State of the Market

[TheDude]

I've been doing this long enough to know that it comes with the territory, unfortunately, but after 4+ months without an interview & then getting an interview that seemed to go very well all for the agent to do the usual disappearing act & not answer my calls or emails is more than a little frustrating.

This is the new normal. It's frustrating but you have to move on.

[SussexSeagull]

This is the new normal. It's frustrating but you have to move on.

Been like it for a while. I suspect it is a combination of the role evaporating and not actually getting the role and the agent not having the decency to tell you.

[rocktronAMP]

I've been doing this long enough to know that it comes with the territory, unfortunately, but after 4+ months without an interview & then getting an interview that seemed to go very well all for the agent to do the usual disappearing act & not answer my calls or emails is more than a little frustrating.

How on earth are you surviving?

In the old world (pre Covid and also pre Off Payroll Working ruyles) an Outside IR35 job at £500 per day was equivalent to £10,000 per month.
You have now been in the dock for 4 months and counting that is over £40,000 gross loss income.

My very strong advice, here, is don't rack up credit card debt and get an permanent job right here and right now, if you can. It is a very sucky situation.
I know how you feel my man (I think you are a bloke), but debt is a slow killer and you like everyone else needs an income.
You must decide when to call time on the contracting, if indeed, you think it is not working out.

Good luck and I hope you find income very soon.

[The Green View]

How on earth are you surviving?

In the old world (pre Covid and also pre Off Payroll Working ruyles) an Outside IR35 job at £500 per day was equivalent to £10,000 per month.
You have now been in the dock for 4 months and counting that is over £40,000 gross loss income.

My very strong advice, here, is don't rack up credit card debt and get an permanent job right here and right now, if you can. It is a very sucky situation.
I know how you feel my man (I think you are a bloke), but debt is a slow killer and you like everyone else needs an income.
You must decide when to call time on the contracting, if indeed, you think it is not working out.

Good luck and I hope you find income very soon.

I've got a bit of a warchest still from having done 12 months at £500+ pd outside IR35 but that's not going to last forever.

I am applying for perm roles too but just like the contract opportunities, nothing is converting to the interview stage.

I'm really at the point where I am going to have to start considering any old McJob so at least I have some income coming in.

But, yes, I'm very worried and it's affecting my health & since Christmas I've had a succession of fluey type viruses as I'm so run down with the worry about the future.

It most definitely is not quality time off!

[hungry_hog]

I've got a bit of a warchest still from having done 12 months at £500+ pd outside IR35 but that's not going to last forever.

I am applying for perm roles too but just like the contract opportunities, nothing is converting to the interview stage.

I'm really at the point where I am going to have to start considering any old McJob so at least I have some income coming in.

But, yes, I'm very worried and it's affecting my health & since Christmas I've had a succession of fluey type viruses as I'm so run down with the worry about the future.

It most definitely is not quality time off!

It's very frustrating. My contract is up in 5 weeks and thought I would start the search early but just getting time wasters and chancers
Best of luck in the search

[Fraidycat]

I'm really at the point where I am going to have to start considering any old McJob so at least I have some income coming in.

Sad fact is Bob took our IT jobs. Not so much noticed in the boom times. But during slumps it will be hard seeing ex coworkers on linkedin, who only been in the country a few years, luck out and land contracts while you suffer on the bench.

It is the same reason why the easier McJobs (eg Supermarket shelf stacking) have 100+ applicants per opening (at least in London anyway).

Cant blame Bob, it is the Government bowing to big business who want cheap labour and wage suppression.

[The Green View]

Sad fact is Bob took our IT jobs. Not so much noticed in the booms times. But during slumps it will be hard seeing ex coworkers on linkedin, who only been in the country a few years, luck out and land contracts while you suffer on the bench.

It is the same reason why the easier McJobs (eg Supermarket shelf stacking) have 100+ applicants per opening (at least in London anyway).

Cant blame Bob, it is the Government bowing to big business who want cheap labour and wage suppression.

Well the writing's been on that particular wall for a number of years now.

At first I was worried but then it seemed I wasn't really affected as I was always pulling in roles whatever & I came to the conclusion it wasn't necessarily a bad thing as maybe the plentiful supply of cheap IT workers attracted more businesses to operate here & this had a trickle down effect to the home based workforce as well.

Not so sure about that anymore .

[oliverson]

How on earth are you surviving?

In the old world (pre Covid and also pre Off Payroll Working ruyles) an Outside IR35 job at £500 per day was equivalent to £10,000 per month.
You have now been in the dock for 4 months and counting that is over £40,000 gross loss income.

My very strong advice, here, is don't rack up credit card debt and get an permanent job right here and right now, if you can. It is a very sucky situation.
I know how you feel my man (I think you are a bloke), but debt is a slow killer and you like everyone else needs an income.
You must decide when to call time on the contracting, if indeed, you think it is not working out.

Good luck and I hope you find income very soon.

This is contracting. I've been clobbered a few times; 3-4 months in the financial crisis, a whopping 17 months with the pandemic + IR35 + brexit. Granted, some of that 17 months was by choice but most wasn't. It's just the name of the game. Peaks and troughs. I'm now back on an almighty peak thankfully but when this ends, and I hope it doesn't for a while, that's it for me. I really have no appetite for chasing contracts anymore and in my mid-50's I'm questioning just how many days of my life I want to keep on selling.

[SussexSeagull]

Four months isn't that long out in the grand scheme of things, especially if you are unfortunate with timing and are looking in the last quarter as Christmas seems to start at the end of October now. Give it five years and it will meet up with the Summer shutdown sometime in September.

I am being flippant but it has made the likes of me have to work out if contracting is financially viable anymore. An extended period out once every few years was par for the course and was actually long term quite good to sustain your career but you can't keep on running down reserves.

[edison]

Four months isn't that long out in the grand scheme of things, especially if you are unfortunate with timing and are looking in the last quarter as Christmas seems to start at the end of October now. Give it five years and it will meet up with the Summer shutdown sometime in September.

I am being flippant but it has made the likes of me have to work out if contracting is financially viable anymore. An extended period out once every few years was par for the course and was actually long term quite good to sustain your career but you can't keep on running down reserves.

One of the first bits of advice every old timer contactor gave me when I thought about going contracting was to expect my income to be a bit 'lumpy'.

I question whether contracting is really right for somebody if they panic about going back to a perm job after only 3-4 months on the bench. Every few years there is some major economic crisis. Covid, Ukraine war, 9/11, general recessions, financial credit crunch etc and that's just in the last 20 odd years.

Not many people predicted a global pandemic, 9/11 or the credit crunch, so all you can do is build up a good size warchest to ride out the inevitable lean periods.

I once had 10 months on the bench and another time six months, for family reasons. Both times my warchest was enough to keep me going. If I hadn't already had that financial cushion, I would have really struggled.