What am I doing wrong?

[tim123]

Re: Notice Periods

Come on MF. You live in a pretty strange world if three weeks notice is too long. Yeh, there may be one or two jobs that "must start tomorrow", but most will wait.

All of my prospective clients will wait a reasonable period for the right person to start. You just don't find good people doing nothing, ready to start tomorrow. If someone is on the bench in a buoyant market, there is often a reason for it.

For my current job it was 12 weeks between initial interview and start date. The client's admin department piddled around for ages with the paperwork (and the experience of the other cons here is that this is normal). If I was ready to start tomorrow when interviewed, I wouldn't have started at all because I would have gone somewhere else.

And a friend was out of work at the beginning of the year for an extended break (he was on the bench for a reason!). When he eventually found a job he still negotiated a start in two weeks despite doing nothing more than sitting on the beach.

tim

[Cowboy Bob]

I'd recommend Lorian and Spring for PM work.

Do not go with Spring if you want to stay outside of IR35. I did a 6 month contract for Best International before they were bought by Spring at a large financial. They wanted to renew, but there was no way I was signing the new "improved" Spring contract. I've got contacts on the inside (permies) and they say they are finding it almost impossible to get contractors now. Wonder why?

Bob

[JoetheCarioca]

You're probably dealing with the wrong sort of agencies / agents.

This is actually the hardest thing to do in the contracting business: sorting the decent agents from the spivs.

For your kind of thing you need to find a few decent agents and develop relationships with them.

That being said, it may be easier to try finding work direct.

I had one email popped up last night, wanting a project manager to be able to start Monday. Now I ask you: what sort of management planning has occured to end up in that situation? Previous PM hit by a bus is the only realistic excuse I can think of.

Anyone with any sense at all has to really wonder about that. I would recommend that one go to the client's directors and tell them that there appears to be something very seriously wrong with the way the staff works!

After all, if a professional health care practitioner notices something amiss about you, would you not appreciate being told about it. Or would you wait for that lump to become malignant?

Of course, if the client really does not care about its fate, there is really nothing more you can do except short its shares.

[JoetheCarioca]

Do not go with Spring if you want to stay outside of IR35. I did a 6 month contract for Best International before they were bought by Spring at a large financial. They wanted to renew, but there was no way I was signing the new "improved" Spring contract. I've got contacts on the inside (permies) and they say they are finding it almost impossible to get contractors now. Wonder why?

Bob

I have put Spring on my blacklist after too many problems with their recruiters. You can sometimes suss out the bad ones at that outset.

You say that you have contacts on the inside. Inside of Spring or inside of client companies?

[Cowboy Bob]

I have put Spring on my blacklist after too many problems with their recruiters. You can sometimes suss out the bad ones at that outset.

You say that you have contacts on the inside. Inside of Spring or inside of client companies?

Client companies. The new Spring contract is absolutely not IR35 compliant (hence sussed contractors not touching it with a bargepole), even though they tried to spin me a yarn about it being PCG verified for IR35 compliance. They are also unwilling to change any of the clauses in the contract.

Bob