Benched and current climate

[Pickle2]

Nearly! But I am confident Ill be in a role by then - guess it boils down to how good you are and your networking.

tulip people will always remain on the bench in tough times.

Im not saying you wont get a role sorted, just do yourself a favour and dont count on it. In fact, you should plan on being out of contract for the next 6 months, and then if one comes along before its a bonus. But cut your cloth accordingly now to save yourself a whole lot of grief later on.

[Liability]

I was speaking to a builder recently who's been around for quite a few years.

He's actually getting busier, he also made the observation that building quality goes up during down turns as the crap builders are weeded out

Not sure about Builders! But my neighbour is a sparky and he has soo much work on that he cant understand what everyone is moaning about. Some win and will win, some will lose - in IT we will lose next year in terms of rates and offers - but it will weed the tulipe from the good people.

[Xenophon]

I'm waiting for Feb, not because I think it will be contracts-a-go-go then, but because Jan is a good month to be snuggled up in Xeno Towers.

[Liability]

Im not saying you wont get a role sorted, just do yourself a favour and dont count on it. In fact, you should plan on being out of contract for the next 6 months, and then if one comes along before its a bonus. But cut your cloth accordingly now to save yourself a whole lot of grief later on.

Dont get me wrong - I for one do not think next year will return to normality - I just feel that certain roles that I know of about [a good 7-8] will get released after Jan. Now that doesnt mean sod all to the wider world - but if thats based on just what I know of - surely its an indication of things on a wider front? Rates and Salaries will go down for next year without a doubt.

Agree - as a contractor we all save for a rainy day - I have a fund to see me out of all of next year worse case

[minestrone]

There will still always be jobs coming up, but it's going to be the best people that get them.

There are quite a few usless gits I have worked with over the years who I cannot wait seeing dumped, people that should not be in IT getting a good daily rate.

[zara_backdog]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7752430.stm

About 850 agency workers are to lose their jobs at Jaguar Land Rover in the West Midlands and Warwickshire.

The IT and engineering staff at plants in Castle Bromwich, Solihull, Whitley, and Gaydon have been told their jobs will go by the end of the year.

Yeap - There were also recruiting for several BA's at Solihull plant, two of which I were in the running for. I has previously got a role with JLR last month, but just before the contracts were due to be signed the job got put on hold". Stange, they were still advertising roles up to yesterday.

[Liability]

There will still always be jobs coming up, but it's going to be the best people that get them.

There are quite a few usless gits I have worked with over the years who I cannot wait seeing dumped, people that should not be in IT getting a good daily rate.

this is my point - the pedantic english teachers remind me of the tulipe Ive had to work with where they assume they need to get paid a good rate but in all honesty are no longer good at their jobs.

Next year will be about who is better - its simple. Similar to 2001 - if you werent good you were on the Bench - if you was you wasnt! Simple.

[Spacecadet]

Yeap - There were also recruiting for several BA's at Solihull plant, two of which I were in the running for. I has previously got a role with JLR last month, but just before the contracts were due to be signed the job got put on hold". Stange, they were still advertising roles up to yesterday.

Is "they" the agency's?

[Xenophon]

Is "they" the agency's?

Your apostrophe malarkey really has to stop!

[swamp]

Anyone waiting for "things to improve" in Feb is in for a big shock.

The only thing that's going to "improve" is the rate at which things are going to turn to s**t.

Do you think so? What do you base this on? Hunch?

Yes, I've got a hunch the new budgets in the next financial year are going to leave people wishing they could hang on to the scraps of last year.

Many things haven't shaped-up yet. The long-term outlook will become clearer next year and I don't think it will be good news -- how can it with tax rises and debt on the way? The result will be massive unemployment and a full-blown recession.