State of the Market

[hairymouse]

Well done sal, that's a decent result given where the market is at.

I'll say the same. What kind of work was this?

[Old Greg]

Back on topic:

Finished my last contract at the end of February. First half of March was promising, even though there were like 1-2 roles Outside IR35 per day I managed to get a couple of interviews two of them with former clients, which kept me optimistic.

Fast forward to second half of March. Two of the roles I interviewed for got canned due to Covid19 uncertainty/budget cuts (including one of the former clients). Lost the other former client role to someone just slightly better fit than me...

Since the lockdown there were like 2-3 roles/week with 100s applying for them and agents playing bidding wars to drive the already mediocre rates further down - no thanks.

Bit the bullet and applied for a couple of decently paid perm roles(£75k+ vs. usual £400ish/day, got three second stage interviews in a week. One got hiring freeze indefinitely due to Covid19, the other offered me £80k, cancelled the 3rd second stage interview as it was the worse role and didn't/couldn't match the £80k offer I already had on the table.

About £10k/year net pay loss based on real numbers aggregated from the last several years, not on hypothetical math, which were otherwise going into savings, but other than that we can keep the current budget without issues. The missus was going to get back to work after 6 years of child raising, which would have pretty much killed the benefit of £400pd vs £80k salary in terms of net income, so not that big of a loss. Besides 2 months on the bench, which was quite the possibility in the current climate would have costed us £10k of lost income from the perm job regardless.

Not bad start of my permy carrier with two 4-day weeks around Easter and 2 more coming in May at full pay Also 100% WFH for the foreseeable future, which sets a curious precedent.

[sal]

I think you did really well. I am at 500 per day for current and last couple contracts and I tried to look at perm jobs and no one had any interest in me over 70k. I just couldn't justify that big of a cut.

What do you do? Is it a technical role?

Technical role, infrastructure engineering/architecture. Current job is bog standard infrastructure engineer 50/50 BAU/Project work, which tops at about £80k, but the organization is growing and there is a good potential to move into technical architecture which tops at about £90k.

All 3 roles were in the financial sector, most other sectors usually only offer about £55-60k for senior techies.

Initially I was worried that employers will look with suspicion at a former contractor that hasn't had a perm job in 10 years, but this wasn't a concern. IR35 reform was good enough of an excuse, adding the Covid19 impact and most hiring managers understand.

My main fear of going perm wasn't as much the pay cut, as the direction and control and having to put up with direct supervision and management and HR nonsense. So far so good, very light to non-existent HR touch and almost complete autonomy from management. Ask me again in couple of months when I get hit with the first career development plan or w/e

[krytonsheep]

Under 30 released from lockdown in May
Under 40 released from lockdown in June
Under 50 released from lockdown in august
Under 60 released from lockdown in October
60+ kept in lockdown until cure

Hopefully it'll be over a lot quicker given the amount of attention on it globally. Over 600 clinical trials currently running.

[simes]

Had a good chat with an agent about a PM role over a couple of days.

Over 1300 applicants.

Subsequent to chat, thought I was going forward to client. And then I wasn't.

And then today it rained.

[GhostofTarbera]

Had a good chat with an agent about a PM role over a couple of days.

Over 1300 applicants.

Subsequent to chat, thought I was going forward to client. And then I wasn't.

And then today it rained.

Interesting, market must be getting better as 4000 applications per PM roles before Xmas

I take it’s just 1300 for that agent and role with 6 other agents


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[simes]

Interesting, market must be getting better as 4000 applications per PM roles before Xmas

I take it’s just 1300 for that agent and role with 6 other agents

Splendid. Had to laugh at this.

Good point. Yes, it was just the one agent I was talking to and I do not know if it was with others.

However, it was for a public client so I daresay it was with six other agents...!

So, as you say, market's getting better. If you're a PM too, and on the bench, best wishes sir. Race you to it.

[BigDataPro]

I was due to start new role 1st week of April. All preliminary checks have been completed and successful. Client called me just now and said they have pulled the plug on the project and are very sorry. Well, Understandable at times like these.

I now have time for few more certifications until normality returns.

Update: Starting the role next week. Received the laptop through post.

[oliverson]

Update: Starting the role next week. Received the laptop through post.

Good stuff. Congratulations. I had a mail yesterday regarding one of my leads that fell by the wayside a couple of weeks ago. Still only a 50/50 chance but if it comes off I'll be very happy. 100% remote with the exception of 1 week a month on client site in Europe. Fingers, toes and testicles all crossed!

[PerfectStorm]

2 interviews next week, stuff is happening if you're not a naysayer type.