State of the Market

[fatJock]

Got to agree with SussexSeagull - all bar my first contract (eight years ago) have been via my network on LinkedIn or through agents / customers I have worked with in the past. Genuinely haven't applied for a role on a board beyond the first one.

Definitely got to keep in contact with your network especially once you get sight of becoming available again - I normally start giving folks a heads up on LI etc about a month out from the end of my current assignment.

[sreed]

I moved from a perm role to contracting based on an offer from a business contact, and my next couple of contracts came the same way as well. All outside and all at small ZIRP born fintech startups.

Since the ZIRP bubble burst, I've been on 3 contracts, all inside, all at large orgs and all landed through bog standard job portals online.

I'm sure it differs by person, skillset, industry etc. but at least for me as a generalist PM who's pretty flexible and doesn't mind inside or even FTC contracts as long as they aren't soul-destroying and pay what I need, I'll probably be getting future contracts through applying on job portals.

[hungry_hog]

LI dead as a dodo for contract roles, I suspect until GE is done.

In contract, but been keeping an eye last month or so - seems to be around 5-7 BA roles per week
That's not taking into account rates or quality, those 7 roles may have been absolute garbage, 50 quid a day counting paper clips.

[sreed]

LI dead as a dodo for contract roles, I suspect until GE is done.

In contract, but been keeping an eye last month or so - seems to be around 5-7 BA roles per week
That's not taking into account rates or quality, those 7 roles may have been absolute garbage, 50 quid a day counting paper clips.

There are a decent number of PM contract roles on LI but looking for niche subsets - experience/expertise in a particular area within a particular industry.

[avonleigh]

LI dead as a dodo for contract roles, I suspect until GE is done.

In contract, but been keeping an eye last month or so - seems to be around 5-7 BA roles per week
That's not taking into account rates or quality, those 7 roles may have been absolute garbage, 50 quid a day counting paper clips.

Similar numbers to testing roles. Saw a role today £150 p/d inside IR35 and five days onsite.

[oliverson]

On a plus note, I'm assured of another extension this month when current one expires. What a relief. Limping towards the finishing line!!

Good luck everybody.

[Fraidycat]

"UK GDP REPORT RELEASED UK GDP was unchanged month-on-month in April, new data from the Office for National Statistics shows, following growth of 0.4% in March. That is in line with City expectations, and shows the economy struggled to maintain momentum in April after leaving recession in the first quarter of 2024"


This, at least partly, explains why the contract market didn't have much of a bounce in April this year. May was also bad, even before Sunak called the election the market was in its current poor state..

[sreed]

"UK GDP REPORT RELEASED UK GDP was unchanged month-on-month in April, new data from the Office for National Statistics shows, following growth of 0.4% in March. That is in line with City expectations, and shows the economy struggled to maintain momentum in April after leaving recession in the first quarter of 2024"

This, at least partly, explains why the contract market didn't have much of a bounce in April this year. May was also bad, even before Sunak called the election the market was in its current poor state..

There’s a white-collar recession going on in the job market and has been for a while now. Whether GDP nudges slightly up or down or flatlines is relatively immaterial.

[Fraidycat]

There’s a white-collar recession going on in the job market and has been for a while now. Whether GDP nudges slightly up or down or flatlines is relatively immaterial.

There is almost 1:1 correlation between UK GDP and the IT contractor market

Market was humming along nicely between 2010 and 2020.

Then another boom off the covid lows:

Then GDP flatlines as soon as the BOE starts to raise rates in December 2021, contractor market turns down six months later.

This chart is a year old, but the flat line continues on for another year after:

[sreed]

Similar numbers to testing roles. Saw a role today £150 p/d inside IR35 and five days onsite.

Just curious, what did these kind of roles use to pay, say 10 years ago?