State of the Market

[Excursion UK]

Over the last 2 weeks I had around half dozen calls about real gigs, and even have an interview lined up.

That's what we like to hear. Good luck.

[coolhandluke]

Had a couple of calls last week about real gigs, both came with a shocking day rate but would keep me ticking over. Usual agent radio silence so guessing I've not made the interview cut.

Still lots of movement on the perm front though. 1 Interview last week, two more this week. Money is ok and all of the jobs sound really interesting which is always a plus!

In my area it seems the ratio of perm jobs to gigs is about 90 to 1 (JobServe)

Good luck everyone!!

[GigiBronz]

Had a couple of calls last week about real gigs, both came with a shocking day rate but would keep me ticking over. Usual agent radio silence so guessing I've not made the interview cut.

Still lots of movement on the perm front though. 1 Interview last week, two more this week. Money is ok and all of the jobs sound really interesting which is always a plus!

In my area it seems the ratio of perm jobs to gigs is about 90 to 1 (JobServe)

Good luck everyone!!

Think clients have understood that if they have permies, they might get handouts from the state.
They probably have backdoor deals to keep them going for a while.
For the pesky contractors, they are tax dodgers, hard to motivate them. To the bin with them.
What we live in might resable but no longer is a free market.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

but no longer is a free market.

Too right. I've had my last remaining contract canned this week. The "ecosystem" for the product I work with consists mainly of consultancies and they occasionally hire in contractors for skills they lack. Some outfit has gone crying to the software house and they have issued an edict that independents must all be fired.

Customer actually said they were "gutted" to lose me (I was a bit pleasantly surprised to hear that to be honest) but I am toast nonetheless.

The Software house acts like the flaming mafia IMHO, but no-one seems to mind as they are the darlings of the industry - they are more teflon than Cummings.

The confluence of IR35, Covid and these practices mean there simply isn't room for the little guy any more.

[ladymuck]

Too right. I've had my last remaining contract canned this week. The "ecosystem" for the product I work with consists mainly of consultancies and they occasionally hire in contractors for skills they lack. Some outfit has gone crying to the software house and they have issued an edict that independents must all be fired.

Customer actually said they were "gutted" to lose me (I was a bit pleasantly surprised to hear that to be honest) but I am toast nonetheless.

The Software house acts like the flaming mafia IMHO, bit no-one seems to mind as they are the darlings of the industry - they are more teflon than Cummings.

The confluence of IR35, Covid and these practices mean there simply isn't room for the little guy any more.

Is there any opportunity to go direct for the ad hoc work needed by the client? I'm fairly sure you've already had that conversation or looked into it.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Is there any opportunity to go direct for the ad hoc work needed by the client? I'm fairly sure you've already had that conversation or looked into it.

Unfortunately due to the Mafia-style stitch up, I lose access to vital stuff (Cloud product) when not working via the Consultancy so I can't do all the stuff they need done - although I did have a chat about the possibilities it was a no.

[ContractorHardman]

Spoke with agent overseas about working for a Dutch bank who are massively in the tulip. He assures me its a real gig, speaks the manager (Best mates), the usual agent talk.

We got speaking about the market and he says its a two sided push. Agents are posting up jobs and getting in CVs because heads of departments have projects delivering but failing. Once they have a candidate and get to that vital point of sign off, it doesn't happen.

As someone said "We are having a defibrillator moment"

[coolhandluke]

Well had a call from an agent about a real live contract.

30 mins of bulltulip to go through and then he asked for 4 references as he doesn't want to place anyone not suitable. Glad to see the standard operating practice of agents still exists.

To be honest I really hope I get one of the perm jobs!

[Old Greg]

Well had a call from an agent about a real live contract.

30 mins of bulltulip to go through and then he asked for 4 references as he doesn't want to place anyone not suitable. Glad to see the standard operating practice of agents still exists.

To be honest I really hope I get one of the perm jobs!

Give them Gary Nevill's name of Universal Web Design.

[Excursion UK]

There seem to be one or two agencies that email me or call about roles that I really do not think exist.

The two that leap to mind are Computer Futures and Opus RS.

Even in the good times, from all the time I've wasted with them on the phone, I have not even had a single interview from any of their leads. And I've got a very good conversion rate, generally.

So the heart sinks when I get what seems like a perfect role land in my inbox and then I see it's from either of these 2 outfits.