to sleep perchance to dream of leaving the dark side...

[Antman]

Hi all,

Been away awhile, now I'm back. I recognise some of the posters here from last time I posted when they only had a couple of hundred posts to their names!

Anyways, I'm back in the UK after time spent in Sao Paulo (a truly horrendous city) with my wife and the little ones. Since returning I've gone to the dark side, getting my credit rating up to a point that I could get a mortgage and now I want to return to contracting.

Only now, I've a family to support and no war chest to speak of. Can anyone recommend a strategy for leaving permiedom without any savings? The main hitch is that with no contacts and relying on jobserve, all the positions that come through are dependent on starting within a couple of days and permiedom requires the 4 weeks notice.

At the moment, I'm thinking that I've got to wait for a specialist role where the client would wait (I've got fluent Spanish and Portuguese) or is it possible to get an offer for a role and just walk out of my permie job? (as I typed that I knew that it felt wrong but I'm asking anyway).

Thanks,

Anthony

PS. I had a look around with the search facility but if anyone can point me to a link I'd really appreciate it.

[d000hg]

I'd suggest you ideally want to use any network you have to bypass the agent and find someone who knows you are good and is happy to wait a bit.

Alternatively, just be patient and wait for the right contract. With no financial cushion, take no risk by quitting first, and just wait even if it takes a while.

Whether your current employer would make you serve your notice is not something we can answer. Some do, some don't. You can use accrued holiday or call in sick but you're on shaky ground.

[craig1]

You need to bank on at least a couple of months of savings to cope with the transition from contract start to first invoice clearing while also still paying your commuting fees and other expenses. I've seen some people stop contracting after a couple of weeks because they relied on the agency getting their first week's payment in on time and couldn't afford the weekly train ticket on the third week when the agency let them down.

Tips you could consider for broadening your options:
- keep an eye on the permie market as well for recurring entries. Even though the market is a bit unpredictable just now with lots of people swarming jobs there are plenty of genuine jobs that keep recycling because they can't find a good candidate. If you see one on there repeatedly and think it's not an agency fishing job then offer to go contract until they get a permie. I've seen a couple of people do that and have managed to get good direct-to-client contracts for a year or so giving them the contract and the client the breathing space to get the right permie. They'll also be far more tolerant of four weeks notice.
- keep your holiday time at work, that way if you hand in your notice you could beg a bit to be allowed to go use your holiday entitlement to shorten your notice.
- lie a little. Tell the agent that you're immediately available but on the client interview ask them how urgent it really is that you start immediately. If they REALLY like you then they'll wait, you'll annoy the agency but then that's a bit of payback in advance for how much they'll inevitably annoy you.

[sog]

What's wrong with Sao Paulo? (just curious)

[Antman]

Thanks for the replies, I've got the time so I'll keep my eyes peeled for the permie roles.

Sao Paulo, issh! where to start! Badly designed transport in a city with 17 million people, so any journey takes ages. People's issues with security mean that houses all have high walls and broken glass on the top which gets a bit depressing after a while. No urban planning and generally just very ugly. However if you're a single guy there are ahem... other attractions

Thanks, it's good to be back anyways.

[nomadd]

What's wrong with Sao Paulo? (just curious)

City of God (2002) - IMDb (Rio, I know. But not much in it in terms of "issues.") And if you still fancy a stint out there: Crime in Brazil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If even the F1 teams can't get in and out of Sao Paulo without armed guards, then what chance would a poor contractor stand? Still, at least the sun shines, right?