State of the Market

[northernladuk]

Sad to say, for me, it's dire at the minute...

This makes me glum

[CoolCat]

Sad to say, for me, it's dire at the minute...

must admit after a bit of an intentional break I find it bleak now too

[SteelyDan]

This makes me glum

Sorry to hear that, but I'm sure you'll get over it m8...

[siphr]

must admit after a bit of an intentional break I find it bleak now too

Likewise...

[Dark Black]

must admit after a bit of an intentional break I find it bleak now too

Likewise...

Ditto, locally at least.

There does seem to be stuff about that would require either a long commute or a stay away. It's early days so I'm being picky and waiting for something local. If I'm still benched in March then I may consider further afield.

[Whorty]

I can see perm consultant roles becoming a happy medium for many contractors where the work is varied and project-based without the hassle and worry of bench time.

I wouldn't be too sure. I've worked for a big 4 consultancy, and compared to contracting it's chalk and cheese. I'd go client perm before I'd ever go back to a consultancy company.

[Whorty]

Will be rolling off current role at the end of March. I'd like to take a bit of time off, but if something does come along early I will take it. Be interesting to see how it all pans out, leaving on B* day

[Hobosapien]

Be interesting to see how it all pans out, leaving on B* day

Me too, though client doesn't yet know it.

No interesting work left at client and renewal due end of March, so trying to motivate myself to get clued up on some gaps in recent experience, so can change tack into a different role for a new challenge out of the myriad of ones I've touched on but not specialised in.

Been doing some research on Jobserve about what keywords I have on my CV (or could comfortably 'acquire') with the most opportunities locally or within 100 miles, to ensure I don't go down a road where there's not much future demand.

However, I think I need to blow my warchest (nothing motivates as much as being close to skint) as I just can't be bothered learning anything required for the next potential contract while I could afford to go on a long vacation for x years, which at the moment is more appealing.

[Cid]

Last gig ended 1st week of Jan and i started looking with earnest in Feb.
Landed new gig at the start of this week, so was benched for nearly 2 months.

this gig was as a result of being persistent with the agent.
no good just applying via jobserve and leaving it there.
Gotta get on the phone and do some chatting.

[Bluenose]

Is it brexit? Is it something else? Some pimps say it's always slow this time of year, while others said oh january is a great time to start looking... last september they also said it's slow. So who knows.

The contractor market was broken from approx. last May when it appeared that Brexit negotiations were going south.

After 8 years happily working in private sector contracting, I threw in the towel on private sector after 4 months on bench.

Quietly the government has tweaked its contractor procurement system to allow for non-IR35 staff to be employed with compliance to HMRC requirements in a matter of days, in my case 3 days from the requestor pressing button on G-Cloud to me coming in through the door and starting work.

This change happened in December.

I would expect that this will start the movement of contractors back from private sector back into public sector and allow the private sector time to recover its footing, once brexit decision is made.

Am now working on a gig in a good working environment with lots to fix and where I am invoicing same as private sector and getting paid that invoice on a weekly basis.