State of the Market

[PerfectStorm]

Linkedin is a total disaster for gigs/jobs.

That's certainly been my experience. Rabbit hole links that lead to dead ends.

People always tell me it's "great for networking", but I don't see how befriending randoms gets you anywhere, the connections are worth less than zero. As are the endorsements.

[ladymuck]

i've had several gigs from Linkedin. - always from previous clients, or people from previous clients who've moved.
i do get tired of all the link requests from mumbai etc.

Same here. Most of my work comes about after I've put my availability out there.

[BigDataPro]

IMO linkedin really ought to sort their jobs section. It's utter crap. Many of them are just links to links to links. I remember one gig took me through three forwarding steps, two portals trying to get me to register and finally when I did it took me to the Astrazeneca jobs page where the gig was actually advertised and it closed months ago.

Could be much much better.

I agree. In my experience that was the difference between direct client ads vs agency ads. Direct client ads were just one click to upload your CV.

[Old Greg]

i always put my tinfoil hat on before i log in, just in case.

Inneresting.

[jamesbrown]

Tedious sockies interacting with tedious sockies in the professional forums. Great...

[BritishLad88]

The market looks dire... hardly any contract roles at all. It's starting to pick back up but still only niche roles. Pretty bad for a generalist.

Put my company on the side in dormant. Have gone back to Perm for a 80K salary. Take home pay on a montly basis is pretty much same as before when contracting but clearly missing out on the extra bucks that i used to slowly build up my chest & stash away in my business bank account.

On the plus side... have decided to put my financial investment knowledge that I gained from many years of working in an investment bank to good use & do a bit of various investment on the side. Slowly reaping my rewards but slowly. Hopefully in the long term that will make cover/compensate for the amount I used to stash up.

Also, hoping to get back into contracting maybe in a few years time if the market to get better again...

[LondonPM1]

The market looks dire... hardly any contract roles at all. It's starting to pick back up but still only niche roles. Pretty bad for a generalist.

Put my company on the side in dormant. Have gone back to Perm for a 80K salary. Take home pay on a montly basis is pretty much same as before when contracting but clearly missing out on the extra bucks that i used to slowly build up my chest & stash away in my business bank account.

On the plus side... have decided to put my financial investment knowledge that I gained from many years of working in an investment bank to good use & do a bit of various investment on the side. Slowly reaping my rewards but slowly. Hopefully in the long term that will make cover/compensate for the amount I used to stash up.

Also, hoping to get back into contracting maybe in a few years time if the market to get better again...

Intersting that you took 80K perm - Are you expecting a bonus or not? And what would your day rate have been in the good days on contract?

[BritishLad88]

Intersting that you took 80K perm - Are you expecting a bonus or not? And what would your day rate have been in the good days on contract?

To be honest, even in the perm market, it's not like we're spoilt for choice given the current climate. There's so much competition, people who have been made redundant, people who have been furloghed, contractors who exit their previous contract because of IR35 will all be fighting over jobs.

Rather than being out without a contract, some income is better than no income in the current climate. If i had a massive warchest, I wouldn't want to keep chipping away at it. My expenses are not that high these days with lockdown but still not good seeing your bank balance slowly dropping.

Before I was on 600 on a good day. The perm job's package would include bonus. For my current and short term financial needs, 80K salary (4K a month) is more than enough for me to go by.

In the current market right now, its very unrealistic to command a 90K+ salary. They do exist & i've definitely seen ads for it but to achieve those, companies are pretty much looking for a CTO level of a candidate. 120K+ salary are really in dream-land - the ones that been put out are either for really experienced people with very niche skillset OR likely to attract candidates & the chances are you would be offered a much lower figure if they like you.

In fact, 80K for a senior level is really good in my opinion. A lot of companies right now are only offering senior candidates at 60K - 70K mark.

[BoggyMcCBoggyFace]

Personally from what I'm seeing as a hiring manager in London FS its going to get worse and possibly a lot worse, either late on this year or early next year I can see lots of redundancies coming. Covid and the fact everyone has had to remote work has put the offshore model on a strong footing. I think some posts I have read on here the posters need a reality check, I did have one position I needed to hire and for reg reasons needed to be UK based I had over 200 applications for the role many were very over qualified. The only people I have seen do ok is contract to perm conversions that were agreed before covid BUT we will have to wait and see if HMRC come a knocking for them.

[LondonPM1]

To be honest, even in the perm market, it's not like we're spoilt for choice given the current climate. There's so much competition, people who have been made redundant, people who have been furloghed, contractors who exit their previous contract because of IR35 will all be fighting over jobs.

Rather than being out without a contract, some income is better than no income in the current climate. If i had a massive warchest, I wouldn't want to keep chipping away at it. My expenses are not that high these days with lockdown but still not good seeing your bank balance slowly dropping.

Before I was on 600 on a good day. The perm job's package would include bonus. For my current and short term financial needs, 80K salary (4K a month) is more than enough for me to go by.

In the current market right now, its very unrealistic to command a 90K+ salary. They do exist & i've definitely seen ads for it but to achieve those, companies are pretty much looking for a CTO level of a candidate. 120K+ salary are really in dream-land - the ones that been put out are either for really experienced people with very niche skillset OR likely to attract candidates & the chances are you would be offered a much lower figure if they like you.

In fact, 80K for a senior level is really good in my opinion. A lot of companies right now are only offering senior candidates at 60K - 70K mark.

Very very intesrting thanks for sharing

1) Is this in FS in London
2) Is that 80K base or including bonus?

I ve been contracting for 8 years plus with 15 years FS experience and a comp sci degree - My rate was always 650 and I am not joking when I expect 120K base and a 25K bonus plus 7% pension

Am I really crazy? Thi is front office IT system maintenance new feature deployment