State of the Market

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

Still benched, market still garbage.

Didn't get a 3 month contract due to having 'too many short contracts' on my CV.

[uk contractor]

Join the club had 2 roles recently fall apart as they decided to get existing IT staff to cover instead to save paying for the contractor!

[northernladuk]

Join the club had 2 roles recently fall apart as they decided to get existing IT staff to cover instead to save the contractor salary.

The what?

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

Judge NLUK

HMRC Division

I'm seeing a few threads on here about people going permie + panicking about the war chest.

While I have a war chest I really would like to not be in this stagnated position of not accumulating massive wealth.

I am considering perm, it would be like a holiday - I would choose somewhere that has 32582935 benefits so I am basically pampered all day, do it for 6-12 months, then resign, no doubt to their utter dismay.

Reminds me of quitting the first IT job I ever had 4 months in, and the boss going '****!!!!!!!'.

[Hobosapien]

I am considering perm, it would be like a holiday - I would choose somewhere that has 32582935 benefits so I am basically pampered all day, do it for 6-12 months, then resign, no doubt to their utter dismay.

Reminds me of quitting the first IT job I ever had 4 months in, and the boss going '****!!!!!!!'.

Which is why some contractors may struggle to go perm if there is any whiff of such activity on the CV. They may also have employment contracts that mean you have to re-reimburse them for any training and other tangible costs they have invested in you if you quit within a specific timeframe.

To mitigate this to some degree you can make longer contracts appear as permie positions on the CV, and make any shorter perm jobs appear as contracts, as long as you don't rely on them for any reference checking or PAYE P45 requests.

It's all about selling yourself. Ask yourself what an agent would do. Answer: whatever it takes.

[Bluenose]

there will be some connection between the amount of new threads about going perm and the fate of some offshore taxed permie-tractors.

some said individuals have not done any training for past 15 years and now find themselves with out of date skills and find themselves needing a rate hike.

it can be a toxic combo.

[wattaj]

Optimistic agents...

I tend to like being on the bench for a while; it's a bit of a break from the near-endless "Agile" BS one has to put up with these days, but I still dip my toe into the JobSwerve cesspit every now and again to see what's available in case I miss out on something interesting.

And this one popped up today which made me smile:

Software Project Manager - 3 months - Glasgow - £350-400

Reporting directly into the PMO with Matrix management into the respective work stream leads to support the work stream driving our delivery and reporting commitments. This individual will possess excellent Programme Management experience. The ideal candidate will have worked on large, complex, global IT software delivery projects. This individual will work within the PMO defined delivery model and will support delivery best practices pertaining to scope, time, communication and budget management. This is a highly visible role and requires communication and interaction at all levels. The successful candidate in this role will work closely with senior leaders, have experience working globally and will be adept at creating and delivering executive level communications.

My immediate response was "yeah, good luck with that" followed my some finely crafted "executive level communications" along the lines of "**** OFF you cheapskate, bottom-feeding bastards."

Aaannnd... relax.

As you were.

[SussexSeagull]

Unexpectedly back on the bench from the beginning of May as the next phase of my project has been held back.

[AnthonyQuinn]

Judge NLUK


I really would like to not be in this stagnated position of not accumulating massive wealth.

Well. Wouldnt we all?

[NomadPanda]

Update on market

My hunt for the next contract continues. Agents sound gloomy about the state of the market "worst I've seen it in years" and "it's dead" and even the permie market has slowed.

I've also heard contractors are accepting lower rates as its a clients market. Dropping from 550 to 350 is a painful prospect.

Everything appears to be London based which is where I'm trying to avoid for quality of life reasons. I'm looking at everywhere outside London. Any industry.

Anyone here have a different experience recently? Particularly interested to hear from PM or BA as that's been hit hardest.