Client offering Contractors Perm positions

[makscorp]

Mines more of a consultancy role where rates vary from £20-£30 an hour. im more closer to £30 an hour. However agencies in my field always push for contractors who are in the early £20's bracket

[Pondlife]

On a couple of recent occasions, agents I've spoken to have been quite happy to admit that their clients could only afford £15/hour.

I do have a couple of direct clients locally who are quite happy to pay 30-35/hour though, so maybe it's just greedy agents (surely not... )

With such a HUGE difference the agents are obviously taking the proverbial.

[chicane]

With such a HUGE difference the agents are obviously taking the proverbial.

Then again, if you knew what a tight-fisted bunch of ******* some clients are (*cough* design agencies *cough*), you might think twice about laying the blame solely on the agent.

But nothing beats the time, working at a previous employer, that I went into a meeting with one of our sales guys and a prospective client. She was starting up an escort agency and wanted a web-based solution whereby people could go onto a website, shop for an escort, view their stats, make a booking on a calendar etc - probably about 3 weeks work all in all for a competent developer.

So we come to the point in the meeting where my colleague, the sales guy, decides to go for the kill and asks what budget the client had to realise this vision.

"Well, last time I had a website done, it was £80, so I was expecting to do this one for something similar..."

Moral of the story: Never assume that the client has anything approaching a clue of the effort or money required to perform a technical task...

[Ruprect]

...So we come to the point in the meeting where my colleague, the sales guy, decides to go for the kill and asks what budget the client had to realise this vision.

"Well, last time I had a website done, it was £80, so I was expecting to do this one for something similar..."

Moral of the story: Never assume that the client has anything approaching a clue of the effort or money required to perform a technical task...

They'd pay that just for the friggin meeting. cheeky b*starts.

p.s. is it worth contracting for £15 ph?

[Mordac]

I did of course mean hourly x 1000...

I always reckon on hourly rate x 2000 for a permie package, less a bit for negoiation. There's no way I'd swap £50 p/h for £50K perm. £50 p/h is £100K gross, less Emps NI (making it high 80s). Knock off what you would swap for the "stability" of a permie role, paid holidays and the free training etc. and you probably get close to £75-80k. So the actual multiplier is probably more like 1500 x hourly rate.

[Mordac]

I agree with Chicane. I think most contractors can walk into a £25k job, but getting £25 an hour is difficult. The client is thinking along the lines of £30k perm is cheaper than £25 an hour contractor, therefore lets get perms in.....

If you find it a struggle getting £25 p/h, I think you need to reconsider your options. It looks like you're a BoS temp, perhaps you need to get yourself up-skilled and into a position where you can start adding value to a client.

[shoes]

Would you have any problems in getting another contract quickly in a location that is just as/more convenient?

Start looking for a new contract a month before the end of this extension, its a good time of year to be looking, if you haven't found one by the time the contract ends and you don't yet have a decent stash saved then take the offer. Spend your time in your new role looking for a new contract and being off sick. I don't think you could just tell them no thanks and have them roll over and offer you another extension, clearly they would have thought of this response and have decided that they can afford to not have you around.

I would imagine they are thinking of it like this,

Cost of recruitment, training and retension of new perm is budgeted for, continued use of contractors has no budget beyond the end of the extension.
Contractors going perm means a saving on recruitment and training.


The option you want of them keeping you on as a contractor is not on the table. The decision has been made, any suggested tinkering on your part isn't going to be of interest whether it is sensible or not.

[Sockpuppet]

BoS temp,

Can someone learn me what BoS is? Be gentle.

[cojak]

Oops. I kn-w I shou---'t ha-- boug-- N---man -ollier's old -C...

I did of course mean hourly x 1000...

You're always getting that wrong, Mal...

[DaveB]

Can someone learn me what BoS is? Be gentle.

Bum on Seat. Some one no different to an agency temp and treated like an employee. Told what to do, when and how to do it and given no independence of action.