State of the Market

[JustKeepSwimming]

Quit a perm job in June, decently well paid (c.£110k base) but breached my tolerance limit for bulltulip and not much upward trajectory. 3 month notice period which was a drag.

Started contracting again this month, £750p/d inside. It's nice to be back as simply the hired help for a while

InfoSec in the energy industry.

The lack of upward movement for perms in the UK is shocking. Having known people do a role for 5+ years apply for the manager role and being rejected for the next level up due to a lack of experience, despite the team having to cover for the missing manager for many months whilst they recruit externally.

I wonder if it's to do with all the managed HR services wanting commission for hiring hirer grades externally rather than hiring a lower grade replacement for a promotion.

Promotions almost always cost less than an external as you know their salary and know they won't have competitor offers so can low ball them.

[SchumiStars]

No idea why we are having this downturn, pretty horrible for all concerned. Especially if you are halfway through a house project with absolutely no warchest or savings left and builders looking for payments

Never mind, could be worse, in that, I could also be injured and not able to run/cycle.

[SussexSeagull]

Current contract ends in four weeks. If I was a betting man I would have said I will get renewed although by no means a certainty so will start to have a look elsewhere.

[Fraidycat]

No idea why we are having this downturn

The most likely reason is companies doing belt tightening due to high inflation and interest rates and a weak stock market, the FTSE 250 is still in a bear market, still down over 20% from all time highs.

Although some posters on here are now saying the downturn is looking like it is behind us..
How are you seeing the market, are you getting many calls from agents? Any interviews?

[ajw19]

Just secured a new contract after about 4 weeks of bench time. Probably not surprising but l I made no progress in August and then three interviews in two days with two offers as soon as school went back.

I think roughly two thirds of relevant roles were deemed inside. This new one and my previous one were both outside and in financial services so while outside roles in that sector are the minority hopefully that is promising (or I've just been lucky).

[PerfectStorm]

Things getting a bit quiet where I am, so getting ahead of it and putting my CV out. Preparing to spend all day on the phone to the slime

[biergarten]

Just secured a new contract after about 4 weeks of bench time. Probably not surprising but l I made no progress in August and then three interviews in two days with two offers as soon as school went back.

I think roughly two thirds of relevant roles were deemed inside. This new one and my previous one were both outside and in financial services so while outside roles in that sector are the minority hopefully that is promising (or I've just been lucky).

how did you get the interviews? and did you contact agent first or the reverse?

[ajw19]

how did you get the interviews? and did you contact agent first or the reverse?

Agency replied to two applications and the third was an agency call from a cv of mine that was active on jobserve.

[fiisch]

Another contractor turned permie considering a return - but having contacted my network of reliable agents, there seems to be a wealth of BA contracts in the insurance world with rates of £6-700pd, mostly outside IR35. Certainly, enough to give me confidence to hand in my notice in the morning and start applying.

Rates compare favourably to my current permie salary of £98k - I know many would stay stick with the security of the perm job, but the politics is driving me bonkers and the work is truly soul-destroying and in a slightly different area to that which I enjoyed previously as a contractor... I've been agonising over this decision for much of 2023, but I think ultimately working as a contractor suits me much better.

[andromedan]

This might not be the most ideal question since obviously I can search and find the answer myself, but I'm interested in knowing what would be a competitive rate for someone inside IR35 in this particular market. I haven't had any experience with rates for those inside IR35 before, so I'm curious to hear others' opinions in case I decide to explore this option.