How many of you are Benched?

[Scoobos]

I'm not benched, but have had a marked decrease in gig offers coming in. I usually don't even look at jobserve etc anymore as I've got to a point where the calls come in.

This time last year I was out for a good 11 months tho - it was a test of nerve.

[rob s]

In gainful employment* and have noticed that my sector seems to be continuing to evolve or polarise (technical and non technical release management), and the overall number of both types seems to be trending downwards with occasional spikes.





*team manager, role about to become permie, brollie, so yes, 'employment'

[7specialgems]

I'm a Java web UI person who's due for a sit on the bench at the end of the month.

I don't think it is worth referring to trends graphs in the current market. With the the combination of it being the end of the financial year and with the largescale redundancies across sectors, I think much of the contract market is in unchartered waters.

My test of nerve is about to begin, I think. The war chest can carry me for five months, then I'm in the poo.

I'm particularly interested in what Mr Osbourne will have to say about his Finance Bill et al in his forthcoming budget and wonder how that will affect the market.

[Normie]

Did a search for security analyst, as I have also worked in security analysis for a bank myself hardly any jobs, and the ones advertised has crap rate

Just searched Jobserve using "security and (analyst or architect or engineer)" - came up with quite a lot - some good rates in there too

[h8mmer]

Not benched at the moment but last gig came to an end in September last year and expected to take a month to 6 weeks off which ended up at 4 months before starting a role at 50% of my usual rate.

Didn't help that for the first time I dipped into my warchest to fund a new en-suite project for something to do whilst I was off. And as with all house projects it ended up twice as expensive as budgeted.

First time I've been benched for any length of time and realise I was a twot for not leaving the warchest alone as its gonna take me a long time to build up any sort of reserve at my current rate. Wont be caught by that again...

[centurian]

Would security analyst also cover the person at the door checking your ID card.

FTFY

[MyUserName]

My current gig ends at the end of the month and I have had a couple of calls, one for £200 a day more than this one and the other main one for a perm position about 10 minutes from my front door.

Not sure what the overall market is doing but the MUN market (ie the only one I have direct experience of and actually care about) *seems* to be okay right now.

[Darksider]

Benched since new year. Everything I'm getting offered is NHS/Public sector work

[herman_g]

Benched also right now. My market is quite niche part of retail banking.

January is pretty bad - this year, last year same as last 10 years. Exactly like July and August of every year.

This time last year I held off submission for a contract because an agency ( who had strung me along from 1st week of December ) informed me a contract was confirmed ( paperwork to follow ) and I went on a pre-work vacation. The contract never materialized and I started the alternative one a month later when that client continued their ramp-up ( never should have listened to pimp one but the client even sent me texts telling me it was going to happen - the budget did not get approved ).

This year, I am getting the exact same 2 or 3 signals as last but will not go on vacation until the paperwork is sent over. I have a feeling I will be back to work in the next 2 weeks or so.

Can not compare the market at all with 2008-9 which was dismal. Also get the feeling Bob is not being considered for the job now as he was then ( thankfully he failed and lost all credibility ).

[tranceporter]

I have this end of month on the current contract with extension being unlikely (They want to staff more permies instead of contractors, because I am too expensive for them )
I have been receiving decent number of calls, but most are just for getting my cv or "seeing how I am doing", and a few for actual positions with interviews starting in 2-3 days, which are the ones i go for.