Reply to: First Time Contractor in Edinburgh - What to expect?

[stek]

That's a decent rate at £550 especially for RBS as they tend to offer a bog standard rate of £450 based on my experience. You are doing well to get that rate. Make sure to see the contract before you commit though!

Haven't 'got' it - not going for it really, even though I'd make money at it, it's not all about the money, and even though I'm on less here in Leeds, I'm a 15 min bus ride away, WFH when I want like tmrw - full week if I want. That's worth more than money.....

However, I'm still keeping dabs on it as they have a Leeds office so may as well not bin it totally. War chest is a comfort, I can wait......

[despot]

That's a decent rate at £550 especially for RBS as they tend to offer a bog standard rate of £450 based on my experience. You are doing well to get that rate. Make sure to see the contract before you commit though!

[KentDogWalker]

£550 pd in Scotland, thats amazing, not for me though, I'm a dev.

[northernladuk]

If it's anything like the consolidation work that went on in Halifax that's going to be a long ballache of a gig.

[stek]

If rates are similar to London I'd be happy to move closer to my roots.

£550pd for Edinburgh, techie role, I thought it wasn't too bad. I've not pursued as I don't want to travel, have a current local role in Leeds that after the death of the project is being extended month to month, not ideal but being local is great for me after getting nothing local for years and years.

RBS DC migration, from Sun E25k's to Oracle T5-4's - get a lot of calls, if you want to have a nosey. Not much there for devs I reckon though....

[KentDogWalker]

I'm getting shed loads of sniffs re: roles in Edinburgh, all seem to be related to an RBS data centre migration. Good rates too, fancy London-style ones!

If rates are similar to London I'd be happy to move closer to my roots.

[heyya99]

Quickest is 2 weeks?!??! Blimey.. I can't remember doing on that was more than a week. 3 have been interview Tues/Weds and on site Monday...

And now we know why.

[LondonManc]

Quickest is 2 weeks?!??! Blimey.. I can't remember doing on that was more than a week. 3 have been interview Tues/Weds and on site Monday...

I've had everything from start tomorrow to full screening process taking over four weeks.

Very much depends on the industry and the organisation, especially if it's with a previous hiring manager from a different client. Had a working interview that the agent managed to get me paid for once.

[jmo21]

The average wait can be 3 - 6 months.

eh??

I know you can get the odd one that drag on for ages, but the average being 3 - 6 months is just not my experience at all.

[northernladuk]

Most agencies are OK and reasonable. The quickest I have landed a role is 2 weeks from contact to start of contract. The average wait can be 3 - 6 months. If you are just starting then it is going to be down to luck and depends on the demand for your skill set. Good agencies are Head, BE-IT and bright purple. The very worst (in my experience at least) - Lorien. Avoid like the plague.

Quickest is 2 weeks?!??! Blimey.. I can't remember doing on that was more than a week. 3 have been interview Tues/Weds and on site Monday...

[stek]

Most agencies are OK and reasonable. The quickest I have landed a role is 2 weeks from contact to start of contract. The average wait can be 3 - 6 months. If you are just starting then it is going to be down to luck and depends on the demand for your skill set. Good agencies are Head, BE-IT and bright purple. The very worst (in my experience at least) - Lorien. Avoid like the plague.

Strange, Lorien were great for me at DVLA, was at TEK a few years ago, awful, with TEK again now, great!

Just shows, YMMV.....

Aviod the the Indian agencies like the plague, and any role that mentions Wipro....

[despot]

Most agencies are OK and reasonable. The quickest I have landed a role is 2 weeks from contact to start of contract. The average wait can be 3 - 6 months. If you are just starting then it is going to be down to luck and depends on the demand for your skill set. Good agencies are Head, BE-IT and bright purple. The very worst (in my experience at least) - Lorien. Avoid like the plague.

[stek]

I'm getting shed loads of sniffs re: roles in Edinburgh, all seem to be related to an RBS data centre migration. Good rates too, fancy London-style ones!

[Eirikur]

In particular, I'm interested in how long it normally takes after submitting an application to hear back. I applied for a bunch of roles last week, but have yet to hear anything. I'm guessing (/hoping) this is quite normal, and not a case of a bad CV

if the role is real and the agency thinks you're suitable you will be contact within hours, if not minutes, after submitting.
Just keep on firing your cv to as many suitable roles and agencies (if the same role is advertised by multiple agencies just send it to all of them) until your bum is actually physically on a client's seat.

Also make sure your cv has all the right buzz words in it when uploading to the jobportals to pop up in the agencies queries when searching for Cvs

[fuzzypenguin]

I've just relocated to Edinburgh and am looking for my first contracting gig as a Business Analyst after being permy for quite a few years. I'm very green! How long, on average, have you found it normally takes to land a contracting gig? A couple of weeks? A couple of months?

In particular, I'm interested in how long it normally takes after submitting an application to hear back. I applied for a bunch of roles last week, but have yet to hear anything. I'm guessing (/hoping) this is quite normal, and not a case of a bad CV

Thanks in advance for the advice!

The start of the year (Jan / Feb / start of March) can be a bit slow, but tends to pick up after this, possibly to do with budgets being aligned to financial year. I would put your CV on the job boards and set your status to actively looking. You should get calls from agents then who have jobs but haven't advertised them. Just develop a thick skin quickly, as they will only tell you what you want to hear, and a lot will just try harvesting you for contacts (fellow contractors or more likely previous bosses / decision makers to sell their services in to). Sort out your LinkedIn profile too. Check out meetup.com for tech groups that are relevant to your skill set (although they tend to be dev focused, so not sure how relevant this is to you), as these can be a good place to get work direct without the agencies being involved.

It can be quite normal not to hear anything back for a week, depending how urgent the role is (and whether it existed in the first place), so don't panic. Even if you get an interview, it's common not to hear anything if you haven't been successful, as other's have said they don't earn anything from giving you bad news so don't bother. If you are successful at interview though, they will hound you to sign the contract and accept as soon as possible.