*** The official good luck Richard Cranium thread ***

[SallyAnne]

Seriously, good post.

It made me sleepy

[chef]

It made me sleepy

heeheheehe

dont hold back there SA, SA what you really think..

[RichardCranium]

NZ eh! One good thing about the agents down there is that they don't play all the games they do here.

In which case, setting up as an agent down there but with knowledge of the dirty tricks might be a good plan...

[RichardCranium]

It made me sleepy

Sorry. Give me a few days and I'll be too busy to post.

[voodooflux]

If what he said is right, once I've read, checked, had re-written the contract, I think I start on Wednesday.

woohoo i get to be the first to congratulate you..

Late to the party, let me be one of the last. Well done sir

[Zippy]

Sorry. Give me a few days and I'll be too busy to post.

Git!

[Spacecadet]

Good work RC, I hope the new contract works out!

My 2 cents about applying for contracts:

From advice received when I first joined this forum I just apply and forget, never bothered with cover letters. I don't even bother noting which contracts I've applied for.
I get call backs on about 1 in 5 realistic applications I make.
I do apply for other contracts which I don't have a chance of getting if it looks like my skills could be used in another capacity in the clients project. If the agent calls back I explain why I applied and have a chat about what I can offer
Call backs are better than 1 in 10 on average
For every 2 application call back I get I'll get 1 unsolicited call about a role. So far unsolicited calls have been much more fruitful than trawling through jobserve.

Any tips from fellow contractors about "friendly" agents are noted and acted up appropriately (although this happens about twice a year)

Unless an interview has been confirmed (or is in the process of being arranged) I do not call agents.
I do keep my phone with me at all times and avoid situations where answering it would be difficult or impossible. I've learnt that if an agent calls and has to leave a message then by the time you can return the call they've already got enough good applicants.

So far I've spent 6 weeks benched this year. 3 weeks in Jan thanks to previous contract ending on 31st december, possibly the worst time for a contract to end upturn or downturm

and 3 weeks in July due to a bit of bad luck with interviews.
1 pipped at the post - although admittedly I could have done better in the interview
1 client who didn't have a ****ing clue what they wanted
1 instance of being literally blown out of the water by another applicant with several years experience to my paltry 12 months in the technical area (they were from a different agency, only found out when I happened to bump in the client by chance and asked him what happened).

[rsingh]

Well done. It just goes to show that perseverance will pay off eventually

[suityou01]

Well done. It just goes to show that perseverance will pay off eventually

Naaaaaaaaaaah is doesn't

HTH

[rsingh]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rsingh
Well done. It just goes to show that BS and spin will pay off eventually

Naaaaaaaaaaah is doesn't

HTH

Sorry - I've corrected my post for you.