Finding direct jobs ads

[ittony]

I've been scouring the web looking for requirements listed on companies' own recruitment pages, not that it's exactly rich pickings for contracting opportunities so far, but the main problem is that most search results are from agents. Is anyone here using any particular sites or techniques for finding direct ads without having to wade through all the agents?

[DevUK]

I've been scouring the web looking for requirements listed on companies' own recruitment pages, not that it's exactly rich pickings for contracting opportunities so far, but the main problem is that most search results are from agents. Is anyone here using any particular sites or techniques for finding direct ads without having to wade through all the agents?

The only 'direct' contracts have been from my network of people I've already worked with, I'm afraid. I've never needed/wanted to filter by direct so can't advise how, my assumption would be that most (by far) are via an agent if they don't have a network of preferred suppliers they'd go to directly.

As an aside (sort of), I don't know what your market is but contracting across many industries is really, really quiet at the moment for obvious reasons - making the hunt harder again by filtering out anything but direct sounds like hell.

[Eirikur]

Some of the bigger consultancies have portals where you can register as an associate.

[GhostofTarbera]

I've been scouring the web looking for requirements listed on companies' own recruitment pages, not that it's exactly rich pickings for contracting opportunities so far, but the main problem is that most search results are from agents. Is anyone here using any particular sites or techniques for finding direct ads without having to wade through all the agents?

ContractSpy is what you are looking for

I subscribed and got a few interviews from them, I then unsubscribed as I no longer needed them (leads were ok, not superb or rubbish - just ok)

Blurb below from email this morning


As an IT Contractor, you will be well aware that it is vital to keep fully up-to-date with the current contract marketplace, to enable you to find those top contracts in a timely manner. However, you might not be quite so aware that many contracts are simply no longer being offered by agencies, but rather directly by the user organisations themselves....and this is where Contract Spy comes in, enabling you to broaden your horizons and give you a wider choice of the very best contracts available.

Previously, it has been very difficult for the contractor to actually find genuine direct contracts, on anything other than an ad hoc basis. Contract Spy now addresses this very issue, in the IT sector, by providing the very best current market intelligence via a searchable database of direct-only contracts, along with a daily inbox feed of the most recent roles, giving you easy access to the very best current direct contracts. You can also set up your own direct contract alerts, ensuring that you will never miss the latest contracts that match your particular IT specialism(s).

Contract Spy is the UK's only Direct Contract Aggregator.

Why Should I Contract Direct?

- Typically, a higher rate is on offer from the client than would be available if the same contract was being offered via an agency intermediary. This is because there is no agency intermediary to take a margin out of the pot.

- It is the more enlightened and higher-tier organisations which are offering directly to freelancers, as they are the ones with the developed in-house infrastructure; increasingly, the very best contracts are now getting nowhere near the traditional agency sector (see below for examples).

- The client becomes your client, not the agency's, and this enables you to build a client portfolio which is genuinely your own.

- You have immediate direct access to your client right from the outset, leading to fewer delays (and a better chance of landing the contract, since as we know, time is of the essence in contract negotiations).

- Direct access makes it easier to negotiate specific contract terms, such as home/remote/flexible working arrangements.

- Direct contracting makes it much easier for the freelancer to secure a working status outside of the HMRC IR35 regulations, making self-employed status much more transparent. Indeed, the very act of subscribing to the Contract Spy service will, ipso facto, indicate your serious freelancer credentials.

So, What Is Contract Spy?

As a member of Contract Spy, you get full access to our searchable database of direct contracts, along with the ability to set up bespoke alerts (to ensure that you never miss the best direct contracts in your own specialisms). Also, we publish an electronic Daily Digest, sent to our members every working day of the year, to keep you up to date with all the very latest direct IT contracts that have been added to our database. To indicate our service, our recent digests have featured links to direct contract roles from the following organisations (with daily rates ranging from £130 to £1150):

TSB, Booking.com, Nationwide Building Society, Quilter plc, Penguin Random House, Computershare, Allianz Insurance, Old Mutual Wealth, EDM Group, Deloitte UK, Servelec, Whitbread plc, Ballard Chalmers, Scania UK, Norgine, Ocado Group, Mizuho, Appsbroker Ltd, Wunderman Thompson, New Signature, Airbnb, Johnson Matthey plc, Neueda, Waracle, Hiscox, Mindera, Peach Technologies, Yodel, Kainos Software, RAC Motoring Services, Gazprom, Playground Games, Thebes IT Solutions, Toyota Connected, Essence Global, General Dynamics, YLD, Flomatik Network Services, Fight Centre Travel Group, BlackCat Solutions, Aptus Clinical, NTT Security, DVLA, Domino's Pizza, BCG Digital Ventures, Infotel, Liquidnet, Bloomberg, Capco, Stirling Consulting, Gatwick Airport, Honda Motor Europe, FutureProof, Sword IT Solutions, Dunnhumby, EPAM Systems, Costa Coffee, Entity Group, Yorkshire Building Society, Office for National Statistics, Close Brothers, Bell Integration, HSBC, KCOM, Zone Digital, Intellimorph, Clifford Chance, Depop, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Man Group, Pension Protection Fund, Keytree, CACI, Health Education England, Vodafone, Financial Conduct Authority, Schroders, Automation Logic, Version 1, Ernst & Young, DWP, The Home Office, Defra, Acutest, City Change Management, KPMG, Avis Budget Group, Mozaic Services, Nomura Holdings, Mansion House Consulting, Ministry of Defence, Mosaic Island, ECS, Whishworks, Ofsted, Logicalis, Norton Rose Fulbright, Tokio Marine HCC, HMPO, Daemon Solutions, Inmarsat, JP Morgan, Babylon Health, Solirius, Accenture, Data Truth, Expedia, etc.

