State of the Market

[SussexSeagull]

Not really seeing the market pick up yet. Schools are properly back now though.

[northernladuk]

Not really seeing the market pick up yet. Schools are properly back now though.

Ohh.. Market dead because of school hols. Have we had that one before?

[SussexSeagull]

Ohh.. Market dead because of school hols. Have we had that one before?

In years gone by there used to be the Building Schools Future programme which was good for a couple of Summers for me but it was discontinued.

Things do tend to be quiet when the schools are off in the Summer. Don't think that is a massively controversial statement?

[northernladuk]

In years gone by there used to be the Building Schools Future programme which was good for a couple of Summers for me but it was discontinued.

Things do tend to be quiet when the schools are off in the Summer. Don't think that is a massively controversial statement?

Just pulling your leg. We've had so many posts with reasons why the market is quiet. Xmas, holidays, year end, leaves on the track, there is an R at the end of the month etc. It's such a generalisation it's difficult to quantify and matters not. If you are on the bench you keep applying, if you are not you keep invoicing.

Also just saying the contractor market is a bit general. That's a lot of skills in the same boat. If you look at ITjobswatch you can see two differences. Remember though its a scraper so it could just be agents have sod all to do so hit the fake jobs harder but...

If you look at PMs there seems to be a bit of a spike early year.
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contrac...0management.do

But if you look at developers there is a bit of spike 3/4 year in
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contracts/uk/developer.do

but many others have no discernible seasonal change.

So who knows. Just not a fan of market is dead because of schools, budgets, xmas type argument. Could just be me but in 8 years of contracting I've gotten 3 of them in December starting on 4th Jan so wouldn't let these things worry.

[SussexSeagull]

Just pulling your leg. We've had so many posts with reasons why the market is quiet. Xmas, holidays, year end, leaves on the track, there is an R at the end of the month etc. It's such a generalisation it's difficult to quantify and matters not. If you are on the bench you keep applying, if you are not you keep invoicing.

Also just saying the contractor market is a bit general. That's a lot of skills in the same boat. If you look at ITjobswatch you can see two differences. Remember though its a scraper so it could just be agents have sod all to do so hit the fake jobs harder but...

If you look at PMs there seems to be a bit of a spike early year.
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contrac...0management.do

But if you look at developers there is a bit of spike 3/4 year in
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contracts/uk/developer.do

but many others have no discernible seasonal change.

So who knows. Just not a fan of market is dead because of schools, budgets, xmas type argument. Could just be me but in 8 years of contracting I've gotten 3 of them in December starting on 4th Jan so wouldn't let these things worry.

It does tend to get used as an excuse several times a year. In my personal experience school Summer holidays and the run up to Christmas should be avoided if possible.

Then again I have found stuff in August and find January a good time to be looking.

Then again I am sure other people have different experiences.

[LondonManc]

It does tend to get used as an excuse several times a year. In my personal experience school Summer holidays and the run up to Christmas should be avoided if possible.

Then again I have found stuff in August and find January a good time to be looking.

Then again I am sure other people have different experiences.

In no particular order, the contract starts that I can remember:
June, October, October, June, April, July, October.

[The Only Way Is Keynsham]

In no particular order, the contract starts that I can remember:
June, October, October, June, April, July, October.

If I were to plot a graph of mine there would 2 peaks - one corresponding to August, the other December.

In other words, going against all the rules.

[uk contractor]

Having just come out of a contract after only 3 months (budget got yanked they had to downsize to someone with a lot less experience) I can confirm hiring managers are a lot more savvy than many give them credit for. They know exactly the state of play in the contract market as they get bombarded with recruitment agencies trying to market their way in with claims they can offer xyz candidates more than anyone else for a fraction of the cost

The overall job market is weak and has been for most of 2016. Zero hour contracts seem to be the only growth area right now. I wonder how long until that dreaded business model hits IT as its actually a perfect fit for many IT roles including permies jobs!!

[SueEllen]

In no particular order, the contract starts that I can remember:
June, October, October, June, April, July, October.

My contracts have started all over the place. I think May is the only time I've never started a new contract.

[northernladuk]

Having just come out of a contract after only 3 months (budget got yanked they had to downsize to someone with a lot less experience) I can confirm hiring managers are a lot more savvy than many give them credit for. They know exactly the state of play in the contract market as they get bombarded with recruitment agencies trying to market their way in with claims they can offer xyz candidates more than anyone else for a fraction of the cost

I'm not convinced by this argument and haven't seen it yet. You could imagine it would be highly attractive to do but many places still have rate cards and don't pick contractors purely on cost. Could be just my experience but I haven't seen this yet.

The overall job market is weak and has been for most of 2016. Zero hour contracts seem to be the only growth area right now. I wonder how long until that dreaded business model hits IT as its actually a perfect fit for many IT roles including permies jobs!!

Zero hours is a permie term so would be wrong to directly apply to what we so. That said we already work on a T&M basis so you could say we already are. Just a different language. We've already got two running threads on contractors that got binned with no pay because the budget/project evaporated.

Clients aren't stupid enough to start messing contractors around and making them miss odd days here and there. It's just a really poor model to use and wouldn't benefit them in the long run. Remember we do the same when we tell clients we aren't available when we go on holiday etc.