State of the Market

[uk contractor]

Been looking a month or so (in a role at the moment)

Market in my area (banking IT) is atrocious. In the glory days (2005 - 2012) simply registering online would lead to a flood of calls from agents (sometimes too many!). I registered on the main portals, think I got one lead which quickly died.

There are so many people looking and so few roles, numbers are really against you, even if you are a perfect fit. Many contractors are being cut, or put on 3 month contracts, it's pretty terrible. Also a lot being "offered" contracts inside IR35.

Banking IT has been in a bad state for a while now. The IT perms are also worried as they can see their jobs going to a cheaper overseas based option wherever possible. As you mention contracts are being cut to 3 months & rates are also nose diving to lower than ever before. One of the big problem is that far too many bogus Visa's have been granted to import workers leaving way less work & depleting the rate cards across the board as the end clients get addicted to cheaper costs. I do not see it changing much either its been this way for quite some time now. The days of easy big money in this sector are rapidly diminishing forever.

[Bluenose]

Thanks... that actually makes me feel a lot better about my situation. Since I've been a BA in insurance, I've had three different roles (1 perm, 1 contract to perm, 1 contract) and they've all been the same re.: very low workload for the most part, although the current role is by far the worst. It's actually made me feel very depressed, and seriously consider moving away from BA/IT work into a more operationally-focused position.

Absolutely my current situation would fail IR35, but what can I do? I took the role in good faith, I have repeatedly asked for more work, I am reluctant to search another role as 1). Personal circumstances (moving house) 2). There is the possibility that there could be some exciting stuff ahead for this company, and that would be a major asset on my CV.

As crazy as this sounds, I think the client would be disappointed if I left (I honestly don't know why), and I would feel bad for letting them down and leaving so soon after a renewal.... I am the sole earner in my household at the moment, and because I'm fairly new to contracting I don't have much of a warchest yet - certainly not enough to walk or offer to take a month off to see if things change. That said, with possible redundancies looming, I have started to put the feelers out, but my heart is not really in finding another BA role if this is what is going to be like..!

Not got much time to post at the moment but there are many peeps out there in your situation right now and have also been in last year or so. If you need someone to talk to then we (this board) are here to help.

The issue in Insurance is that big 4 EY/KPMG will create a tidal wave of transformational work around the big insurance/merger/acquisition deals but the big losses in insurance and brexit have slowed all this down.

The amount of BA work this will require will be the largest since Solvency 2 and will probably dwarf it.

Getting additional skills in an emerging niche BA area around ROPA and IAM will be a good medium term play.

[AndrewK]

From other news:

Barclays cutting:
Unite anger at 460 job losses at Barclays

Societe generale:
Societe Generale to slash 1,600 jobs in cost-cutting drive

BNPP just finished its round. And looks like new round is coming.

Some talks about HSBC.

Looks like it is going to be a fun year.

[uk contractor]

From other news:

Barclays cutting:
Unite anger at 460 job losses at Barclays

Societe generale:
Societe Generale to slash 1,600 jobs in cost-cutting drive

BNPP just finished its round.

Some talks about HSBC.

Looks like it is going to be fun year.

Societe generale is no big surprise a rogue trader lost about 7.2billion a few years ago. Cutting staff is the only way they can recover those losses! How Jerome Kerviel lost $7.2 billion - Business Insider
As for the others they all constantly look to trim operating costs staffing is the fast way to do that as there is little difference between the major banks if your an investor so the ones which have the weakest internal processes & outdated IT system will continue to outsource, offshore & cut staffing.

[AndrewK]

Societe generale is no big surprise a rogue trader lost about 7.2billion a few years ago. Cutting staff is the only way they can recover those losses! How Jerome Kerviel lost $7.2 billion - Business Insider
As for the others they all constantly look to trim operating costs staffing is the fast way to do that as there is little difference between the major banks if your an investor so the ones which have the weakest internal processes & outdated IT system will continue to outsource, offshore & cut staffing.

SocGen main driver - bad last quarter. 20% revenue drop.

Banks also moving roles to the continent and Ireland. Can't say how many, but there is definitely some movement.

[northernladuk]

From other news:

Barclays cutting:
Unite anger at 460 job losses at Barclays

Societe generale:
Societe Generale to slash 1,600 jobs in cost-cutting drive

BNPP just finished its round. And looks like new round is coming.

Some talks about HSBC.

Looks like it is going to be a fun year.

Playing devils advocate here but what do job cuts have to do with the contracting market?

[AndrewK]

Playing devils advocate here but what do job cuts have to do with the contracting market?

I think we all know that they go hand by hand. The only difference job cuts have to be announced. It is cost saving, and contractors are cost too. Every single time you have redundancies there is hiring freeze (including contractors) in place, contractors are not getting their extensions etc.

[Yorkie62]

Not a problem in the sector I operate in. Chronic shortage of my type of skill.

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[BR14]

Not a problem in the sector I operate in. Chronic shortage of my type of skill.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Contractor UK Forum mobile app

yep, not many experienced welly-chuckers left now

sent from my microsoft wireless keyboard using mkI fingers.

[Yorkie62]

yep, not many experienced welly-chuckers left now

sent from my microsoft wireless keyboard using mkI fingers.

Yep and hourly rate is phenomenal £xxx.yy per hour.

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