Non-London Rates

[switcher]

Hi all,

I have been contracting as a BA for nearly 18 months for a FTSE 100 Bank. As such, my contract rate is pretty much the industry standard, although I have been acting-PM since xmas (contract renewal / negotiation due shortly).

I have been asked directly by HR of another FTSE 100 Retail company ("Every Little Helps") as to what the lowest rate I would be expecting to achieve for a position they believe suits my CV. Without knowing the exact position within the heirarchy, I believe it will be a Senior BA / PM role.

The role is based less than a 5 minute walk from where I live, which is ideal as I have a young family. Nevertheless, I also feel I have a responsibility to achieve the best rate I can, even if that eventually means turning them down.

However, having never in my life worked locally or outside of the Banking sector, I have no idea as to whether indeed a rate drop would be required. Or, if so, what the going rate is for BAs / PMs outside of London but in the South East.

Can anybody provide me with some insight? It would be much appreciated. I have been dealing direct, there has been no agency involved on my behalf.

Thanks all

[eek]

Hi all,

I have been contracting as a BA for nearly 18 months for a FTSE 100 Bank. As such, my contract rate is pretty much the industry standard, although I have been acting-PM since xmas (contract renewal / negotiation due shortly).

I have been asked directly by HR of another FTSE 100 Retail company ("Every Little Helps") as to what the lowest rate I would be expecting to achieve for a position they believe suits my CV. Without knowing the exact position within the heirarchy, I believe it will be a Senior BA / PM role.

The role is based less than a 5 minute walk from where I live, which is ideal as I have a young family. Nevertheless, I also feel I have a responsibility to achieve the best rate I can, even if that eventually means turning them down.

However, having never in my life worked locally or outside of the Banking sector, I have no idea as to whether indeed a rate drop would be required. Or, if so, what the going rate is for BAs / PMs outside of London but in the South East.

Can anybody provide me with some insight? It would be much appreciated. I have been dealing direct, there has been no agency involved on my behalf.

Thanks all

If its the obvious client as much as possible as their bobs are a mare.

[Scoobos]

My possibly useless advice is to search for similar skillsets to you on Jobserve and use that as your baseline.

There's always IT Jobs Watch, Tracking the IT Job Market , as they have a historical rates page.

[SimonMac]

I think you are approaching this wrong, its a question of what are you willing to charge for your services, the market rate is irrelevant.

I have a standard rate for non London roles, and a I usually add about 20-25% on for London. This is my base of which I then tailor depending on the job, if its a prestigious client, if I can be based at home rather than just at the weekends I might knock £XX/pd off, if its a shorter contract (>3 months), if they are asking for more managerial tasks I might stick another £XX/pd on top.

Its basically what are you willing to do the job for given your skill set and the information at hand.

My possibly useless advice is to search for similar skillsets to you on Jobserve and use that as your baseline.

There's always IT Jobs Watch, Tracking the IT Job Market , as they have a historical rates page.

Don't forget with these sites it goes on the job rate advertised, which we all know is not always the rate offered!

[bobspud]

Its a global market so regardless of where the client is, they will need to compete against the customer that is willing to pay the most to attract your skills.

Put your max figure in and then when they moan, tell them that all the cheapness elsewhere causes you as a professional more grief because you will need to spend most of your time dragging the rest of the team up to your high standard....

I had an interview yesterday for a client int Derby (not Rolls) the interviewer said she liked cheap rates I told her that I like Aston Martins and tailored suits, and if she wants to see skills that match my CV, then she needs to get used to the fact that one guy in the whole team will be getting paid well Also suggested that she go look up my companies last few years of figures if she thought I was joking.

Seeing the Sun market die on its arse taught me that you only have marketable skills for a few years before you are back with nothing. taking half the available rate just because you are near home makes no sense.
When my kids were young I used to be away most of the week. I had fun on a wednesday night got an early night on a thursday and came home to my family refreshed and ready to be an attentive dad at the weekend. It meant I got to concentrate on the stuff that earned the money and my wife got a run at looking after the kids. I have found that working at home the lines get blurred and you both end up knackered and fed up.

[nomadd]

If its the obvious client as much as possible as their bobs are a mare.

And their UK staff are even worse.

My contract with them was the worst one I've had in 23 years.

[Sockpuppet]

I worked there. Get yourself based in Progress House not Cirrus A, B or C. Progress is the fashion department that hands out desks to other departments. There are some seriously good distractions in terms of the other occupants.

[BolshieBastard]

Hi all,

I have been contracting as a BA for nearly 18 months for a FTSE 100 Bank. As such, my contract rate is pretty much the industry standard, although I have been acting-PM since xmas (contract renewal / negotiation due shortly).

I have been asked directly by HR of another FTSE 100 Retail company ("Every Little Helps") as to what the lowest rate I would be expecting to achieve for a position they believe suits my CV. Without knowing the exact position within the heirarchy, I believe it will be a Senior BA / PM role.

The role is based less than a 5 minute walk from where I live, which is ideal as I have a young family. Nevertheless, I also feel I have a responsibility to achieve the best rate I can, even if that eventually means turning them down.

However, having never in my life worked locally or outside of the Banking sector, I have no idea as to whether indeed a rate drop would be required. Or, if so, what the going rate is for BAs / PMs outside of London but in the South East.

Can anybody provide me with some insight? It would be much appreciated. I have been dealing direct, there has been no agency involved on my behalf.

Thanks all

Your current rate plus 25 - 30%.

They have approached you for the role direct. They wont have agency costs to factor in.

I dont see what distance the work to home has to do with it. It is wheter you do a good job or not.

IMHO, ofcourse.

[Antman]

Hi all,

I have been contracting as a BA for nearly 18 months for a FTSE 100 Bank. As such, my contract rate is pretty much the industry standard, although I have been acting-PM since xmas (contract renewal / negotiation due shortly).

I have been asked directly by HR of another FTSE 100 Retail company ("Every Little Helps") as to what the lowest rate I would be expecting to achieve for a position they believe suits my CV. Without knowing the exact position within the heirarchy, I believe it will be a Senior BA / PM role.

Doesn't that company have modis supplying all their contract staff? So I'm not sure that it'll be direct but I think that modis have been negotiated to a lowly 7% on top of your rate to do payments.

Could be wrong though.

[nomadd]

Doesn't that company have modis supplying all their contract staff? So I'm not sure that it'll be direct but I think that modis have been negotiated to a lowly 7% on top of your rate to do payments.

Could be wrong though.

Nope, you're right. At least that was the case when I was there.

Mind you, they do f**k all for that 7%. Pretty useless agency (and nearly faced an entire contractor walkout too when they tried to force insane clauses into contracts half-way through...)