Hard to find contracts?

[DotNetDeveloper]

The only way to really find out is to take a leap of faith.

You will often find yourself wondering whether or not it is the "right time" to contract, I certainly did and delayed it by two years (the recession was a show stopper).

I am very new to the contracting market (2 months in, in London). I found a contract before I even left my permanent position as well as having several phone interviews without really pushing my CV too hard. I was blessed with winning my first contract on my first interview.

Now this may or may not happen to you, it depends on what is about at the time, how confident you come across and how experienced you are.

One thing I do know is that you have to just make that jump. It should be a calculated risk however. Ensure you have enough funds to support yourself for several months. I am a minimalist by nature, so dont have a lot of existing debts or commitments, this certainly helped my decision.

HTH & Good Luck

[ITContractorUK]

Thanks DotNetDeveloper, glad to hear from someone who did what I am about to do and succeeded!
I have planned to do the same thing which is to keep my perm job until I found a good contract (preferably 6-12 month contract) and then just go for it.
Then save money for times between contracts etc..

[DotNetDeveloper]

I had handed in my resignation by the way.

I think you will find that with most contracts that availability is key, unless you have a very rare skill that they are willing to wait for. Waiting for a month, most companies just wont do it when they can get someone equal the next day.

I worked backwards, essentially. I used "the fear" to motivate myself. I handed in my resignation as I knew it would be the only way I would kick myself into doing it. The pressure ensures that you actually go and get an accountant, setup your company and do all the little details that you need to do.

If you are really worried, send round your CV to different recruiters pretending you are available immediately (dont schedule an interview). It will give you an indication of the market for your skills at the moment.

Best of luck

[nomadd]

If you are really worried, send round your CV to different recruiters pretending you are available immediately (dont schedule an interview). It will give you an indication of the market for your skills at the moment.

Wow, that's really going to get the agents on your side. "Hello, I'm available now. Yes, that's right, I'm the guy who said he was available last month, but wasn't. Hope you didn't mind my pack of lies? Anywa-" ...Phone goes dead.

[Jaws]

Make sure you have a lot of savings before handing in your notice. I managed to spend most of mine in the period from where the contract started to when the first invoice was paid (about 2 months later). A reasonable chunk was spent on expenses for travel & hotels which I was able to invoice the client for as part of my first couple of invoices (the have offices all over UK). I secured the first contract on the last day of my notice period but could not start for 2 weeks due to CRB checks and other administration apparently.

[Wanderer]

If I were a permie now, I'd want at least 6 months money in the bank (more if you have serious financial comittments like a mortgage/dependants) and an offer of a 6 month contract before I left my permie job. For an hourly rate you'd want annual-salary / 1,000 as your hourly rate contracting.

Anything less than that then sit tight until the right contract comes along.

[ITContractorUK]

If I were a permie now, I'd want at least 6 months money in the bank (more if you have serious financial comittments like a mortgage/dependants) and an offer of a 6 month contract before I left my permie job. For an hourly rate you'd want annual-salary / 1,000 as your hourly rate contracting.

Anything less than that then sit tight until the right contract comes along.

Thanks for that! I do have a bit of money saved up so should be ok.

When it comes to calculating the net profit.
If I use the calculator on the sjdaccountancy.com website it states that I get £5184 per month after tax on a £300/day contract. But on the contractor calculator website the same rates only gives you £3790.

I know it all depends on if you have your own limited company vs umbrella company, IR35 etc but what would your experience tell you? Which one is closer to the reality?

[malvolio]

Thanks for that! I do have a bit of money saved up so should be ok.

When it comes to calculating the net profit.
If I use the calculator on the sjdaccountancy.com website it states that I get £5184 per month after tax on a £300/day contract. But on the contractor calculator website the same rates only gives you £3790.

I know it all depends on if you have your own limited company vs umbrella company, IR35 etc but what would your experience tell you? Which one is closer to the reality?

There is no reality, it all depends on a host of things that are personal to you, If you haven't worked that out yet, you haven't done enough reading.

This is not a game, it's a serious and probably non-revocable career change. Read the guides - the one on here, the PCG one (probably the best and most objective of them) at www.pcg.org.uk and any others you can track down. There is also a pile uf useful light reading on <snip> You will be appalled to find out how much you don't know. One lesson you have to learn is, it's not about the money.

HTH

[northernladuk]

When it comes to calculating the net profit.
If I use the calculator on the sjdaccountancy.com website it states that I get £5184 per month after tax on a £300/day contract. But on the contractor calculator website the same rates only gives you £3790.

I know it all depends on if you have your own limited company vs umbrella company, IR35 etc but what would your experience tell you? Which one is closer to the reality?

DAm I thought this was a serious foray in to contracting but it always comes down to this doesn't it. Ah well. Shame.. Neeeeeeeext!!

[ITContractorUK]

Well, as I said in my previous post, I know it depends on a number on things such as if you have a limited company, inside/outside IR35 and a few other things.
But people who are contractors already should know how much they end up with after tax and other things and that would be really useful to share so that people (like myself) who wants to be contractors can make a more calculated decision.

Money is (whatever you say) one of the major things that obviously attracts people to become a contractor. If you couldn't get more money being a contractor compared to a perm job then nobody would want to take that risk? There are obviously other things that also are attractive to be a contractor but for most people I would say that the money side of things is the most attractive part.