?

My perception is that the whole arena of recruitment is changing quickly. The days of uploading your CV to Jobserve and waiting for the opportunities to flood in are long gone.

Have you tapped up all your existing contacts from previous clients, updated your LinkedIn profile and marked it as "looking for work"? Are you attending all your local industry meetups?

Done all of the above except local industry meetups. Am also studying for a Business Analysis exam which I am taking too and doing what I can to further up-skill.

[washed up contractor]

How are people finding things? Had two friends tell me that they have been on the bench for a year and just fond something. Have had a few calls a few weeks back myself but then the companies go cold.

At the moment my phone has not rung once...

Happily, I have retired (despite what a few knucklehead may want to think) so am no longer impacted by this.

It is the age old question and the age old answer. Depends on many factors such as where you are, what you work in, what rate you want and your skillset.

I never took the number of calls I got as an indication of how good or badthe market was. Agents are on the phone irrespective of how good or bad it is. That's how they generate leads.

What struck me most in the last 3 years I was working was how compartmentalised the contracting industry had become. When I started, switching sectors was a piece of piss. I started in utilities and switched back and forth with financing. Then, a couple of consecutive finance sector jobs meant it became very hard and nigh on impossible to get back into utilities.

Then it became the same faces filling the same roles at the same client. Mate of mine kept getting roles in the pharma sector. One contract would end then they'd find him another on site. When that finished he'd go back to the original role. Eventually when the pharma roles dried up, he couldnt get another role in a different sector.

In short, it has become a lottery out there. Thank god Im no longer involved. To the quoted poster, dont give up but at the same time, dont ignore other permie opportunities that may come up. Good luck.