State of the Market

[TheDude]

Just make something up. It's something clients do ask.

If your client is a bank they will ask you to justify any CV gaps over three months and they will check all references for proof of tenure.

[JustKeepSwimming]

If your client is a bank they will ask you to justify any CV gaps over three months and they will check all references for proof of tenure.

Vetting will check what's on your CV (or powerpoint slide). I don't mean lie on your CV. I think it's better to lie about what you have been doing for the last 6 months than 'Been struggling to find a role'.

What vetting is doing with gaps is wanting to make sure you weren't banged up in Manilla for wire fraud. Bank statement showing normal purchases over the period would be sufficient.

[gables]

Not really. It's not as simple as 'just go perm for a while, problem solved!'. It's also going to be twice as difficult going back to contracting. If I'm going to make the decision to go perm, it's going to have to be for good, so it would be a last resort for me.

That's not my experience... went perm in Jan 2020 then back to contracting in May 2022 without any issues or gap.

[Bluenose]

In that case wouldn't it be better to go perm for 1-2 years and then assess what the market is like? or is perm also dead atm?

Perm is never dead its just a question of how little you want to be paid.

[dsc]

Perm is never dead its just a question of how little you want to be paid.

Well it can also be "dead" as in each perm job ad gets 120938102938123+ applications and can take ages with 6 stages and a dance, so not really for everyone.

Still being paid less is still better than being benched for 12 months earning a big fat £0 per day.

[Fraidycat]

Perm is never dead its just a question of how little you want to be paid.

You would have hoped the contract market worked the same way. That lots of low rate contracts would still be offered during bear markets, ie. number of contracts roughly the same as the good times but at much lower rates. But it doesn't work like that. Rates do drop in a bear market but the number of roles falls off a cliff as well.

[KinooOrKinog]

That's not my experience... went perm in Jan 2020 then back to contracting in May 2022 without any issues or gap.

Good for you then. I'm happy for you.

[Fraidycat]

Inflation numbers this morning were higher than expected. Core inflation increased to 7.1%, a 30 year high.
2 year Gilts back above 5%, FTSE 250 is tanking.
BOE base rate is heading to 6% and maybe even higher.
"Rates are expected to keep rising into 2024, with a strong chance of hitting 6.25%"

This Bear market for contractors could last another 18 months, with the worst yet to come

This feels like the slow down i remember from 1991 to 1994. Which to me felt like a longer bear market for IT jobs than either 2001 and 2008.

[dsc]

Core inflation increase is worrying. Question is what BoE does now, another 0.25% "hike"? then again loads of people are mortgaged up to their teeth, so...

[jamesbrown]

Core inflation increase is worrying. Question is what BoE does now, another 0.25% "hike"? then again loads of people are mortgaged up to their teeth, so...

At least 0.25%, outside chance of 0.5%. Only 15% of mortgages are SVR and fixes have already priced in large hikes for those renewing. Rate increases operate with long lags - effect so far is about 1/3rd of total effect. Looking at 18 months for full effects to wash through. Housing crash is all but guaranteed, recession later in the year and next year, most likely.