State of the Market

[TheDude]

Finally got round to duffing up my CV as i hate my current gig, then had a look on JobServe

Holy mother of Mary it's utterly dead

Yep.

I hate my current gig, especially the two days in Canary Wharf but the rate is great and the few roles I see would mean taking a day rate hit of 25-40%

[brightondeveloper]

Well it took six months but I start a new contract on Monday. Actually the best paid one I have ever had, so can make up for a bit of lost time, and is scheduled for six months so hopefully things improve for next time I am looking.

Can't really offer any advice apart from using your network and keeping going.

Good luck people.

Good work! Good luck with the gig

[avonleigh]

Well it took six months but I start a new contract on Monday. Actually the best paid one I have ever had, so can make up for a bit of lost time, and is scheduled for six months so hopefully things improve for next time I am looking.

Can't really offer any advice apart from using your network and keeping going.

Good luck people.

Congratulations

[rocktronAMP]

Well it took six months but I start a new contract on Monday. Actually the best paid one I have ever had, so can make up for a bit of lost time, and is scheduled for six months so hopefully things improve for next time I am looking.

Can't really offer any advice apart from using your network and keeping going.

Good luck people.

Congratulations SussexSeagull. Make it work.

I have been out since middle of March. I am looking for both permanent and a contract work. I thought contracting would be quicker to get that income, but the state of the market is so tight, lots of advertisements for the same Java,Kotlin,Big Data work .... but I believe these are mostly fake gigs. My speculation is that all the CVs are being harvested. The CTOs and even the CEOs don't have the influence and power to hire anyone sooner. I have had telephone calls from recently from rookie junior recruitment agents who think they nab somebody for low salary and low contract rates. I wish I had a side income or had the intelligence to write a mega novel, sell a niche course, or be someone successfully creative.

I hope you plug the lost 6 months income. Is your new contract role Inside or Outside of IR35?

[gruntling]

This smells like 2001 and 2008 to me. I've had a couple of interviews but nothing as of yet. There are about four roles I'm aware of (I know the company names) in my programming niche and they are constantly spammed on the job sites.

I've been contacted by agents on Linkedin about all of them and promised to use them and signed the usual bumf but they aren't getting any further to interview stage. An agent claimed one role was pulled (verified by another so maybe even true?) but it's just radio silence for the rest. They aren't ghosting me but nothing progresses.

What is happening? Are the agents just flooded with CVs or the employers dragging their feet? I can understand the Easter week or two but it's just dead the week after?

One odd thing is the claimed rates are still quite high but I wonder if this will continue?

Anyway good luck to all! I'm just plugging away with this and trying the exes and do expect work at some point but it could be months away at this rate.

[PerfectStorm]

Healthy market this last month. Lots of roles - majority I'm getting calls about are Outside.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Healthy market this last month. Lots of roles - majority I'm getting calls about are Outside.

It's hit or miss compared to what I'm used to. I did get a contract offer a few weeks ago which I have no turned down but it took me a good few weeks to find it. In the past I've had 2-3 offers come at once but that just doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Also, many of my contacts are struggling to find contracts and have been benched for several weeks. To add to that my phone has gone silent - something I'm really not used to.

[SussexSeagull]

Congratulations SussexSeagull. Make it work.

I have been out since middle of March. I am looking for both permanent and a contract work. I thought contracting would be quicker to get that income, but the state of the market is so tight, lots of advertisements for the same Java,Kotlin,Big Data work .... but I believe these are mostly fake gigs. My speculation is that all the CVs are being harvested. The CTOs and even the CEOs don't have the influence and power to hire anyone sooner. I have had telephone calls from recently from rookie junior recruitment agents who think they nab somebody for low salary and low contract rates. I wish I had a side income or had the intelligence to write a mega novel, sell a niche course, or be someone successfully creative.

I hope you plug the lost 6 months income. Is your new contract role Inside or Outside of IR35?

Outside. One day a week initially on site (about three hours away by train) with a few more nearer go live but they are paying expenses. TBH I have been in an office for two days since lockdown and think I need to get into the real world a bit so fairly happy with that.

I did start looking for permanent work but had no more success in that direction, although I got very close with a fairly well paid FTC. My suspicion is it is more interest rate stopping new work being started rather than the tech layoffs as I am not sure some of the people laid off from the big tech companies would have been after the same contracts as me but that is speculation on my part.

Keep going. You can not get 100 opportunities if you get the 101st.

[SussexSeagull]

Healthy market this last month. Lots of roles - majority I'm getting calls about are Outside.

That's great and the better than not getting calls but don't judge the market until you are sitting at your desk in a new contract.

[PerfectStorm]

That's great and the better than not getting calls but don't judge the market until you are sitting at your desk in a new contract.

I am - had a choice of 3