Getting my first contract

[SAPABAPLeeds]

My main skills are .NET,

A search for .Net and a duration of 'last 2 days' returns a good load of jobs on Jobserve. You would have probably already tried that, but I am not sure if they are fisherman's traps ...

[farout117]

A search for .Net and a duration of 'last 2 days' returns a good load of jobs on Jobserve. You would have probably already tried that, but I am not sure if they are fisherman's traps ...

Yeah it does, but they are not calling. Or at best fishing.

[SAPABAPLeeds]

Yeah it does, but they are not calling. Or at best fishing.

Well, there is a lot of fishing going on in SAP world too. My standard reply to any agent calling me with "expression of interest" is to send me the job spec and all I hear is radio silence ...

[fraymond]

The market is tough, but not impossible. It all depends on how keen you are.

Last contract lasted 10 weeks and I had to send off 800 jobserve applications.

The one before lasted 5 months and that took 1200 jobserve applications and 11 interviews.

However last year I made more than any other year. And had good fun contracting.

I used to do .net exclusively, but got sick of technical interviews. Decide what you want, and go after it.

[farout117]

The market is tough, but not impossible. It all depends on how keen you are.

Last contract lasted 10 weeks and I had to send off 800 jobserve applications.

The one before lasted 5 months and that took 1200 jobserve applications and 11 interviews.

However last year I made more than any other year. And had good fun contracting.

I used to do .net exclusively, but got sick of technical interviews. Decide what you want, and go after it.

Wow that's a lot. So what do you do now? I got 2 technical interviews also, however the problem is that they are generic and not just web oriented. And I can say they have been two of the toughest I have done. One wanted 90% and I got 85%. And the other was with negative marking.

[stek]

Wow that's a lot. So what do you do now? I got 2 technical interviews also, however the problem is that they are generic and not just web oriented. And I can say they have been two of the toughest I have done. One wanted 90% and I got 85%. And the other was with negative marking.

Thing is, this is the problem you have, it's not an interview, it's a sales pitch, I would refuse to do any test which u imply u have done, that's employer/employee in my book.

They ask for X you say you can provide X they accept it. Or not. You have to prove you can do it by selling yourself (by dint ur Ltd), not scoring points in an employee-related test.

One's CV shows that, I understand urs might not at this stage, but you do need to think away from job/interview/manager thinking it's more task/history/person who pays type relationship...

I think most of us now don't have an interview as such, more a vague chat about setting the scene, if u are clueless u will get found out, if not a few examples of past history, etc, - the gig is urs.

The only technical grilling I had in recent memory was by Bob-co - HCL and it was a pointless technical point-scoring exercise, I let my eye go off the ball and missed it, and got grilled on obscure shiite anyone can google but nobody retains anymore. Next time it's "Sorry, We don't do technical interviews - we are a business not an employee, this is a B2B relationship isn't it..."

[farout117]

Thing is, this is the problem you have, it's not an interview, it's a sales pitch, I would refuse to do any test which u imply u have done, that's employer/employee in my book.

They ask for X you say you can provide X they accept it. Or not. You have to prove you can do it by selling yourself (by dint ur Ltd), not scoring points in an employee-related test.

One's CV shows that, I understand urs might not at this stage, but you do need to think away from job/interview/manager thinking it's more task/history/person who pays type relationship...

I think most of us now don't have an interview as such, more a vague chat about setting the scene, if u are clueless u will get found out, if not a few examples of past history, etc, - the gig is urs.

The only technical grilling I had in recent memory was by Bob-co - HCL and it was a pointless technical point-scoring exercise, I let my eye go off the ball and missed it, and got grilled on obscure shiite anyone can google but nobody retains anymore. Next time it's "Sorry, We don't do technical interviews - we are a business not an employee, this is a B2B relationship isn't it..."

Well actually this technical test was for a quite renowned company I had found directly, was not through an agency. They just said that they will send me an online test, so I though I could give it a shot. They did not even bother calling me to see what I can do.

You are right, most of my previous gigs (not in the UK) have been a chat and a contract offer, I though you do things differently over here because of the competition. Or maybe since I cannot prove my worth yet over here, that is the way to get on the bandwagon.

[SueEllen]

The only advice I can give is:
1. Remove all the locations of your previous employers/clients from your CV and don't mention their location unless specifically asked. Agents don't need to know where they are. Lots of them are stupid will just presume the employer/client was in London or allowed you to work remotely especially if they are a multinational.
2. Widen your search - look at roles in the Home Counties near you that you can commute to. The advantage is that it could be quicker than commuting across London.

[AndyGB]

I'm in a similar situation in that I'm looking for my first contract after being made redundant (service management/ITIL area rather than technical roles). I've been looking for just over two months so far, although I must admit to start with I was only looking rather half heartedly.

The thing that has surprised me is how short the application windows are. I used to search the job sites/here every couple of days, but it appears some roles are only open for a day, two at most. I think the record was 16 hours (posted at 16:00 and closed at 08:00), so I now search once in the morning and again late afternoon.

[farout117]

The only advice I can give is:
1. Remove all the locations of your previous employers/clients from your CV and don't mention their location unless specifically asked. Agents don't need to know where they are. Lots of them are stupid will just presume the employer/client was in London or allowed you to work remotely especially if they are a multinational.
2. Widen your search - look at roles in the Home Counties near you that you can commute to. The advantage is that it could be quicker than commuting across London.

Thanks for the advice Sue, I will remove the locations from my CV.

As regards to Home Counties, I am living in Hammersmith-Fulham area, and at the moment I was looking at Surrey. Any other Home Counties I should consider?

Thanks a lot