How many of you are Benched?

[SandyD]

How many are benched? And what's your skills?

Am a benched BA, and I am surprised that the market is so bad, I am finding even less jobs advertised than back during 2008/2009.

[northernladuk]

There is certainly a slow down at the moment but the graphs from IT Jobswatch don't suggest the market is that bad compared to the years you mention. From 2009 onwards then definitely

Business Analysis Contracts, Contractor Rates for Business Analysis Skills



Business Analyst Contracts, Contractor Rates for Business Analyst Jobs

[BolshieBastard]

I've just finished a role a couple of weeks ago and have been monitoring the market since early December. I work in the testing arena.

The market currently has imo, all the hallmarks of 2001. Sorry, NL but I dont put any faith in those graphs. They are probably tracking job adverts which are frequently false or are multiple agencies advertising the same roles.

Course they'll say they factor all this in plus monitor actual bods 'in situ' etc, etc.

Im getting lots of calls about NHS contracts at piss poor rates (sub £200 a day which I laugh at), permie roles which Im not interested in and job in London \ SE England which Im not interested in.

I've spoken to a number of agents who all say the contract market is especially quiet for this time of year.

I've got a couple of irons in the fire at the mo so we'll have to see if the market does pick up early March.

[BlasterBates]

The number of open positions is lower and it may not look too bad but there´s a whole load of people have been sacked so there are too many people looking. The number of positions advertised is a good indication but doesn´t always reflect the number of total jobs.

In 2008 the banks put in recruitment freezes which cut the number of open positions but they held on to people, and then started to expand, now they´re conducting mass sackings.

[The Spartan]

I've got a couple of irons in the fire at the mo so we'll have to see if the market does pick up early March.

I hope it does I'm due back in April/May

[northernladuk]

The market currently has imo, all the hallmarks of 2001. Sorry, NL but I dont put any faith in those graphs. They are probably tracking job adverts which are frequently false or are multiple agencies advertising the same roles.

Course they'll say they factor all this in plus monitor actual bods 'in situ' etc, etc.

I quite agree and would say the same but the OP does say 'advertised' specifically and these scrape the advertised gigs.....

[wikramasingha]

As a security analyst/expert my field sits inside a specialisation of generic BA though I perform no analysis per se as would traditional BS.

I can report that demand for my expertise has largely increased in the timescales you mention. I think there is more public sector emphasis on security issues after the shambles of several hi profile security lapses in the past and there is a political aspect driving this forward.

[GB9]

Well, i'm on self-enforced decorating leave. In a way it would have been nice to have had the money coming in but you have to have some self-respect and it got to the stage where I couldn't work with my last client any more.

There are a fair few jobs out there, but I suspect there are also a lot more people. Having said that, I got called this a.m. about a role I applied for and the agent told me they had received 100 applications. I can remember a time when that would have been nearer 300.

[SandyD]

As a security analyst/expert my field sits inside a specialisation of generic BA though I perform no analysis per se as would traditional BS.

I can report that demand for my expertise has largely increased in the timescales you mention. I think there is more public sector emphasis on security issues after the shambles of several hi profile security lapses in the past and there is a political aspect driving this forward.

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

[northernladuk]

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

Would security analyst also cover just admin work in security sections of the business? The term BA or anything analyst is so generic sometimes. People don't understand what it means sometimes.