State of the Market

[_V_]

My client has been trying to hire 3 new contractors for the project for several weeks. Whenever anyone any good is available, the rates are very high and if the decision isn't made quickly, the candidates are gone.

I would say this is the best contractor market for decades. If you aren't coining it in now, you really need to consider, are you cut out to be a contractor?

[GigiBronz]

...

Amazon, being a big employer in tech has just poured fuel on this fire by raising their basic salary cap to c180k GBP without add-ons which may mean the basic salary for an ED level hire in a bank will need to get bumped to 200k GBP, if it has not already as Amazon et al. were already poaching people from the banks as it was due to, the quality of life and opportunity increases that working at Amazon gives you versus a financial services company.

agree with the above. although I am not sure people would want to land at Amazon, it's not called 'the PIP factory' for nothing.

other signs that market is rigged by the city cartels are:
- the approach to WFH - most of the banks are at 50% on site. salaries are a bit slightly higher but hours are longer as well so if any of them would have offered some flexibility - everyone would have flocked there so - all take the same approach.
- salaries, I believe the grades are agreed between them so that you are not incentivised to jump ship often. I've recently just come out of one and they could not bring any perm people on site. none at all. I was the only one, apart from my manager, in the London office.
The salaries are no longer attractive but they are not doing anything about it because HR hides behind the premise - everyone is paying the same so problem must me somewhere else. It is, salaries are very low for london.

My client has been trying to hire 3 new contractors for the project for several weeks. Whenever anyone any good is available, the rates are very high and if the decision isn't made quickly, the candidates are gone.

I would say this is the best contractor market for decades. If you aren't coining it in now, you really need to consider, are you cut out to be a contractor?

client is definitely complaining about the agency side rates which definitely are adjusted to market. what the poor bugger is getting in the end... that is a different question.

I am quite sure that during this period agencies will do everything in their power to not let the information come out which might include:
- push more bulltulip job adverts with unreasonable expectations and astronomically low rates;
- hire more 'research' people that would call and boss you around and tell you not what you are good at and how you can move forward - but try to put you in your place.
- they will corner you at the most opportunistic time to push a rate cut and if you do not play by the song will drop you entirely.

I believe that we should not only fight it for our own financial interest but also because a system that incentives a sleazy uneducated sales person to gain more than a highly skilled flexible resource is fundamentally wrong. We should stand for it both from financial interest and higher moral ground.
They run their shop from the premise that "A hungry dog is an obedient dog" so the more they squeeze out of you, the better the outcome is for them.

More experience people please feel free to add to this but some 'rules of thumb' that I use when discussing with agents:

- an agent with a role is like a dog with a bone, if you have not head about it in the first 60s, there is no role;
- also I tend to push for more details before jumping on a call to make sure there is an actual role at the other end of the call;
- there are a lot of back-office reasons why an agency might entertain a call with you, it's not always that they have a role - make sure that you use time wisely;
- if the agent says their name and agency quickly between the teeth - they do not have a genuine interest during the call - you would see this quite often - ask them to spell out their name and write it down - it shoes due diligence.
- ask for the desired rate and stand strong, do not entertain anything else. they will not refuse you on spot, worst case if they need someone - they will call back in a few days. £100 is not a strong reason for the negotiation to break down and negotiation is open until the contract is exchanged - if they are bringing rate into the question early on in the conversation or they do not call back - it means they were not going to pay anything close to what was discussed.
- there are some calculations of how to determine contractor rate and ultimately it is determined by the market (which is rigged anyway) but as a rule of thumb, what you can use is: (early salary equivalent of permi role) / 1000 -> this is the hourly rate for an outside role. to which you factor ~30% Inside IR35 extra taxes and any other fudge factors based on the risk of the role/client etc. but if you need a baseline, try making a excel file and running through the numbers. it will help you understand the figures and have more confidence to stand strong.
- do not entertain multiple interview stages - you can be fired on a spot with no recourse - they have the higher ground in the negotiation. most people do 30min tech challenge and a call. multiple stages are sometimes done to get you vested in the negotiation so that they you would entertain a lower offer later on. Also some of the background checks, annoying stuff that you have with a permi role usually serves the same purpose. do not let yourself fooled.
- do not do any technical challenges before speaking with someone from client team - if they are not willing to spend 30min on before the challenge - it means they are either not vested in the search/ your profile / back-office exercise - your chances are slim to get the role to begin with.


