Is anyone else on the bench now?

[Lilibet]

Thanks everyone for your replies, just to reaffirm as the OP I dont intend to apply for JSA benefits and I didn't bring this up someone else on this thread did (as a joke originally or so I suspected). I literally started this thread to cry that I'm on the bench and nothing is moving my way and I'm not happy about it so wanted to know who else is on the same boat aka misery loves company....

[northernladuk]

Thanks everyone for your replies, just to reaffirm as the OP I dont intend to apply for JSA benefits and I didn't bring this up someone else on this thread did (as a joke originally or so I suspected). I literally started this thread to cry that I'm on the bench and nothing is moving my way and I'm not happy about it so wanted to know who else is on the same boat aka misery loves company....

Don't get too down. It's tough and comes to us all at some point as it is part of contracting. You've got to keep plugging on though. A guy has just shared his tough experience in the FAQ section of the forum and he's got through it so have a look at that and see if that helps.

https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...289-hello.html

[Old Greg]

NLUK - all I ever do is advise fellow contractors on the bench that its an option. Make your own mind up.

All I ever did was claim it once. Not a "flag of pride" at all. A contractor on the bench for too long is doing something wrong. Im hardly going to boast IRL to my mates that I can't get a gig and I'm on benefits, am I? (they do know I claimed "between" gigs though).

And I'd certainly rather not do it again to be honest. It was appropriate at the time for me though.

Alright. Don't go on about it!

[BigDataPro]

On bench since Dec. Not in a hurry to get the next, therefore not watching jobsites 24/7. But responding to messages that comes directly to LinkedIn Inbox and getting my hands dirty with Cloud technologies.

Big Data market is very good. Last week alone had three F2F, one got offered and awaiting on the other two.

[CoolCat]

Thanks everyone for your replies, just to reaffirm as the OP I dont intend to apply for JSA benefits and I didn't bring this up someone else on this thread did (as a joke originally or so I suspected). I literally started this thread to cry that I'm on the bench and nothing is moving my way and I'm not happy about it so wanted to know who else is on the same boat aka misery loves company....

I know lots of people on the bench, so dont take it too hard.

Hardly surprising the way work visas are being printed like confetti for the outsourcers to flood the country with IT workers from cheaper countries.

[molsang]

I know lots of people on the bench, so dont take it too hard.

Hardly surprising the way work visas are being printed like confetti for the outsourcers to flood the country with IT workers from cheaper countries.

There are quite a bit upmarket non-UK born contractors as well who arrived in deep recession post 2008 to test luck and done remarkably well. The problem in UK is education system and partly cultural, not many UK born highly skilled people.

[perplexed]

On bench atm, having got kudos points for terminating gig a week early - had finished the work so informed client to save them money. Yeah, not standard contractor "milk it" behaviour, but client were pretty good all the way along due to outside circumstances and I'd worked there before anyway. Keeps relations incredibly friendly, means chances of further work in a really good environment increased.

Had a certain agency ring this morning, wanting face to face meeting to discuss what they could do for me - humoured them, obviously. They want passport etc information without any roles being discussed, because it then meant they could send my details over to clients immediately... naturally, the info required in the email later sent included referees... I didn't even bother pointing out they hadn't requested permission to retain my details under GDPR...

[Lilibet]

Hardly surprising the way work visas are being printed like confetti for the outsourcers to flood the country with IT workers from cheaper countries.

Securing work visas for international workers is incredibly hard and has not been financially worth it for most UK based businesses. EU workers are a different story as they don't require a visa to work. I know of heaps of IT workers (and not just IT) from Poland, Eastern Europe, Western Europe etc who can give native UK born a run for their money in terms of skills, professionalism and drive. In terms of costs they are not cheaper than UK born and why should they be - its a free market. As a business you want to hire the best person for the role not always the cheapest one

[uk contractor]

There are quite a bit upmarket non-UK born contractors as well who arrived in deep recession post 2008 to test luck and done remarkably well. The problem in UK is education system and partly cultural, not many UK born highly skilled people.

I find this very hard to believe! Cheap yes certainly. Highly skilled only in their own heads! Just because companies hire you as your cheaper do not get confused that its anything to do with skillsets or education systems.

[uk contractor]

Securing work visas for international workers is incredibly hard and has not been financially worth it for most UK based businesses. EU workers are a different story as they don't require a visa to work. I know of heaps of IT workers (and not just IT) from Poland, Eastern Europe, Western Europe etc who can give native UK born a run for their money in terms of skills, professionalism and drive. In terms of costs they are not cheaper than UK born and why should they be - its a free market. As a business you want to hire the best person for the role not always the cheapest one

That is why they use outsourcers who do all the work for them under the disguise of work via schemes meat for other forms of workers! Do you think the government ever check up on them! The outsourcer takes the lions share of the rate the EU workers get paid a pittance compared to market rates. The ones I have worked with are being heavily exploited by as much as 70% less per day and would rather accept that than nothing back home.