Newbie Advice

[Toasta]

And the 2nd contract is always harder to get than the first...

Really? Why is that? I'm just about to come off my first, which I had no trouble getting, I wouldn't have thought I'd have any more problems than the first time around.

[tim123]

Really? Why is that? I'm just about to come off my first, which I had no trouble getting, I wouldn't have thought I'd have any more problems than the first time around.

Usually, it's harder to find because you don't actually need to find the first, you are safe in a permi job waiting for it to arrive. (Obviously this doesn't apply to absolutely everybody).

Whether the second one is hard to find will depend upon what you do. If you are a .Net or SAP expert I imagine you get to pick from a choice of 10 opportunities, all wanting a start tomorrow. If (as I am discussing elsewhere) your skill set is one which still hasn't recovered from the 2001-4 downturn you might wait 3-4 months for a suitable position (as I had to last summer, and might have to repeat this year).

tim

[Old Greg]

Usually, it's harder to find because you don't actually need to find the first, you are safe in a permi job waiting for it to arrive. (Obviously this doesn't apply to absolutely everybody).

Whether the second one is hard to find will depend upon what you do. If you are a .Net or SAP expert I imagine you get to pick from a choice of 10 opportunities, all wanting a start tomorrow. If (as I am discussing elsewhere) your skill set is one which still hasn't recovered from the 2001-4 downturn you might wait 3-4 months for a suitable position (as I had to last summer, and might have to repeat this year).

tim

That's what happened for me. I'm on my 1st contract, which I moved into opportunistically straight from a permie job - knew the end client well, they wanted me for the gig, no hassle at all. I expect the 2nd contract to be much more difficult, because I've never had to really look / apply for a contract before.

Still, just had my 1st renewal

[Vito]

Hi All,

Ive been reading here a while an you guys offer some great advice but im really struggling to get my first contract at the moment,I have a years experience in a leading telecommns bluechip company, ive been lookin for about a month and a half, mainly jobserve, jobsite, monster, CW jobs and on here, any tips or do's or donts?

Also everyone told me from before that the first contract is the hardest to get?

Cheers

What is it you do? What part of the Telecomms company did you work in?

I have quite a few contacts in Telecomms both in the UK and overseas and would be happy to help if I can...with only a years experience you may well need a helping hand to land the first gig...

[Toasta]

Usually, it's harder to find because you don't actually need to find the first, you are safe in a permi job waiting for it to arrive. (Obviously this doesn't apply to absolutely everybody).

Whether the second one is hard to find will depend upon what you do. If you are a .Net or SAP expert I imagine you get to pick from a choice of 10 opportunities, all wanting a start tomorrow. If (as I am discussing elsewhere) your skill set is one which still hasn't recovered from the 2001-4 downturn you might wait 3-4 months for a suitable position (as I had to last summer, and might have to repeat this year).

tim

Yep, .Net. This is why I found it hard to fathom that the second contract is going to be more difficult when I had the pick of a handful for my first.