State of the Market

[LondonManc]

Jobserve latest stats:

Min £30 per hour, UK, contract, last 7 days. No skill set or industry refinement done: only 805 adverts.

[Cirrus]

'job'? So you've gone permie then?

Keep up Cosmic!! You're supposed to pretend you play in a rock band, and call it a 'gig'

[oliverson]

Jobserve latest stats:

Min £30 per hour, UK, contract, last 7 days. No skill set or industry refinement done: only 805 adverts.

Current market is way worse than anything I've seen in 16+ years contracting. Even in the financial crisis, there were roles to be had, there was just a lot of competition for them. If it continues beyond the summer I may have to consider selling a car or a house! Still, at least I should be in a position to deliver my plan B.

[CheeseSlice]

Its not completely dead.

'Avance Consulting' are still regularly calling me from a basement in Bangalore... Sorry, I mean from their 'London office' since they've got a UK number, though the quality is very poor and scratchy for some reason. They ought to get that looked at.

..so there must be loads of work out there.

[hairymouse]

Its not completely dead.

'Avance Consulting' are still regularly calling me from a basement in Bangalore... Sorry, I mean from their 'London office' since they've got a UK number, though the quality is very poor and scratchy for some reason. They ought to get that looked at.

..so there must be loads of work out there.

I think those same guys keep calling me about a 300 Euro p/d role in Amsterdam. No expenses paid and I have to pay upfront for some kind of Visa. Seems like a different person calls me every week. When I ask why the client doesn't simply get a Dutch person to do the job, they laugh and say no one local will work that cheap.

[DrGUID]

I got offered a so-so permie job mid-March but since then they've really dragged their heels on getting the official offer to me. Thankfully it was through an agency so the agent is doing all the chasing on my behalf.

Aside from that I've never known the job market to be so dead. I'm not even getting "I need 2 references" phone calls.

What sucks even more is that I'm not entitled to any .gov support unlike EasyJet or the banks.

Thankfully I have enough cash for a while, but it's disheartening to see the .gov make an epic mess of something that could have been entirely avoided with some big decisions back in January.

[PlanB]

I got offered a so-so permie job mid-March but since then they've really dragged their heels on getting the official offer to me. Thankfully it was through an agency so the agent is doing all the chasing on my behalf.

Aside from that I've never known the job market to be so dead. I'm not even getting "I need 2 references" phone calls.

What sucks even more is that I'm not entitled to any .gov support unlike EasyJet or the banks.

Thankfully I have enough cash for a while, but it's disheartening to see the .gov make an epic mess of something that could have been entirely avoided with some big decisions back in January.

I have every sympathy for your position but fail to understand what decisions they could have made back in January to avoid this, in case you hadn't noticed the entire world is in the same mess, and no I don't believe China.

[perplexed]

I got offered a so-so permie job mid-March but since then they've really dragged their heels on getting the official offer to me. Thankfully it was through an agency so the agent is doing all the chasing on my behalf.

Aside from that I've never known the job market to be so dead. I'm not even getting "I need 2 references" phone calls.

What sucks even more is that I'm not entitled to any .gov support unlike EasyJet or the banks.

Thankfully I have enough cash for a while, but it's disheartening to see the .gov make an epic mess of something that could have been entirely avoided with some big decisions back in January.

You mean Jan when WHO were saying "no person to person infections" because that's the lie China told them?

[jayn200]

You mean Jan when WHO were saying "no person to person infections" because that's the lie China told them?

WHO is complicit in this.

[unixman]

Well, here has been my experience.

1. Applied for 7 gigs - all last week, week ending 27 March, 2020
2. 2 came back with a positive response and interviews were scheduled.
3. For one role, I chased the recruiter who said he will follow up with another email to the client but haven't heard anything back. This was last Friday.
4. Another one, the recruiter came back with positive news last Thursday but on Tuesday came back and said that the role has been put on hold and will get back to me if it went Live (not, when it went Live)
5. Third one, there has been no response after I sent my CV to the recruiter. No response to the follow up email as well.
6. Fourth, the rate was low and inside IR35 and had to travel but I went with yeah sure. Now, the role has gone into a permanent role. :-(
7. The last one, applied for it but no response back from the agency.

There have literally been no new roles at all this week!

Dead this week too, even the permy posts have gone awol.

Phone interview lined up with a major bank just down the road. No show from their end, and no explanation forthcoming. Other leads have been put on hold, frozen, delayed etc. Let's face it, nobody wants to hire anybody when they are focused on laying people off / implementing safety rules / shutting down limbs of their own business / managing WFH staff / worrying about their own job and the safety of their families, aged parents, etc, and being able to do basic shopping.