Newbie contractor questions

[platforminc]

Hi All

I am still a newbie in the house, but to cut the long story short. I havejust taken the plunge in order to go contracting, currently at a client at the moment but another offer has come through. Now whilst I am relatively new to my current client, just coming up to a month, what is the best way to negotiate an exit whilst not trying to burn bridges as well, as it’s a small world and you just never know? I will also need to negotiate a notice period, how should I approach this ? I dont know what they will say, i.e 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 day etc but contract says 4 weeks.


Also, with the new client, the agency is insisting that I have indemnity insurance which I will arrange for, Is there a defacto insurance company that other contractors can recommend ?

I am also being asked the following questions within the questionnaire. OLC means Own Limited Company.

1. Are you the Sole Director of the OLC? Y N
2. Do you own 100% of the shares in the OLC? Y N
3. If no, what is your percentage and who are the other major shareholders? (Detail below)
4. Are you the sole worker providing services through the OLC? Y N
5. If no, please specify details below

I am the sole director for now, but I don’t know why these questions are being asked. Its working for one of the main financial institutions, and I am thinking in terms of working hours, does this have to be stated in the contract or just with the wording, standard/professional time.

Are there any other gotchas that I need to raise with the Agency.

[TraceRacing]

If I understand it correctly you've just starting contracting and you are less than a month into your first contract?

And you want to jump ship already?

Unless the client is being unreasonable I think you should seriously consider weather you want to be a professional contractor or some fly by night techie....

The grass may be greener....but that's contracting. You entered willingly into the contract and at no point did you say "I'll take this until something better comes along"...

ummmmmmmmm

[platforminc]

If I understand it correctly you've just starting contracting and you are less than a month into your first contract?

And you want to jump ship already?

Unless the client is being unreasonable I think you should seriously consider weather you want to be a professional contractor or some fly by night techie....

The grass may be greener....but that's contracting. You entered willingly into the contract and at no point did you say "I'll take this until something better comes along"...

ummmmmmmmm

Well, I think its a free world isnt it. If I am not 100% happy with what I'm doing, it doesnt have anything to do with being a proffesional contractor or not.

[northernladuk]

Well, I think its a free world isnt it. If I am not 100% happy with what I'm doing, it doesnt have anything to do with being a proffesional contractor or not.

It is indeed a free world but this doesn't take in to account the repercussions of your actions. You can jump ship as often as you want but in future contracts when you get passed over due to your lack of experience or your apparent lack of professionalism catches you up you may end up regretting it. You may of course never have this problem, who knows.

It totally has something to do with your professionalism in my opinion. You entered in to agreement with a client who expects you to do a piece of work, if we all kept jumping ship like this we would have a terrible reputation and the contracts would have ridiculous or no notice periods on. Jumping ship everytime something better comes up is not what contacting is about. Using it as a tool to selfishly get what you want at the expense of your clients is different to being a professional contractor.

I guess doing it once or twice isn't really a problem all said and done, but 1 month in to your first contract does set a pretty poor precedence. We can only say what we see and could be completely wrong but 'it's a free world' does not show a good attitude in general.

If your client knows you are jumping ship to come to him, or has even the slightest idea this is happening you have blown any negotiation around notice periods out of the water really, so could be said you are already feeling the fall out.

If he offers 4 weeks, put it to him what you want, he can only say yes or no.

QDOS seem to be the best guys to do PI/PL. Prices seem reasonable and they do free contract checks in with it as well.

Professional day is the best wording, exact hours could smack of IR35. It could open you to long hours but I find all my clients have been reasonable about it.

The exit without burning bridges is a bit of a non starter though I am afraid. You just have to invoke your notice period and see it through... If you are thinking of getting out before your notice period then you are on your own there.

[Clippy]

I really would take stock of what has been said.

You are no longer a permie but an independent IT professional who will be judged, amongst other things, by his knowledge/experience and professionalism.

If you want a long and fruitful career as an IT contractor, then now is the time to lay the foundations.

