Need to get off the bench....

[Old Greg]

Most of the calls I got from pimps before Christmas seemed to be the "lets look busy before we knock off for the day" you know the ones, they usually that start with: "I'm looking to put together a shortlist for a client I'm working with in January. You look a perfect fit."



qh

Don't despair. I landed a gig by phone interview at 9:30 a.m. on Xmas Eve (although it could of course fall through). Se projects look to start ASAP in New Year.

[quackhandle]

Don't despair. I landed a gig by phone interview at 9:30 a.m. on Xmas Eve (although it could of course fall through). Se projects look to start ASAP in New Year.

Cheers, I am getting a few inquiries via LI so well see how it goes.

Didn't invoice enough in 2013, so prey 2014 is better.

qh

[craig1]

Cheers, I am getting a few inquiries via LI so well see how it goes.

Didn't invoice enough in 2013, so prey 2014 is better.

qh

Have you thought about alternative revenue sources? For example, if you're a limited company, set up your website properly, put an articles section on it, write interesting articles and put Google Ads on them, network your articles everywhere and encourage people to share the links around. If you're quite literate and are near expert level in your area then you can probably think of plenty of things to write about. You won't make tons of money but anything's better than nothing, also writing articles gets you into others' mindsets as a "published expert" making hunting for roles that wee bit easier. Get your friends to proof read and tell you of any particularly good ones, punt those exclusively and free to major trade magazines and journals, it's all positive publicity and those things tend to go quite high up on searches for your name.

[Tightfit]

Must say I love this thread - it reminds me of how
low Britain has sunk in the past 5 years. Although
I´ve yet to see any wax lyrical questions like, whatever happened to the Skills Shortage ? and what about those halcyon days of times long passed when Contractors got pissed of a Friday night at top class bars & restaurants waving theirs wads of Cash about and shouting, Loads of Money, loads of money

Now all I see are tales of woe of PM´s in Dire Straits, slidding into financial ruin, the divorce courts, the bailiffs on the doorstep etc, etc, etc.

To my mind something radical´s called for here, What about emigration, a new start in a New World or to be more precise - a new start in a New EU Country. Theirs 28 member states in the EU and a British citizen with a British Passport has the right to live and work in any one of them. It´s called Free Movement of labour.

So sell the house, cash in your shares. Get on the plane and check it out. So where shall we go. Eastern Europe looks nice, sure to be opportunities their. Even if you only speak English because. Surprise, surprise, thats where most of the UK IT back office jobs & legacy systems went. Let me see what else do I need. Ah yes an Eastern European girlfriend. Now you always fancied yourself as a bit of a James Bond, so a Russian or Ukrainian girlfriend, like from Russia with Love would be great to show off to all those folks marooned on the bench, back home in Blighty !!!

[MPwannadecentincome]

Must say I love this thread - it reminds me of how
low Britain has sunk in the past 5 years. Although
I´ve yet to see any wax lyrical questions like, whatever happened to the Skills Shortage ? and what about those halcyon days of times long passed when Contractors got pissed of a Friday night at top class bars & restaurants waving theirs wads of Cash about and shouting, Loads of Money, loads of money

Now all I see are tales of woe of PM´s in Dire Straits, slidding into financial ruin, the divorce courts, the bailiffs on the doorstep etc, etc, etc.

To my mind something radical´s called for here, What about emigration, a new start in a New World or to be more precise - a new start in a New EU Country. Theirs 28 member states in the EU and a British citizen with a British Passport has the right to live and work in any one of them. It´s called Free Movement of labour.

So sell the house, cash in your shares. Get on the plane and check it out. So where shall we go. Eastern Europe looks nice, sure to be opportunities their. Even if you only speak English because. Surprise, surprise, thats where most of the UK IT back office jobs & legacy systems went. Let me see what else do I need. Ah yes an Eastern European girlfriend. Now you always fancied yourself as a bit of a James Bond, so a Russian or Ukrainian girlfriend, like from Russia with Love would be great to show off to all those folks marooned on the bench, back home in Blighty !!!

Good suggestions...

1. I did gigs in Europe for 3 years back in 2008 so I have tried, unfortunately with the PIGS in trouble and Germany having to pay I am unable to locate good roles there, on the other hand in the UK the economy has suddenly decided to wake up. Having said that I am discussing a (not very lucrative) role in Germany this week.

2. I did look into Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the challenge for me in most cases I don't have enough "points" to get in mainly due to age and only a secured job can get me a visa, so I have been trying for that over the last 5 years with no success yet.

3. The house is not mine to sell and take off, it will end up with ex wife.

[CheeseSlice]

Must say I love this thread - it reminds me of how
low Britain has sunk in the past 5 years. Although
I´ve yet to see any wax lyrical questions like, whatever happened to the Skills Shortage ? and what about those halcyon days of times long passed when Contractors got pissed of a Friday night at top class bars & restaurants waving theirs wads of Cash about and shouting, Loads of Money, loads of money

Now all I see are tales of woe of PM´s in Dire Straits, slidding into financial ruin, the divorce courts, the bailiffs on the doorstep etc, etc, etc.

To my mind something radical´s called for here, What about emigration, a new start in a New World or to be more precise - a new start in a New EU Country. Theirs 28 member states in the EU and a British citizen with a British Passport has the right to live and work in any one of them. It´s called Free Movement of labour.

So sell the house, cash in your shares. Get on the plane and check it out. So where shall we go. Eastern Europe looks nice, sure to be opportunities their. Even if you only speak English because. Surprise, surprise, thats where most of the UK IT back office jobs & legacy systems went. Let me see what else do I need. Ah yes an Eastern European girlfriend. Now you always fancied yourself as a bit of a James Bond, so a Russian or Ukrainian girlfriend, like from Russia with Love would be great to show off to all those folks marooned on the bench, back home in Blighty !!!

Just for fun I set up Jobserve to include only Eastern European countries. (Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine).

Search everywhere in these countries for contracts, no keywords, last 7 days (yep I know its Xmas hols)

7 contracts in the entire of eastern europe. Two are duplicates, so only:
6 contracts.
Russia x 2 (3rd was a duplicate - removed)
Poland x 2
Romania x 1
Czech Rep x 1

Ok, If I leave all the search parameters the same but replace all of those Eastern European countries with 'United Kingdom' I get:
4,925 contracts.

Maybe Jobserve isn't the best way to find contracts in Eastern Europe, but I wouldn't be packing my bags and buying a plane ticket to that part of the world in search of riches. Germany, Benelux maybe...

[stek]

Need a work permit for Russia mate so knock that one off the list!

The good news is they do have the equivalent of our T1, work for any employer.

Usually you'd need Russian language though.

Had a few enquiries from Poland and CR but rates are laughable....

[eek]

Need a work permit for Russia mate so knock that one off the list!

The good news is they do have the equivalent of our T1, work for any employer.

Usually you'd need Russian language though.

Had a few enquiries from Poland and CR but rates are laughable....

+1 there is a reason companies outsource there. The lower rates is the 1 reason managers outsource and visit there once in a while.....

[Smartie]

Now all I see are tales of woe of PM´s in Dire Straits,

Money for nothing, chicks for free?

[stek]

+1 there is a reason companies outsource there. The lower rates is the 1 reason managers outsource and visit there once in a while.....

Oddly enough the rates for Russia are very good, plus it's well easy to syphon stuff off.

Trouble it's all SAP.....