Originally posted by CosmicWave
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I have been applying for all applicable roles for the past 4 months, and I have not managed to interview on any role yet.
There are calls coming up from pimps now and then (including the ones I have done business with), and they all put forward my CV, and wait and wait and nothing.
When calls do come, they all seem to be the usual fishing type ones, trying to find out my earlier rates, and clients, etc, and not forthcoming with any info on the role they were supposedly calling me for.
There was one from an agent, and I had to submit a long (a very long) test - an end-to-end app, that would take several hours to finish.
That turned to be a fake role. Waste of time. I don't want to go into the details of that one! Really frustrating one to even think about it.
After that one, I have decided to never do tests (I never had to do one ever before, all of my contracts before).
It could not be my CV, I am pretty sure (some agents have even said they are waiting for feedback from client).
I have managed to secure contracts throughout the past (16+ years), with about 2 weeks max. gap.
Feels dreadful.
I need to get something sorted by end of next month at least, otherwise the usual holiday mood will kick-in and it will be early next year (after Jan) to get any roles showing up, which is also highly unlikely given new rules to kick in soon at that time.
Got some war chest, so can go on for some more time.
Am I alone? Has anyone secured any role in the past 4-5 months (Inside or Outside IR35)?
I am almost on tears!
Never felt this weak!!!! I am struggling to get words out of my mind now!... I will stop here.
There are calls coming up from pimps now and then (including the ones I have done business with), and they all put forward my CV, and wait and wait and nothing.
When calls do come, they all seem to be the usual fishing type ones, trying to find out my earlier rates, and clients, etc, and not forthcoming with any info on the role they were supposedly calling me for.
There was one from an agent, and I had to submit a long (a very long) test - an end-to-end app, that would take several hours to finish.
That turned to be a fake role. Waste of time. I don't want to go into the details of that one! Really frustrating one to even think about it.
After that one, I have decided to never do tests (I never had to do one ever before, all of my contracts before).
It could not be my CV, I am pretty sure (some agents have even said they are waiting for feedback from client).
I have managed to secure contracts throughout the past (16+ years), with about 2 weeks max. gap.
Feels dreadful.
I need to get something sorted by end of next month at least, otherwise the usual holiday mood will kick-in and it will be early next year (after Jan) to get any roles showing up, which is also highly unlikely given new rules to kick in soon at that time.
Got some war chest, so can go on for some more time.
Am I alone? Has anyone secured any role in the past 4-5 months (Inside or Outside IR35)?
I am almost on tears!
Never felt this weak!!!! I am struggling to get words out of my mind now!... I will stop here.
To me, you have been fortunate, especially when I compare my own experiences. I don't know why me exactly, but between some contracts, I had more than few gaps of several months on occasion. The shortest ever gap I had was 3-4 days. I finished on a Friday and then started the next client on following Wednesday week. I would love my gaps between contracts to be regular 2-4 weeks like yours, mate, but the music did not play nicely for me in that way.
My last gap of bench time started end of November 2019 and it stretched into early 2020. I wanted Outside IR35 contracts and then suddenly at the start of new year these contracts suddenly dried up. I panicked and started to worry desperately about outgoings. I then won a gig in the middle of February, but I did not official start until the middle of March. This was due to turmoil at the client, IR35 in the private sector debacle and confused contractors either leaving or staying on, transferring to umbrella. Whatever. My current contract gig is a fixed term contract and I am still working the FTC as it appears to be the only game in town. I'd be unwise to bail on it without a safety net. Clients, unfortunately, have the power in 2020. So you go figure tulip out.
Listen, your destiny will sort it self, you just have to keep applying, keep going. If you don't apply then you'ill never know.
In the past, I had to complete online and offline-at-home coding tests before the telephone interview in past, usually the client wants a telephone interview and then tells me the next stage is a test.
Your last experience to me sounds like speculative web design / architecture design . Maybe the agent wanted your answer and other candidates' best answer, so he could get his favourite candidate forward with the cumulative copied answer. (The sneaky bugger! Speculation from my side, however. Unfortunately, corruption happens in tendering processes alot, and perhaps it takes place in recruitment circles too)
Likewise, I'd also blow out a long winded test before a telephone interview (now COVID-19 Zoom, Skype and Team chat ). I would insist on the 25-30 online chat or telephone beforehand with the client representative: again as a defence against speculative design. (Oh yes, in the recent past, I had one of the InfoSys clowns try to get me to complete an online coding test, and they claimed to be the actual banking client hiring manager, which I knew they weren't.)
I know the state of the market is depressing, but you need to keep on going at it: coding, blogging, vlogging, connecting to be people on linkedin and most importantly learning now, push your portfolio, your github / your gitlab and keep up to date with the latest technologies with your precious bench time.
Good luck and chin up from this side.
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