*Long read warning*
So the story begins on 17th Monday when my client told me that they are no longer interested in renewing my contract and that I have to leave on Friday. I drive back home on the busy motorway and reach home around 7. My children (who go to a local private school) were playing in the garden. Before I could open my mouth, my wife started talking about how our furnitures in the lounge look dated and how I keep ignoring her sincere requests to buy new ones. I calmly told her that the contract is not getting renewed and that I need time to work on my cv and prepare in July.
The whole house was dead silent! Well, apart from the noise from the children of course which is a constant thingy. My wife showed a letter from the school reminding that my children are now moving to a higher school and the new fees (25% higher than previous year) is due before the term begins. "Why don't you talk to your manager and ask for a short extension to at least pay the fees?", she suggested. "Well I tried. He said its something to do with budget and brexit and tulip like that", I replied. "Well try again". "You are very irresponsible nowadays and don't take anything seriously".
That night I was absolutely sleepless. My wife carried on her humble conversation. How are we going to afford the fees and the mortgage? Can I cancel all the term time clubs? I cant ask money from my family. How many days can we survive at the moment? My wife had all sorts of thoughts. I calmly told her that we can survive for another 30 to 45 days before we run out of money in both ltd and personal accounts. We had taken some fairly large dividends to settle some past debts hoping that the client co would renew the contract for eternity. After all thats how contracting works right?
I reached office on Tuesday. I told myself that I would finish all my work by noon and focus on the CV all afternoon. I spent a solid 2 hours doing my CV. I reminded the current agency to get in touch with me as soon as they have any matching role any role any where yes any role! Ok CV is ready now. Where should I upload? A colleague advised me that nowadays folks use LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat to chat with agents for jobs and don't necessarily upload to the traditional websites. I am new to all these chat thingy. Should I use a *available for hire filter* on instagram before creating my profile, I wondered. Whats wrong with a word document and a cover letter? After all, we are going to do technical jobs right and not do social media modelling? After taking a deep breath I told myself that I am not going to create a linkedin or any social media profile. So I uploaded my CV to JS and started heading back home. Half way through the drive, an agency called my mobile!
After struggling to find a parking spot, I answered the call. It was a lovely girl enquiring about my projects and experience. She spoke very well from her script which was awesome. I was very sure she was neither Alexa nor Siri. After going through all the projects she asked me the one thing I refused to do. "Do you have a linkedin profile???" I replied, "I am yet to update my profile. I will add you later this week". I thought I handled that very well. "Oh, please do asap". She advised and wished me a safe drive back home.
So end of Tuesday. I go home and listen to more lectures about money problems and needless expenses. Yes, I had recently bought a high end projector for £700 and a Richer sounds Denon + Dolby atmos package for £800. It is not my fault if people in hotukdeals post ridiculous deals that are too difficult to ignore. After all, have you watched a movie with dolby atmos sound projected in a small bedroom. Its just awesome. You will enjoy literally any movie including Batman V Superman!
Wednesday I decided to work from home. I thought that my phone will keep ringing forever and hence will be easier to answer them from home. I ensured that my family went to a playgroup. I ensured the phone was fully charged and bluetooth headset was ready. Nearly 11 am. Not even a single call even the ppi or accident scam! Should I actively start applying in JS. So I go there and absolutely no new job was added since last night! I turn on BBC news. Today's breaking news: Banks are moving jobs to Germany and Ireland! Brexit is terrible for the country. AI and Robots are going to take over our jobs. BBC male presenters are paid £1 million more than female presenters who are paid just £2 million.
What a depressing world? Brexit has got nothing to do if the client co has no long term vision. After all where are you going to find all these techies and Phds? In Germany? Ireland? France? Those countries are just starting to capitalise the chaos. It will probably take them 10 years to attract the same level of people like the UK and US. Banks don't pay any tax in any country. They are just playing the countries against each other to get the maximum cash from the public. People are just stupid ... My phone rings and I realised that I was having an afternoon nap really. Hello, yes this is me speaking...
It was an agency. They were looking for 3 contractors urgently and wondered if I could refer couple of my colleagues so that all 3 can have interview in the same week. Bull tulip. Absolute fake right. I offered to refer colleagues only after interview and upon securing the contract. The agency said they will come back right away. Of course you are mate.
10 minutes later the agent called again. Are you available for a telephonic interview at 5pm? Of course I am. the interview was quite straight forward. The person talking to sounded legit. He confirmed that its a new greenfield project and that they are really looking for a whole team. It went very well. Received another call at 6pm. Hey, good feedback. Are you available for an interview Friday at 9am? Oh sure. I am quite available. My contract is finishing remember?
Thursday and Friday disappeared like a breeze. 2 more telephonic interviews from different clients on Thursday. All came back with positive feedback! And Friday 3 face to face interviews - 9 am and 11 am in London and 2 pm in Zone 4. Around 1:55 pm received my first offer from the 9 am interview. Hurray! By 4pm received all 3 offers. Then the craziest thing happened. For the first time in my career, all three agencies increased their offer like £60 to £100 per day. One of them threw in a free TV package (you know this client). I realised how hot the market is. My wife treated me like a crap this whole week and yet how valuable I am to these three clients. I wish I was married to my job!
After a peaceful weekend, it was time to accept one offer. However, the agents were refusing to give up. One of them invited me for drinks to talk the role through. Another increased the duration from 3 to 6 months. I have made my decision in the end and politely declined the two clients. So what started as a money problem last week turned into a different kind of money problem. I am happy everything has managed to sort itself out. Now waiting for the drinks at 6pm!
So my advise to all fellow folks. Its not bad out there yet. Stay positive and good luck!
