(Permie noob) Getting first contract and dealing with agents.

[swamp]

I believe a would-be contractor should always resign before they start looking for contracts. If you can't do this then how do you expect to handle being on the bench?!

If you get an interview then you are 8 or 9/10ths of the way to a contract. Interviews are key. But if you're able to wait until after an interview before resigning (ie. the agent is prepared to take a chance on you) then you may as well wait until you have a real contract before writing to your boss.

Oh, and now is not a very good time to go contracting.

[eliquant]

The other one you should watch out for from the agent is ... ye olde ...

"Lets meet up for a chat"

You must never.. EVER do this ... basically it's a scam to butter you up and to extract info out of you .. a waste of your time totally, they will try to 'bullsh*t' you if you say 'no lets not meet up' .. i.e. ..."the client believes it is important that we must see our candidates and will not consider you for an interview unless we see you in person, it adds value to the candidate" .. (absolute tosh and no job exists). If you agree to see them they will try and get previous colleagues' names and places of where you are interviewing whilst they offer you a cheap Starbucks coffee.

Going back many, many years during these meetings with agents I've tried to explain to them what I do and have asked questions about the job and you are met with complete evasion, which just puts a real downer on things because you realise that you are dealing with someone who cannot understand and does not want to understand what you do.

[Gunshy]

Thanks for all the posts. Seems chef's advice is highly regarded on this forum so thanks to chef for your advice and restraint in the way it was given! I've been shot down/flamed in forums before and prob. will be again. Doesn't bother me.

I have actually done a fair amount of research, but didn't want to list absolutely everything I've read and thought about since I thought that would make for a long and tedious post. The list of of agent don'ts was in my head before I got any calls from agents. I compiled it by reading a lot before hand. I realise it probably sounded like stating the obvious to most of the forum members, but my experience with agents has been very limited up to now. There's lots of good advice on the web about things like Umbrella vs. Limited Co. and IR35, but insights into the minds of agents are harder to find. Anyway, my post has elicited some very useful advice and I got it without being flamed so I'm really greatfull, thanks

I've read all the very sobering advice about why it's not a good time to become a contractor. But having worked in the public sector for the past year I have three good reasons to try and move into this now.

1. I have reason to believe the demand is there.
2. My employers offerings in terms of pay and advancement are so sh*t at the moment, if I got just six months work and was benched for the rest of the year, I'd still be better off.
3. I have very few financial or personal commitments at the moment, I'm at a point where I can quite easily drop everything and move anywhere, the only thing holding me back is my notice period. In other words; I have a very comfortable bench waiting for me if I find I'm having to do a lot of sitting around waiting.

I thought if I could get an interview then that would confirm that I at least have a chance. I thought this would give me the right balance between risk/benefit and so this would be a good time to quit. But I do take the point that it probably doesn't make that much difference whether I quit now or when I get an interview as there are no guarantees.