State of the Market

[hungry_hog]

Been looking a month or so (in a role at the moment)

Market in my area (banking IT) is atrocious. In the glory days (2005 - 2012) simply registering online would lead to a flood of calls from agents (sometimes too many!). I registered on the main portals, think I got one lead which quickly died.

There are so many people looking and so few roles, numbers are really against you, even if you are a perfect fit. Many contractors are being cut, or put on 3 month contracts, it's pretty terrible. Also a lot being "offered" contracts inside IR35.

[fiisch]

Your story of sitting around not doing much is common at the moment, especially in the Insurance industry.....

Thanks... that actually makes me feel a lot better about my situation. Since I've been a BA in insurance, I've had three different roles (1 perm, 1 contract to perm, 1 contract) and they've all been the same re.: very low workload for the most part, although the current role is by far the worst. It's actually made me feel very depressed, and seriously consider moving away from BA/IT work into a more operationally-focused position.

Absolutely my current situation would fail IR35, but what can I do? I took the role in good faith, I have repeatedly asked for more work, I am reluctant to search another role as 1). Personal circumstances (moving house) 2). There is the possibility that there could be some exciting stuff ahead for this company, and that would be a major asset on my CV.

As crazy as this sounds, I think the client would be disappointed if I left (I honestly don't know why), and I would feel bad for letting them down and leaving so soon after a renewal.... I am the sole earner in my household at the moment, and because I'm fairly new to contracting I don't have much of a warchest yet - certainly not enough to walk or offer to take a month off to see if things change. That said, with possible redundancies looming, I have started to put the feelers out, but my heart is not really in finding another BA role if this is what is going to be like..!

[northernladuk]

Absolutely my current situation would fail IR35, but what can I do? I took the role in good faith, I have repeatedly asked for more work, I am reluctant to search another role as 1). Personal circumstances (moving house) 2). There is the possibility that there could be some exciting stuff ahead for this company, and that would be a major asset on my CV.

As crazy as this sounds, I think the client would be disappointed if I left (I honestly don't know why), and I would feel bad for letting them down and leaving so soon after a renewal.... I am the sole earner in my household at the moment, and because I'm fairly new to contracting I don't have much of a warchest yet - certainly not enough to walk or offer to take a month off to see if things change. That said, with possible redundancies looming, I have started to put the feelers out, but my heart is not really in finding another BA role if this is what is going to be like..!

You can proactively improve your situation by looking around and leaving as soon as possible. Shrugging your shoulders and carry on racking up the potential fall out and making yourself more miserable to boot is not the way. Many of us contract for the flexibility to leave bad gigs so use that flexibility. Get yourself another gig that you can walk in to and then see. 1 contractor gig isn't enough experience to be writing off contracting. We all have them, it's part of contracting but there are many more good ones out there.

[fiisch]

You can proactively improve your situation by looking around and leaving as soon as possible. Shrugging your shoulders and carry on racking up the potential fall out and making yourself more miserable to boot is not the way. Many of us contract for the flexibility to leave bad gigs so use that flexibility. Get yourself another gig that you can walk in to and then see. 1 contractor gig isn't enough experience to be writing off contracting. We all have them, it's part of contracting but there are many more good ones out there.

Fair comment

Polishing my CV as I type this...

Question: If you're thinking of leaving your current contract, do you tell the agent you found your existing role through? I have a very good relationship with the current agent, and I have previously mentioned re.: lack of work at current role - would it be worth asking them to find me a new role, or is there a conflict of interest there?

[BlokeDownThePub]

Square One? Square Con

Anyone else finding it very quiet out there? th.

Here's an ideal opportunity for someone who sweeps the streets or stacks shelves and feels he's being overpaid.

https://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/find-...9CC958EED77F1/

[Hobosapien]

... I am the sole earner in my household at the moment, and because I'm fairly new to contracting I don't have much of a warchest yet - certainly not enough to walk or offer to take a month off to see if things change. That said, with possible redundancies looming, I have started to put the feelers out, but my heart is not really in finding another BA role if this is what is going to be like..!

"Carry on invoicing".

Don't turn down guaranteed income unless you have secured something else. i.e. have a contract offer in front of you. That may take more time than you anticipate so may as well keep earning while you try to secure interviews and go through the process. You do have a short notice period (or none at all) on your side of the contract, so can jump ship easy if a better offer is found? That's one of the benefits of contracting, no month or more notice period to worry about, usually.

Use the spare time to brush up on or acquire skills to allow you to move away from BA work if you decide to. See what roles you are interested in and who is currently doing them at client co then mooch in on them to get a feel for 'a day in the life'. The grass may not be greener.

[Hobosapien]

Here's an ideal opportunity for someone who sweeps the streets or stacks shelves and feels he's being overpaid.

https://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/find-...9CC958EED77F1/

Tell them the rate should be per hour not day.

Sites like IT Jobs Watch are ideal for finding out typical market rates. Usually SAP related roles are well paid so you'd be a sap for settling for much less.

[PerfectStorm]

Dreading an interview with yet another Scrum robot. Wish me luck.

[BR14]

Dreading an interview with yet another Scrum robot. Wish me luck.

good luck <another emoji needed>

[CoolCat]

Dreading an interview with yet another Scrum robot. Wish me luck.

good luck!