State of the Market

[herman_g]

Not sure it's Brexit, from what I've seen it's always been hard to land work in Germany without some level of German (even job ads in English often have German listed as a requirement).

Quite possible the B-word has made Germany a more difficult destination.

I managed to get a contract in Frankfurt exactly 2 weeks after immigrating to the UK. My knowledge of German was limited to mispronounced "Danke Shane" which I knew from the song. I worked there for 6 1/2 years.

I found the Germans had a lot of respect for English speakers. B***** actually had no effect on my ability to contract on the continent as I took up EU residence when I saw what was coming to hit the fan. I've said here before, obtaining EU residence is not that difficult, but only got insulted for saying so.

I saw no UK-resident Brits taking up EU contracts until about 6 months ago. At that time, an agent I worked for started advertising for one of my previous clients stating the candidates must be willing to go to a meeting at the client one time per month.

Recently, 2 contracters have joined the "tribe" (group of scrum teams) I belong to at my NL client (one of the NL top 6 banks). Both work remotely in the UK replacing contracters (English speakers not from the UK) who had been recruited for insane money at the number 1 NL bank.

[SussexSeagull]

There has been no uptick in testing roles. Slightly more permie roles but nothing significent. As it happens I have been offered a permie role. I had given up hope at my age 55 and applying for hundreds of them over the last 2 years or so. Been lucky to still be in contract during this tulip show but time to switch. Will be weird as not been permie since 1998 but definetely the right decision I feel.

I think you are entirely right to check out of contracting and find something a bit more steady to hopefully take you through to retirement.

Good luck with it and enjoy the paid holiday.

[Dorkeaux]

There has been no uptick in testing roles. Slightly more permie roles but nothing significent. As it happens I have been offered a permie role. I had given up hope at my age 55 and applying for hundreds of them over the last 2 years or so. Been lucky to still be in contract during this tulip show but time to switch. Will be weird as not been permie since 1998 but definetely the right decision I feel.

A banana awaits, upon verification of your employment contract.
The permie "package" and contractor rates have been converging for a while now anyway.
Good luck!

[ShandyDrinker]

Can any of the Brexiteers name one single net positive of leaving the EU?

Other than "we won, you lost - get over it!!!"?

I think that's a rather immature take on it. I think the majority who voted Brexit, myself included, thought that finally, the politicians will have to listen to us. Nothing could have been further from the truth. For me, it's the accountability now more than ever. I accept that Boris Johnson and co shafted Brexiteers with his points based immigration system. However, he was cast into the political wilderness and now the true extent of his betrayal was all too clear with visa largesse, I suspect he will never get near power again, he's far too toxic.

Sure, the Labour party have talked tough on immigration but don't mean it at all. I had this confirmed in a constituency meeting with my local MP (a cabinet member) who really couldn't have cared less that mass immigration was putting people like me out of work, and that's before we even consider AI. No, she was more concerned with bringing in young immigrants who may have babies. Got to keep those public sector and ex-MP defined benefit pensions paid somehow.

The biggest benefit though is that people can now easily see who is at fault if immigration isn't controlled and take appropriate action.

[Manic]

Can any of the Brexiteers name one single net positive of leaving the EU?

Other than "we won, you lost - get over it!!!"?

Voted remain but demonstrably the work done to approve the Covid Vaccine months ahead of the EU was a major benefit.

[sadkingbilly]

use of the 'B' word in prof forums!!!!!!

[BlueSharp]

Can any of the Brexiteers name one single net positive of leaving the EU?

Other than "we won, you lost - get over it!!!"?

Not a Brexitor but the trade deal with the US is a net positive.

[ensignia]

Can any of the Brexiteers name one single net positive of leaving the EU?

Other than "we won, you lost - get over it!!!"?

[ShandyDrinker]

Many of us ran successful businesses that allowed us to easily work in EU countries. The state of the market crashed for us in 2016.
The rest of your story sounds like it came from a bunch of ex-tories who want to claim to be "men of the people", but are just serial politicians.

In terms of the current state of the market, US businesses are very reticent to invest right now because of their far right leader. EU businesses are investing in EU locations and I am seeing an increase in contact about that. UK businesses over the 2-3 years are becoming more insular and trying to do it themselves, which has worked out well for me when they realise that DIY is only a good idea if you know what you're doing, otherwise you have to get experts in to fix the mess.

On the first paragraph in particular, I disagree about the ex-Tories quip. I've worked in many companies over the last couple of decades where there have been particular contingents from specific countries. Not to be specific on companies, but there was an insurer which has an Italian contingent, an investment bank that seemed to prefer Portuguese, Polish and Czech workers. You get the point. While great for the individuals concerned creating a better life for themselves, not so great for the British uni graduates who can't get jobs because many companies seemed to have a policy of anyone but British.

If Government and companies had taken a sensible approach to trade deals and immigration, this would never have happened. But it did, so we got Brexit.

We're seeing the same thing all over again with the recent trade deal with India. Indeed I've seen a number of articles in the Indian media celebrating such as https://www.business-standard.com/im...2500383_1.html. While there are many that will doubtless be celebrating, how many British workers are being and have been displaced as a result? For the record, I don't blame those coming here seeking better lives for themselves. We'd all do it given half a chance. However, I do object when successive governments inflict this on us and put the livelihoods of British people, whether being older (50+) like myself, or younger people graduating and finding they can't get a job because it's cheaper to outsource, offshore or abuse the ICT system.

[ShandyDrinker]

That's not what I'm seeing, in fact I'd say it was quite the opposite.

There has been no uptick in testing roles. Slightly more permie roles but nothing significent. As it happens I have been offered a permie role. I had given up hope at my age 55 and applying for hundreds of them over the last 2 years or so. Been lucky to still be in contract during this tulip show but time to switch. Will be weird as not been permie since 1998 but definetely the right decision I feel.

I'm also likely to go permie. For me it would be the first time since 2008. While I don't relish the idea, given the prevalence of umbrella contracts in the current market, it's harder and harder to justify contracting if there's a strong likelihood you can be out of contract for 3-6 months, much longer if some of the posts on this thread are correct.

I also feel lucky to have started a contract in April 2020, just as lockdowns were in full flow, only just finishing my most recent contract in July, albeit with a different client.

There's a feeling of end of days to it for me. You only have to look at this forum to tell you how contracting has died over the last decade or so.