A warning about the FOS contract

[fiisch]

The daily rate at £205.00 may look attractive

It does not.

I can't help but feel you haven't done your research before taking this role, and made too many positive assumptions about the benefits of contracting without thinking about the practicalities, expenses etc.

I am aware (sadly through current personal experience) that the FOS are hugely overstretched and not equipped to deal with current demand. I can't see anything from your post to suggest they're an awful gig, just that you didn't fully consider the offer.

Once you're back in perm, it's awkward to go back contracting (I know this from personal experience), but best bet is to keep money in reserve to cover you when you want to make the switch. I would suggest targeting a significantly higher day rate to make contracting a viable proposition over a perm role.

[Cirrus]

Experience working as financial services contractors to open doors for better contracts.

So, as I thought, you currently have no marketable skills. You are an office temp.

[Eunomia]

So, as I thought, you currently have no marketable skills. You are an office temp.

I was, but am not sure how that's relevant.

I am now in a perm role related to the degree I studied. The purpose of this thread is to let people who are thinking of going into this contract know what it's like.

[Eunomia]

It does not.

I can't help but feel you haven't done your research before taking this role, and made too many positive assumptions about the benefits of contracting without thinking about the practicalities, expenses etc.

I am aware (sadly through current personal experience) that the FOS are hugely overstretched and not equipped to deal with current demand. I can't see anything from your post to suggest they're an awful gig, just that you didn't fully consider the offer.

Once you're back in perm, it's awkward to go back contracting (I know this from personal experience), but best bet is to keep money in reserve to cover you when you want to make the switch. I would suggest targeting a significantly higher day rate to make contracting a viable proposition over a perm role.

My former colleagues would disagree that it's not an awful gig. Many were prepared to work for long hours but it was the lack of security that had people leaving. Every week someone was being put on a plan and having their job threatened.

Financial Services contracting definitely isn't for me, I will agree with that. Compliance could be interesting and is related to my degree but complaint handling is incredibly boring and repetitive. That said, it can be good for graduates and other people who are relatively new to the world of employment. That's if they are trained properly and can at least predict how long their contract is going to last (this was not the case with FOS).

[Eunomia]

This is usually the norm though & sounds like almost every contract I ever did (and I have done well over 20 by now!). Contracting is just not for you I am sure the company you mention is a very poor place to work but equally so are many others in Financial Services especially it seems to attract the real douchebags! The senior people who pay the bills usually know this as well (you get what you pay for) but they get stuck with legacy staff who are hard to dispose of so eventually as more & more people leave because of this you get the scenario you describe as people leave they do not have a proper handover so you reach a stage where things break down & it creates a difficult working environment.

Do you really think it was that easy going contracting & they handed out decent money for nothing!

They paid higher rates for us to meet unrealistically high targets, we were aware of that. The money wasn't that decent though; our targets were double the perms' targets but pay was not double. We were also taxed a lot more than the perms were and didn't get holiday pay or sick pay. That's why I say that it's not not worth it at the end of the day. The difference between our pay and theirs was not huge in comparison to the difference our workload and theirs.

I had been on a similar contract before FOS. Managers were horrible but at least we were trained for much longer than 2 weeks. There was a degree of consistency over there that FOS lacked.

Case handling contracts definitely aren't for me; too boring and no one respects you. I can agree with that for sure.

[uk contractor]

They paid higher rates for us to meet unrealistically high targets, we were aware of that. The money wasn't that decent though; our targets were double the perms' targets but pay was not double. We were also taxed a lot more than the perms were and didn't get holiday pay or sick pay. That's why I say that it's not not worth it at the end of the day. The difference between our pay and theirs was not huge in comparison to the difference our workload and theirs.

I had been on a similar contract before FOS. Managers were horrible but at least we were trained for much longer than 2 weeks. There was a degree of consistency over there that FOS lacked.

Case handling contracts definitely aren't for me; too boring and no one respects you. I can agree with that for sure.

Not sure what your expectations are or were but everything you describe is exactly how it goes down on many contracts. They would not even need you if they could get existing perm resource to cover it would they! Based on what you posted above I am guessing you got paid via an Umbrella Company which is why you paid so much more Tax. If you had setup a ltd company you would have taken much more home.

[Cirrus]

The purpose of this thread is to let people who are thinking of going into this contract know what it's like.

I'm not knocking you sharing your experiences but i) I don't get the impression many temps look at this site as not much is relevant to them and ii) a number of people on this thread are getting the wrong idea you are talking about contacting in the form that most people are familiar with here ie selling a specialist skill. Case Management is not a skill unless you walk in the door knowing all about it before someone tells you all about the business context, applicable regulations, custom and practice, typical systems, resources, industry players etc.

What you didn't tell us is why you chose to take a temp contract (higher pay; higher pressure) rather than a permanent role. Contractors often face the same lifestyle choice: more pay for more danger.