References & IR35

[NotAllThere]

Really. I've seen quite a few references, and they've been without exception, pretty bland. Because of the risk of litigation, many HR departments will only confirm that the candidate worked there, and the dates. Open references can be ignored anyway.

In France, you use references when you hire domestic staff. Not for professionals. In Switzerland references are open and have to be agreed.

I look at number of renewals as a more indicative guide to quality.

[TheBigYinJames]

I look at number of renewals as a more indicative guide to quality.

On my recent CV revamp, I put number and length of renewals on the top of each contract section in the employment history. Seems to work.

[oracleslave]

I look at number of renewals as a more indicative guide to quality.

That sounds daft to me. That could just be an indication that the contractor didn't finish the work in the allocated time provided by the original contract. Unless you are just hiring permie tractors for the public sector I thought the premise behind being a contractor was finishing a piece of work in the agreed to timeframe and then moving on?

[NotAllThere]

When they are satisfied with your services, it's very common for you to be offered more work. If you never get repeat business, then that's indicative of perhaps being a bit crap.

IBM and the like don't work on one project then move on, they want the project after that, and the one after that.

I must confess though, that currently on the seventh renewal with the same client, I find it gets a bit tedious. Then I think of the money, and remind myself I'm only 20 minutes from home.

[oracleslave]

When they are satisfied with your services, it's very common for you to be offered more work. If you never get repeat business, then that's indicative of perhaps being a bit crap.

Agreed, I guess I just wouldn't use it as the sole criteria for differentiating between 2 candidates.