During this recession, a lot of contractors have found themselves on the bench - a lot of the ones who have managed to get themselves off it, are the ones who have contacted previous clients to see if they have any work available.

If you've regularly jumped ship and burnt bridges, then this option would not be available to you.

[MarillionFan]

Well, I think its a free world isnt it. If I am not 100% happy with what I'm doing, it doesnt have anything to do with being a proffesional contractor or not.

blah

more blah blah.

It is a free world. And no it's not small world. Contracting is about having the skills and taking opportunities.

If you really don't like the client and cannot be bothered to do your notice then that's your choice. The fallout will be some threats and 'blah blah' from the agent and of course you won't be doing anything for the client again. Will it effect your next role? No.

Normal practice is to just give the notice on a role so they can get someone else or they can choose to cut you short. Saves you from the threats.

The two repliers above have a bit of a bee in their bonnet about 'professionalism' but life is too short to do stuff you don't like and if you don't like it. Jack it.

[platforminc]

Ok I understand the concerns, see for me it's like I am not convinced there is enough work for me to add value with current client, although this can always Change but I have been quite proactive in keeping myself busy, on the other hand the new client is a bank and I have always wanted to get into the mix, with enough problems for me to sort out in order to feel like I'm adding value, in my field people like myself who are SMEs are few, instead a lot of cowboys. Without being arrogant, there were 2 contractors before me within a very short space of time, so perhaps you can see things from my perspective.

[craig1]

Hi All
I am also being asked the following questions within the questionnaire. OLC means Own Limited Company.

1. Are you the Sole Director of the OLC? Y N
2. Do you own 100% of the shares in the OLC? Y N
3. If no, what is your percentage and who are the other major shareholders? (Detail below)
4. Are you the sole worker providing services through the OLC? Y N
5. If no, please specify details below

I am the sole director for now, but I don’t know why these questions are being asked. Its working for one of the main financial institutions, and I am thinking in terms of working hours, does this have to be stated in the contract or just with the wording, standard/professional time.

Are there any other gotchas that I need to raise with the Agency.

More and more agencies are asking questions like this to partially insure themselves from MSC (Managed Service Company) claims (see the MSC Legislation link on the far right of this page). Some ask many more questions, including questions to find out your level of control of the company, your control of the bank account, your accountant's level of control/influence and so on.

A necessary evil these days. If you're a bog-standard contractor then you'll have no problems but if you've a Plan B or other non-standard (for a contractor) setups then you can have a few issues.

On the time issues, the more precise you can make it the better, anything vague in a contract can come back to plague you. Others will say that you should just go with it but I prefer my contracts to be precisely negotiated.

[malvolio]

Ok I understand the concerns, see for me it's like I am not convinced there is enough work for me to add value with current client, although this can always Change but I have been quite proactive in keeping myself busy, on the other hand the new client is a bank and I have always wanted to get into the mix, with enough problems for me to sort out in order to feel like I'm adding value, in my field people like myself who are SMEs are few, instead a lot of cowboys. Without being arrogant, there were 2 contractors before me within a very short space of time, so perhaps you can see things from my perspective.

Well, no, I can't actually. However, what does your contract say? If it has a notice period, use it. If it has a subs clause, use that as well. You want to play at being a professioanl, act professionally.

Or walk away and pretend it never happened. It's you who loses, nobody else. WGAS.

[MarillionFan]

Well, no, I can't actually. However, what does your contract say? If it has a notice period, use it. If it has a subs clause, use that as well. You want to play at being a professioanl, act professionally.

Or walk away and pretend it never happened. It's you who loses, nobody else. WGAS.

Why does he lose? Explain to me why walking away from a contractor, makes the contractor a loser? I struggle to understand this logic.

He decreases his chances by 1. There are approximately 3500 agencies in the UK. He pisses one off. So that's now 3499/3500 = 99.97%.

Life is too short to do things you do not like. That's permie fear.