Possible first time contractor qs

[MrsGoof]

employment

a permie term, more approrpiate can you find enough customers !

well looking at the link I posted there appears to be plenty of options there.

What is your notice period. If it's 4 weeks then start applying, most (in my experiece) potential customers will wait a month.

edit: note to self "leanr to type"

[Bagpuss]

You need to ask the question in Business. Here people will take the p1ss, unless you are willing to bang on about immigrants/new labour/ house prices/the halcyon days of John Major/Prog rock/Dr Who etc. etc. until death do us part

[Clog II The Avenger]

1) Roughly, what % of the daily rate can I expect to come away with (net) after tax and NI?

Ans. Most contractors register their limited companies in the Cayman Islands, the only tax you pay is £500 per year.

2) Is it reasonable to expect to start contracting, and progress with more-or-less continuous employment, working <1.5 hours from Leeds?
I have a young family so would not be prepared to work away during the week (I could maybe do a couple of months if pushed to it)

Ans, Contacting is the best excuse to get away from the family, try Amsterdam, Prague or Bangkok

[neilh]

MrsG - yeah, 4 week notice period.

Cheers Badger I will repost in Business

[thunderlizard]

With a public sector background and covering Leeds, Manc and Sheffield you should do fine.

[madhippy]

just to put my oar in the tuppence worth ...

I've got nearly 10 years experience, last 6 at a consultancy type of place ... less than an hour commute into london - made redundant (kerching) - was looking at going contracting for sometime anyway - ... was available for immediate start etc - in the end took permie again - could get 2/3 permie interviews for every sniff of a possible chance of a contract interview ...

seems to me it's a lot harder to get the first contract than subsequent ones ...

[Troll]

just to put my oar in the tuppence worth ...

seems to me it's a lot harder to get the first contract than subsequent ones ...

Good... experience counts!

[madhippy]

Good... experience counts!

10 years ... all blue chip co's

[Troll]

10 years ... all blue chip co's

Perm or contract?

[malvolio]

10 years ... all blue chip co's

OK, so you're technically competent. However, as I've said before, the problem is that as a contractor you're in a different marketplace with different rules. Competence is largely taken for granted on the basis that you have been charging people for those skills and haven't failed to deliver.

But as a first timer you haven't got that background, all we have is what you say you can do - so given you and someone who's got a couple of successful contracts under their belt, which one do I pick?

You will get Contract #1 if you're any good at all, but it probably ain't going to happen tomorrow. If you haven't got any useful introductions or recommendations to shortcut the process, or haven't got any niche skills that may be in demand somewhere, be prepareed for a period of frustration. Once you;ve started off, though, it gets easier.