State of the Market

[Fraidycat]

Agent phone me, 2 days onsite, central London, sc cleared, £400 inside.

I turned him down. I got the impression he was taking the Michael.

Is this ever going to end?

A couple of months ago you said you went to an interview for a junior role for something around £14per hour. But yesterday you turned away an agent phone call regarding a £50 per hour role?

[willendure]

The inflation data in the US killed any chance of multiple interest rate cuts this year everywhere, including the EU and UK. That seemed to have caused a major change of sentiment, a turn for the even worse.

I agree this is the cause. A lot of pundits now saying we can expect a recession in the US through the summer, but they are also saying that it might be short lived. Simply because they are geared up now for stimulus programmes due to 2008, QE, covid, silicon bank. When deflation starts the stimulus should also arrive quickly. Fingers crossed anyway.

My current contract runs out end of June. So I am being ultra positive and helpful between now and then. Tired of this gig, but I know that if I am out then it is going to be tough to find another, and this may well be the last outside IR35 gig I ever get too!

[Peoplesoft bloke]

That's the issue, half the applications didn't even get an auto rejection which is kind of unusual, but then again, maybe not so much anymore.

Unusual to hear anything at all for me - about 90% of applications result in tumbleweed.

[pjt]

Unusual to hear anything at all for me - about 90% of applications result in tumbleweed.

Not hearing back on a job add is what I now come to expect. Whats killing me is when an agent actually tells you your good for a role they have then ghost you. Its like chinese torture at the moment. Don't believe anything any of them are saying and not convinced may roles are even real.

[mookiemoo]

I've just read through the posts from Feb to now....... I took a perm job 2 years ago when the client I was at offered me one. For various reasons it suited at the time despite the paycut.

However, what has become increasingly clear is:

1. I can't handle 25 days holiday plus bank holidays - used to going away 3-4 times a year
2. There is a definite personality clash becoming apparent - maybe its 20 years as a contractor meaning I don't take jumping through hoops very well not sure but it ended up being told I was so awful at my job that I didn't deserve any pay rise (everyone else got 10%) and I was not getting my bonus even though they admitted I was severely underpaid for my role. Despite hardly being out of work in 20 years and had numerous repeat engagements - I don't think one goes from being good to awful overnight!
3. The work is drying up for consultancy I work for so not sure what will happen in a few months time

I'm thinking of looking for a contract and then just walking and telling them to stuff the job. the last few pages have been sobering. the only good thing is we are mortgage free and him indoors has a very good pension income which would pay the bills. I actually only really work for the holidays which I can't enjoy anymore as not enough time!

[Fraidycat]

1. I can't handle 25 days holiday plus bank holidays - used to going away 3-4 times a year
2. There is a definite personality clash becoming apparent - maybe its 20 years as a contractor meaning I don't take jumping through hoops very well not sure but it ended up being told I was so awful at my job that I didn't deserve any pay rise (everyone else got 10%) and I was not getting my bonus even though they admitted I was severely underpaid for my role. Despite hardly being out of work in 20 years and had numerous repeat engagements - I don't think one goes from being good to awful overnight!
3. The work is drying up for consultancy I work for so not sure what will happen in a few months time

If holidays were that important to you then you should have negotiated more holiday when you went perm, eg an extra 10 or 15 days of unpaid holidays.

Might have improved your mood on the job as well, maybe you would have jumped through a few more of those hoops..

[northernladuk]

1. I can't handle 25 days holiday plus bank holidays - used to going away 3-4 times a year

That's what sick days are for. Sorted.

[tsmith]

I've just read through the posts from Feb to now....... I took a perm job 2 years ago when the client I was at offered me one. For various reasons it suited at the time despite the paycut.

However, what has become increasingly clear is:

1. I can't handle 25 days holiday plus bank holidays - used to going away 3-4 times a year
2. There is a definite personality clash becoming apparent - maybe its 20 years as a contractor meaning I don't take jumping through hoops very well not sure but it ended up being told I was so awful at my job that I didn't deserve any pay rise (everyone else got 10%) and I was not getting my bonus even though they admitted I was severely underpaid for my role. Despite hardly being out of work in 20 years and had numerous repeat engagements - I don't think one goes from being good to awful overnight!
3. The work is drying up for consultancy I work for so not sure what will happen in a few months time

I'm thinking of looking for a contract and then just walking and telling them to stuff the job. the last few pages have been sobering. the only good thing is we are mortgage free and him indoors has a very good pension income which would pay the bills. I actually only really work for the holidays which I can't enjoy anymore as not enough time!

Perm is 70% Politics - 30% actual work.

Many of these perm leaders got there from outstaying everyone else not ability. If you are seen to better than them or dont toe the company line youre in trouble.

I tried to do the 'fractional' route with a perm role. They wanted 9am to 6pm - but didnt tell me the hours until after the offer. Fractional is a difficult thing to actually get any company to agree on.

https://www.ft.com/content/e3cfa50b-...8-c1dd6e457dba

"Now companies from Accenture to EY and McKinsey are slashing thousands of jobs. The valuations of consultancy businesses are falling — one reason EY pulled its Project Everest plan to separate its accounting and consultancy arms — while the industry’s reputation is under attack following scandals such as firms’ misconduct in South Africa.

Korn Ferry’s latest survey of North American consultancy partners showed the extent of the anxiety among staff. Nearly 60 per cent expected less demand and more pressure on fees in the coming year. More than 80 per cent were worried about having enough work and almost half expected further lay-offs."

[sreed]

As a generalist PM, I know exactly how it’ll pan out if I take on a perm role. The reward for doing well is just more projects! Conscientious permie PMs that are good at what they do get saddled with twice the projects handled by their less capable peers in the same team, while being paid the same. I’ve seen that time and again at the clients I’ve worked at.

As a contractor (or on a fixed term contract), there’s always an expiry date on my time so there’s more of a barrier to getting ‘rewarded’ with more work. Plus there’s a better balance of power so I can (and do) shrug and say sorry can’t take on anything more as I’ve got too much on my plate already.

Having said that, it’s all about what choices are available so if it gets to a stage where decent well-paid contracts are extremely hard to come by, I don’t have an ideological opposition to going perm. Mind you, the situation would have to be pretty bad!

[DrGUID]

Found a permie dev role after being benched for 33 days. I think that's the longest it's taken since 2002. This one is replacing a retiree and it's for a lower salary than my last role. At least it's work from home. The downside is I keep being made redundant from these roles due to being out of the loop as regards internal politics (not that I'm interested in getting involved anyway).

JobServe openings hit 14K this morning... is that the lowest ever? I guess it's mostly down to an excess hiring spree post-covid, but it doesn't bode well for the economy if investment in new projects are being canned. Stuff being postponed/canned was something I heard a lot from agents while I was on the market.

Still haven't heard about my JSA claim... maybe they're inundated, or too busy "working from home". Don't really need the money, but it stops the government wasting it on stupid stuff.