State of the Market

[dsc]

After some sign of life in the past few weeks, the situation has gotten very bad very quickly.

In the last 2 weeks I had:

- 1 contract role that was pulled by client after my cv was submitted and had an initial conversation wit the agent
- 1 contract role that was advertised as being at its last stages of approval...also scrapped (didn't even apply for it)
- 1 rejection from a permie role I wouldn't have touched with a 10-foot pole 12 months ago

6 weeks, then it's very likely to be bench time for me

I'm actually seeing a rather severally declining trend when it comes to even perm job offers (ignoring contracts altogether as that seems to be dead). I think most were hoping that September would kick things off a bit, seems like it's gone the other way, every week seems to be a bit worse than the previous one :/

[edison]

turns out 400 was just a hook, client said Max could pay 300. Why didn't even put those stupid things in the email

Or the agent had negotiated an inclusive day rate of £400 plus £x with the client and decided to chance their arm and see if he could gain £100 more margin.

[BigDataPro]

Just got the email. Back to bench from 5th Oct. Projects are getting canned everywhere.

It's not strictly 4 weeks notice as agreed but that's ok, I am fine with it.

Client is seriously considering keeping me and is looking at various projects where they can fit me in. I think 3 factors are making this happen.

1. Flexibility - I didn't whine when the notice period was short
2. Skillset - Exaggerated through my recent certifications
3. Rate - Not too high or low. Just 10% - 15% less than pre-covid rates.

So there is light at the end of this week!

[Old Greg]

Client is seriously considering keeping me and is looking at various projects where they can fit me in. I think 3 factors are making this happen.

1. Flexibility - I didn't whine when the notice period was short
2. Skillset - Exaggerated through my recent certifications
3. Rate - Not too high or low. Just 10% - 15% less than pre-covid rates.

So there is light at the end of this week!

Good luck with that!

[sira]

Bad results on two contract gigs I interviewed for, sigh. One said they reduced the project requirements from 4 to 2 headcount, so they extended offers to people with a few more years experience than me. And the second, the hiring manager told me that there's a strong chance she will offer me the gig but wants to interview a few more candidates, as she's looking for someone with at least 3yrs exposure to private equity (whereas I have 2yrs); so she's holding onto me as Plan B. Fine margins, eh.

These companies are totally just screwing people around. Processes are taking so long and they just place you into a holding pattern. It's not reassuring to know you're a Plan B from a job safety/security perspective. Think I'll settle for my lower paid & hopefully more secure Permie offer until a genuinely viable contract comes up. If ever.

Imo if theres a No Deal brexit, all of these new jobs and many existing jobs will be canned.

[founder]

Bad results on two contract gigs I interviewed for, sigh. One said they reduced the project requirements from 4 to 2 headcount, so they extended offers to people with a few more years experience than me. And the second, the hiring manager told me that there's a strong chance she will offer me the gig but wants to interview a few more candidates, as she's looking for someone with at least 3yrs exposure to private equity (whereas I have 2yrs); so she's holding onto me as Plan B. Fine margins, eh.

These companies are totally just screwing people around. Processes are taking so long and they just place you into a holding pattern. It's not reassuring to know you're a Plan B from a job safety/security perspective. Think I'll settle for my lower paid & hopefully more secure Permie offer until a genuinely viable contract comes up. If ever.

Imo if theres a No Deal brexit, all of these new jobs and many existing jobs will be canned.

just make a startup that takes their business

[founder]

Or the agent had negotiated an inclusive day rate of £400 plus £x with the client and decided to chance their arm and see if he could gain £100 more margin.

prob got a nice cowboy coders, client wont be able to tell the diff for 6 months

[oliverson]

The exact same contract ad has been posted by about 10 agencies now

Recession does bring out the worst among receuiters.

There's another company as well ' Joseph Harry Ltd'. Total bulltulip roles, plenty of them paying over market rate.

joseph harry ltd - Google Search,,,

Says it all.

[CheeseSlice]

There's another company as well ' Joseph Harry Ltd'. Total bulltulip roles, plenty of them paying over market rate.

joseph harry ltd - Google Search,,,

Says it all.

Their gigs on JS are very odd.
They'll post the same job or contract JD twice on the same day with different rates or salary. This is done every time.

e.g.
React Dev - contract
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTtV - £550-700 pday
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTtX - £400-550 pday

React Dev - perm
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTtc - £110-130k
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTtk - £90-110k

The next one is posted as contract and perm
Python Javascript Dev
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTt4 - £80-110k
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTt5 - £400-550 pday
They're exactly the same, they've just tweaked the desirable requirements, swaped the order or changed one line.

This one has been listed twice with different salaries, but they've inserted a cariage return on one of them:
Java dev PERM
https://www.jobserve.com/IcD19
https://www.jobserve.com/IcD18

This goes on and on throughout all of their listings, no exceptions.

[oliverson]

Their gigs on JS are very odd.
They'll post the same job or contract JD twice on the same day with different rates or salary. This is done every time.

e.g.
React Dev - contract
Job Expired - £550-700 pday
Job Expired - £400-550 pday

React Dev - perm
Job Expired - £110-130k
Job Expired - £90-110k

The next one is posted as contract and perm
Python Javascript Dev
Job Expired - £80-110k
https://www.jobserve.com/IZTt5 - £400-550 pday
They're exactly the same, they've just tweaked the desirable requirements, swaped the order or changed one line.

This one has been listed twice with different salaries, but they've inserted a cariage return on one of them:
Java dev PERM
https://www.jobserve.com/IcD19
https://www.jobserve.com/IcD18

This goes on and on throughout all of their listings, no exceptions.

Yes, those are the ones I've seen. I've not found an effective way of filtering them out of my JS search. Very frustrating.