State of the Market

[founder]

I am temporarily in London and the unanimous opinion from agents is that there are 150 to 400+ applications for each role. Roles posted in Northern Ireland and northern Scotland are seeing 70% of applications from people based in London.

It suggests that the WFH dynamic is causing other issues. Rates are going down AND inside IR35 roles by default, to avoid business confrontation with HMRC after April. Not good.

I have had agents phone me asking if I will come into client offices full time in a fortnight. Some of these roles are in finance! I have said no, to remain honest, but may have to pretend I will go in and then take the job and make up an excuse to avoid having to travel long distances for low inside rates. I have never worked inside IR35 before and am reticent to do so now.

RIP contracting.

rip

[founder]

April 1 2022?

Sorry guys to be responding to these posts in this way but it is almost as if the evidence from the past 100 pages is being ignored.

The evidence is saying '200 applications per role' and it has been that way since March last year, thats almost 12 months. Unless you are contracted through to April 2022 expect to be benched for the entirety of 2021.

If, through some lottery (because thats what it is out there at the minute) you bag a role in April then you will be like the chap on the previous page wondering how he ended up being chosen and thank your blessings.

Skill and experience level means near zero in a bear market as brutal as this one, connections and contacts mean almost everything.

i cry

[Fraidycat]

RIP contracting.

Things will improve. 12 months from now things will be a lot better. And in 24 months it will be the start of another boom.

I have seen this all before (although not the pandemic stuff)

IR35 was introduced in 2000, with deemed payments due in April 2001, just a few months before a nasty bear market put a lot of us out of work for many months and when we did eventually find work it was on much lower rates.

[hungry_hog]

Seeing experienced BA roles on LI for 350pd inside. They would have been 550-600 outside in the glory days

In practice it's barely half the money (maybe worse if you were expensing a lot)

At that money not worth it. Private tutoring pays better pro rata. Plenty of rich parents in Hampstead desperate for Hugo to pass the 11+ so they don't have to fork out for private school.

[sira]

Things will improve. 12 months from now things will be a lot better. And in 24 months it will be the start of another boom.

I have seen this all before (although not the pandemic stuff)

IR35 was introduced in 2000, with deemed payments due in April 2001, just a few months before a nasty bear market put a lot of us out of work for many months and when we did eventually find work it was on much lower rates.

They will improve. The question is at what pace? We are living through the greatest economic crisis since the 1700's, plus brexit & IR35 as the cherry on top.

I constantly keep getting approached for permanent jobs, its getting infuriating. Another dangerous trend is that some employers are disguising contract work as permanent roles. Its usually blindingly obvious from the job spec/requirements. I've been seeing this more and more recently.

[Fraidycat]

I constantly keep getting approached for permanent jobs, its getting infuriating. Another dangerous trend is that some employers are disguising contract work as permanent roles. Its usually blindingly obvious from the job spec/requirements. I've been seeing this more and more recently.

Was the same in 2002, some contractors took really low fixed term work. I thought my £275 a day rate was low. But then they hired this chap who used to be a contractor (different skills from me) on 40K pro rota for six months FTC. He got like 15K after tax for six months of work.

It is obviously not ideal, but taking a perm role for 6 or 12 months is better than being out of work. Even better if you can pickup up some in demand skills.

[sira]

It is obviously not ideal, but taking a perm role for 6 or 12 months is better than being out of work. Even better if you can pickup up some in demand skills.

This really depends on your industry and sub-sector. I took a permie role to stay in work during the pandemic, but its kinda harmed my CV. In interviews I keep getting asked why I went from contract, to permanent and now back to contract. It's exhausting constantly saying "because of the pandemic".

I came to the conclusion, that its better to be unemployed than to work as a permie in FS, right now. It's not worth the stress, hassle and CV destruction. I'd rather have a low paid contract gig.

I've seen admin jobs paying per hour, nearly the same amount as some permie FS jobs. Better to get one of those to ride the wave and spend spare time re-training.

[edison]

Seeing experienced BA roles on LI for 350pd inside. They would have been 550-600 outside in the glory days

In practice it's barely half the money (maybe worse if you were expensing a lot)

At that money not worth it. Private tutoring pays better pro rata. Plenty of rich parents in Hampstead desperate for Hugo to pass the 11+ so they don't have to fork out for private school.

I don't know about a very affluent area like London but a friend of mine does maths tutoring at £35ph. He also has a side hustle including building Shopify sites for small businesses and between those two, he's decided not to go back and work in an IT role.

Hell, even my daughter's 19 year old GCSE tutor makes £20ph!

[jayn200]

This really depends on your industry and sub-sector. I took a permie role to stay in work during the pandemic, but its kinda harmed my CV. In interviews I keep getting asked why I went from contract, to permanent and now back to contract. It's exhausting constantly saying "because of the pandemic".

I came to the conclusion, that its better to be unemployed than to work as a permie in FS, right now. It's not worth the stress, hassle and CV destruction. I'd rather have a low paid contract gig.

I've seen admin jobs paying per hour, nearly the same amount as some permie FS jobs. Better to get one of those to ride the wave and spend spare time re-training.

You can't lie in FS right?

For me, I would just say it's a contract role or imply it by the way it's written on cv and in interview.

[sira]

You can't lie in FS right?

For me, I would just say it's a contract role or imply it by the way it's written on cv and in interview.

You can try. But it will flag up in background checks, as the previous employer would say its is a "permanent" or "temporary" job, right?