List of contracting houses.

[sal]

Ok, it would appear that I have asked a bit of an open ended question. Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the general tone, that is to say "no such thing as a free lunch". I guess being in the same role for the past 16 years has made it difficult for me to now try and sell myself. I am going have to develop a whole new set of soft skills.

You asked a newbie question and people giving you hard time is just the beginning. Not sure what made you look into the world of contracting in this uncertain times nonetheless, but looks like you have some high expectations that are about to be shot down in flames.

Your chances of getting a contract by "registering" with an agency or "contracting house" (no such thing exists btw) is slim to none. Yes all the agencies are hoarding CVs and have massive databases with contractors, the problem is they are almost never used for anything more than mass e-mail spam based on keywords match by a script, without any consideration to actually match the job spec to actual experience.

The best chance to secure a contract is to actually apply for roles advertised on the major job boards like jobserve, cw jobs, indeed.

Like NLUK said - take a look at the useful links for newbies to the right

[quackhandle]

I might be coming out of left field here but have you gone to CWjobs or Jobserve and searched for "Oracle DBA"?

(presuming that's what you are?)

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

qh

[TheFaQQer]

Your chances of getting a contract by "registering" with an agency or "contracting house" (no such thing exists btw) is slim to none. Yes all the agencies are hoarding CVs and have massive databases with contractors, the problem is they are almost never used for anything more than mass e-mail spam based on keywords match by a script, without any consideration to actually match the job spec to actual experience.

That isn't correct for all agencies. At least one of the agencies in the list I posted work very much on a model of getting to know the client and the contractor and making effective matches rather than just looking for the quickest buck. Granted they are a rarity, but not all agencies are using a database just to send spam.