State of the Market

[uk contractor]

Is it just me, or has there been complete radio silence from recruiters in the last few days? Last week, things were looking up and I was getting calls and my CV was getting sent out. Now there is NOTHING but crickets. This is not looking good at all.

Few will hire a lot of staff are working from home. Even if a vaccine was found today it would take 2 years for it to be readily available so in the meantime the job market is in a temp holding pattern.

[ContractorHardman]

So a couple of updates from me on the State of the Market...

I spoke with a friend in HR at a Investment Bank who deals with Permies but because of IR35 they are moving people to permie roles. They said the new IR35 ruling yesterday will be a bit of a nightmare for them because contractors will now drag their feet so they are expecting contractors to reject new permie role which mean they need to start unpicking everything. They said expect the market pick up to hit August/September for contractors.

I was approached last week for a role with a Niche skill set which is heavily in demand at the moment offering next to half the market rate. Client is expecting to lure in highly skilled contractors on the bench for cheap but in this role, they are struggling to fill it.

I am currently in Contract till the end of July having accepted and started a role at the end of January. It was not one of the big companies, just a small financial company but get a call every week for perm or contract roles which quire frankly aren't worth it financially.

Also, Investments will shut up shop unless its extremely urgent roles that could lead to losses or fines due to the situation in the markets. Lower AUM means lower income from fees and most have shrunk by a considerable margin over the past year.

[DS23]

green shoots

i'm starting to see green shoots of interest in the cloud version of my niche. it has been a long time coming but if the trend of calls & interest continues there might be a light at the end of this tunnel of downturn doom. 2 jobs on the go and the pipeline starting to bubble, just a little. i wonder if working from home for everyone will encourage some blue-sky thinking about next generation erp for the big corporates. bloody hope so.

[ruasonid]

moving to bench this friday. it will be a long haul this time. No hope of getting any job for a few months

Get a good cushion.

[hairymouse]

Had a really great second interview the other day and then the hiring was cancelled. I have a habit of noting the job server reference so I can refer to the position later if needed, and lately every one is no longer there. I'm getting tons of calls from recruiters but none of them have any roles, just trying to keep busy.

[dpilch]

very dire

So I finished up my last contract in New Zealand in November and made my way back to the UK in January (visa expired, sadly). I had no luck with the contract market so I decided to go the perm route and was made an offer 3 weeks ago. Today they called to rescind the offer due to covid-19, issues around business uncertainty and onboarding issues given they're moving the whole operation to remote.

I had a second interview this afternoon for an inside IR35 contract so fingers crossed that goes somewhere.

My partner lost her public relations contract in London on Wednesday, permies at the agency have had to cut down to 4 days work per week, lose 20% of their salary and have all benefits cut.

We are incredibly lucky to be able to live with my father right now and have few outgoings. The state of the market and issues around the virus have made things very dire, for many, very quickly. Hold on everyone, if anyone is struggling please, please reach out on here or please speak to Samaritans, their volunteers care.

[Mephisto]

Might be extreme but I have taken a min wage job temp role in a warehouse until it all blows over. Assuming we aren't banned completely from leaving the house that is!

I was damn lucky to get in and am grateful to be earning anything. Also a couple of trickles of very passive income.

Do whatever you can folks.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Contractor UK Forum mobile app

[dpilch]

Might be extreme but I have taken a min wage job temp role in a warehouse until it all blows over. Assuming we aren't banned completely from leaving the house that is!

I was damn lucky to get in and am grateful to be earning anything. Also a couple of trickles of very passive income.

Do whatever you can folks.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Contractor UK Forum mobile app

I'm in the process of finding some temporary work too. You're right, do whatever you can.

[PerfectStorm]

Day 457 of quarantine: I have resorted to burning pages of the business chequebook to stay warm

Not getting much interest this week ("are you up for permanent roles"), can't really enjoy the time off as I can't go anywhere.

[PCTNN]

Not getting much interest this week ("are you up for permanent roles")

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Pursue permanent opportunities too if they are available, then jump ship in 6 months when hopefully the general situation is in a better place.