Another strong reason is that we've had very high inflation over the past 5-6y which deliberately has been left out of the public information but anyone with half a brain would have seen the prices skyrocketing on the shelves.
I will use an example from the permi market. If you were earning 75k in 2016, that would have been around £4.3k back then- fair lifestyle with some modest savings. Inflation since then has been around 50% due to various factors. So to maintain the same lifestyle and saving targets, you would have to be at around £125k today.

Sure you could argue that some people do not have any options, have families etc. Just cut the avocado toast.
But what purpose would it have for you to keep staying in the system if it is not providing you with a fair lifestyle and clear path in life.
Maybe if it is not working anymore, the answer is not to continue doing it and stop and focus on something else.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” - Einstein
“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”― Nassim Nicholas Taleb

These are indeed challenged times but a period when people should start looking for other ways of living their life. Living a life in indentured servitude is demeaning.
Try and be a bit more holistic about life, your purpose in it, what brings you joy and what not. What alternatives you would have apart doing the 9-5grind - which is increasingly less rewarding to be a part of. If you have other options, maybe now it's not a bad time.

"Go Big Or Go Home" - get a big rate that you are happy with or stop working and do what you enjoy. Working only to pay bills is for permies. Your mental health will appreciate it.

Stand strong people!

[SussexSeagull]

My client has been trying to hire 3 new contractors for the project for several weeks. Whenever anyone any good is available, the rates are very high and if the decision isn't made quickly, the candidates are gone.

I would say this is the best contractor market for decades. If you aren't coining it in now, you really need to consider, are you cut out to be a contractor?

Then they need to make a decision quicker and/or pay more.

I start a new contract next week and got interviewed by another client on January 25th and the agent was acting last week as if it was still a live prospect.

There is a special circle of hell reserved for clients who want to consider you for another role.

[SueEllen]

My client has been trying to hire 3 new contractors for the project for several weeks. Whenever anyone any good is available, the rates are very high and if the decision isn't made quickly, the candidates are gone.

Why are they taking so long to make a decision?

It is a contractor not a permanent resource.

if you cannot decide within 36 hours you want a contactor and give them a start date, then expect them to go elsewhere.

[PCTNN]

one thing I've noticed happening more and more often now is roles (both permanent and contract) being advertised as remote and flexible. Then when you ask them to confirm the role is 100% remote, they come back saying "it isn't, you pick an office from the various UK client locations and do hybrid 2 days in 3 days home"

[TheDude]

Amazon, being a big employer in tech has just poured fuel on this fire by raising their basic salary cap to c180k GBP without add-ons which may mean the basic salary for an ED level hire in a bank will need to get bumped to 200k GBP, if it has not already as Amazon et al. were already poaching people from the banks as it was due to, the quality of life and opportunity increases that working at Amazon gives you versus a financial services company.

From what I have heard from ex-colleagues Amazon is not the place to go if you value work life balance.

[eek]

From what I have heard from ex-colleagues Amazon is not the place to go if you value work life balance.

I think it's relative - AWS isn't my first (or 10th choice) but it's probably a better work life balance than an investment bank.

[TheDude]

I think it's relative - AWS isn't my first (or 10th choice) but it's probably a better work life balance than an investment bank.

The last couple of IBs I have been at have been very civilised WRT work life balance.

[PCTNN]

From what I have heard from ex-colleagues Amazon is not the place to go if you value work life balance.

I've heard the same. Of the 3-4 people I know worked there, none of them worked for more than 1 year (I'm talking permie roles)

I applied for a role at Amazon Development Centre a few years ago and I was not that impressed after the 1st phone interview, so when they invited me for a face to face interview, I declined.

The 2 main red flags were:
- when they talked about the job, the very first thing they mentioned was how great the salary was (if that's your main selling point, you know the job is going to be crap)
- the face to face interview consisted in 1 full day with them in the office. 6 1-hour interviews with different team members. Hard pass from me

[TheDude]

- the face to face interview consisted in 1 full day with them in the office. 6 1-hour interviews with different team members. Hard pass from me

I had eight one hour sudden death interviews for a permie job at a super day once. Not nice and completely unnecessary