So the story begins on 17th Monday when my client told me that they are no longer interested in renewing my contract and that I have to leave on Friday. I drive back home on the busy motorway and reach home around 7. My children (who go to a local private school) were playing in the garden. Before I could open my mouth, my wife started talking about how our furnitures in the lounge look dated and how I keep ignoring her sincere requests to buy new ones. I calmly told her that the contract is not getting renewed and that I need time to work on my cv and prepare in July.
The whole house was dead silent! Well, apart from the noise from the children of course which is a constant thingy. My wife showed a letter from the school reminding that my children are now moving to a higher school and the new fees (25% higher than previous year) is due before the term begins. "Why don't you talk to your manager and ask for a short extension to at least pay the fees?", she suggested. "Well I tried. He said its something to do with budget and brexit and tulip like that", I replied. "Well try again". "You are very irresponsible nowadays and don't take anything seriously".
That night I was absolutely sleepless. My wife carried on her humble conversation. How are we going to afford the fees and the mortgage? Can I cancel all the term time clubs? I cant ask money from my family. How many days can we survive at the moment? My wife had all sorts of thoughts. I calmly told her that we can survive for another 30 to 45 days before we run out of money in both ltd and personal accounts. We had taken some fairly large dividends to settle some past debts hoping that the client co would renew the contract for eternity. After all thats how contracting works right?
I reached office on Tuesday. I told myself that I would finish all my work by noon and focus on the CV all afternoon. I spent a solid 2 hours doing my CV. I reminded the current agency to get in touch with me as soon as they have any matching role any role any where yes any role! Ok CV is ready now. Where should I upload? A colleague advised me that nowadays folks use LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat to chat with agents for jobs and don't necessarily upload to the traditional websites. I am new to all these chat thingy. Should I use a *available for hire filter* on instagram before creating my profile, I wondered. Whats wrong with a word document and a cover letter? After all, we are going to do technical jobs right and not do social media modelling? After taking a deep breath I told myself that I am not going to create a linkedin or any social media profile. So I uploaded my CV to JS and started heading back home. Half way through the drive, an agency called my mobile!
After struggling to find a parking spot, I answered the call. It was a lovely girl enquiring about my projects and experience. She spoke very well from her script which was awesome. I was very sure she was neither Alexa nor Siri. After going through all the projects she asked me the one thing I refused to do. "Do you have a linkedin profile???" I replied, "I am yet to update my profile. I will add you later this week". I thought I handled that very well. "Oh, please do asap". She advised and wished me a safe drive back home.
So end of Tuesday. I go home and listen to more lectures about money problems and needless expenses. Yes, I had recently bought a high end projector for £700 and a Richer sounds Denon + Dolby atmos package for £800. It is not my fault if people in hotukdeals post ridiculous deals that are too difficult to ignore. After all, have you watched a movie with dolby atmos sound projected in a small bedroom. Its just awesome. You will enjoy literally any movie including Batman V Superman!
Wednesday I decided to work from home. I thought that my phone will keep ringing forever and hence will be easier to answer them from home. I ensured that my family went to a playgroup. I ensured the phone was fully charged and bluetooth headset was ready. Nearly 11 am. Not even a single call even the ppi or accident scam! Should I actively start applying in JS. So I go there and absolutely no new job was added since last night! I turn on BBC news. Today's breaking news: Banks are moving jobs to Germany and Ireland! Brexit is terrible for the country. AI and Robots are going to take over our jobs. BBC male presenters are paid £1 million more than female presenters who are paid just £2 million.
What a depressing world? Brexit has got nothing to do if the client co has no long term vision. After all where are you going to find all these techies and Phds? In Germany? Ireland? France? Those countries are just starting to capitalise the chaos. It will probably take them 10 years to attract the same level of people like the UK and US. Banks don't pay any tax in any country. They are just playing the countries against each other to get the maximum cash from the public. People are just stupid ... My phone rings and I realised that I was having an afternoon nap really. Hello, yes this is me speaking...
It was an agency. They were looking for 3 contractors urgently and wondered if I could refer couple of my colleagues so that all 3 can have interview in the same week. Bull tulip. Absolute fake right. I offered to refer colleagues only after interview and upon securing the contract. The agency said they will come back right away. Of course you are mate.
10 minutes later the agent called again. Are you available for a telephonic interview at 5pm? Of course I am. the interview was quite straight forward. The person talking to sounded legit. He confirmed that its a new greenfield project and that they are really looking for a whole team. It went very well. Received another call at 6pm. Hey, good feedback. Are you available for an interview Friday at 9am? Oh sure. I am quite available. My contract is finishing remember?
Thursday and Friday disappeared like a breeze. 2 more telephonic interviews from different clients on Thursday. All came back with positive feedback! And Friday 3 face to face interviews - 9 am and 11 am in London and 2 pm in Zone 4. Around 1:55 pm received my first offer from the 9 am interview. Hurray! By 4pm received all 3 offers. Then the craziest thing happened. For the first time in my career, all three agencies increased their offer like £60 to £100 per day. One of them threw in a free TV package (you know this client). I realised how hot the market is. My wife treated me like a crap this whole week and yet how valuable I am to these three clients. I wish I was married to my job!
After a peaceful weekend, it was time to accept one offer. However, the agents were refusing to give up. One of them invited me for drinks to talk the role through. Another increased the duration from 3 to 6 months. I have made my decision in the end and politely declined the two clients. So what started as a money problem last week turned into a different kind of money problem. I am happy everything has managed to sort itself out. Now waiting for the drinks at 6pm!
So my advise to all fellow folks. Its not bad out there yet. Stay positive and good luck!
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