Actual direct contracts featured, taken from the same digests, include:

Digital Project Manager, Senior Front End Web Developer, Cyber Security Consultant, IT Test Analyst & UAT Coordinator, Interim Head of Technical Engineering, UX Designer, Data Architect, IT Business Analyst, Lead Data Science Engineer, Senior Full Stack Developer, Programme Manager, Application Solution Specialist, BI Project Manager, Oracle Cloud Functional Lead, Quality, Risk & Security Analyst, Windows 10 Project Manager, Linux Server Engineer, 2nd Line Support Lead, Senior Scala Engineer, Apigee Engineer, C#/.NET Developer, UX/UI Lead Designer, Business Systems Analyst, QA Engineer, Solution Architect, Senior Web Developer, IT Programme Manager, Java Developer (Cloud Services), Application Migration Engineer, Senior Project Manager, RPA Solutions Architect, Front End Software Engineer, Scrum Master, Process Engineer, Service Transition Manager, AWS Cloud Engineer, Implementation Platform Engineer, Azure DevOps Engineer, Business Analyst, SharePoint Consultant, Hyperion Planning Analyst, Network Engineer, Test Manager, C+ Developer, Release Test Manager, Sage X3 Developer, DevOps Engineer, Senior Cisco Network Engineer, React Full Stack Developer, Senior Digital Product Owner, , Digital Analytics Tracking Lead, IT Project Manager, Business Analyst (Agile), Integration Support Analyst, Software Architect, Core Java Technical Developer, PHP Developer, Data Modeller, Digital Performance Specialist, Senior Software Developer, Senior Web Applications Developer, MI Analyst/Developer, DevOps Engineer, 3rd Line Desktop Support, Test Automation Engineer, Senior Oracle EBS Developer, Computer Science Tutor, iOS Developer, Open Source Software Designer, Linux Engineer, CRM Business Analyst, ERP Technical Lead, Training Consultant, Azure Architect, Senior Systems Engineer, Project Planner, Oracle Docuflex Developer, Android Engineer, Enterprise Integration Architect, Linux System Administrator, SQL DBA, Cloud Engineer, Implementation Project Manager, IT Performance Tester, Cyber Security Project Manager, BI Developer, Digital Content Strategist, Java Developer, AWS DevOps Consultant, IAM Consultant, Cloud DevOps Engineer, AEM Developer, Head of IT Architecture Transformation, Digital Strategy Consultant, etc.

We monitor over 1800 end-user websites and over 70 job boards on a daily basis to bring you this information.

- We save you valuable time in bringing you only genuine direct contracts. Many contract requirements which appear to be direct are actually fixed term employment offers, or are being offered covertly by agencies.

- We are the only service to offer this raw market intelligence to contractors; unlike other services, we gain no revenue whatsoever from employers.....we work entirely on behalf of the contractor, so we never have any conflict of interest.

- You are not locked-in to a lengthy contract, which means that you can dip in and out of the service, on a monthly basis, according to your contracting cycle.

Best of all.....full membership of Contract Spy (Daily Digest + Database Access + Bespoke Direct Contract Alerts) is just £29.99 per month - that's less than £1 per day to make sure that you never miss the very best direct contract positions that are being offered in the UK IT marketplace! And, for our members who use our service to populate their own bespoke direct client portfolios on an ongoing basis, we have the option of an annual Business Subscription, payable by secure direct debit from your business bank account (this is currently available at a saving of 30% - see website for details).


So, to see how you can take control of your working life back from the agencies, and how you can find those top contracts that the agencies will never advertise......please click the link below:


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[ladymuck]

My direct work has been via contacts. I've never looked at Contract Spy. Always been wary of a paid for service but thirty quid isn't so bad, it's worth a punt.

[hairymouse]

I took that punt for a few months. It's just a list of contracts that have been scraped from client sites and job sites where there's no agent involved. Seems like you get about 30 a day, but all tech skills and all areas of the country. I wasn't that impressed so cancelled it when I started to see the bottom of the warchest.

I tend to agree that most clients aren't posting good contracts on their websites. And some of the ads come from job boards anyway, so I don't need to pay to see those.