Reply to: State of the Market

[willendure]

I've stopped applying for myworkday stuff - I can't get past the algo. Noir - I never hear back although there's plenty of evidence they are legit. I haven't had many cold calls from recruiters except for the maggots promising contracts with great rates but they'll only forward you with references. Also the moment you make yourself phoneable on Indeed you get a tonne of scam calls. CV Library is much better anyway. JobServe could be good but the site seemingly hasn't been updated since 2000.

Thanks for the recomendations - CV library turned up some stuff. Noir? it only seemed to have 1 listing on it.

I don't get put off by Jobserve website being ancient, its still a busy site with plenty stuff on it.

I get a daily email from total jobs too, main issue with that is that the email subscription cannot be filtered to just contracts, so the email is 90% perm roles.

Any more good recomendations welcome.

Personally, I am still in the goldilocks zone - relevant skillset, some cash in hand and not working. So I can afford to take it easy and see if something interesting turns up.

[oliverson]

So, the role I got frustrated with a few days has actually been filled internally.

Another one with a previous client where I'd had a subtle hint something was going to happen hasn't. Typical of that place to yet again have a change of plan.

Sat waiting for a 50/50 possibility of joining a previous contractor colleague on a project at his place. Not holding my breath.

Waiting for a call from another agent recommended to me by yet another ex-colleague and I know it's not going to happen, not on a Friday afternoon anyway.

Fielding off £ 60k p.a. FTC work via LinkedIn

WTF is going on? Seems like nobody has clear direction of where they are heading or the professionalism to follow up on promises.

The driving range and bar await. 30+ C again today and not a cloud.

[DrGUID]

Got made redundant from zombie company over the summer. Found another gig really quickly but I ended up walking due to paranoid manager who was so worried about me wasting time to the point it was stopping me actually doing work. It's a shame as it's probably the best work I've had in the last 5 years.

There are a lot more roles about but there are also a LOT of people looking. Don't be put off by the 100+ applicants according to LinkedIn because 50% of those aren't in the UK and then there's probably another 20% without work permits.

I've stopped applying for myworkday stuff - I can't get past the algo. Noir - I never hear back although there's plenty of evidence they are legit. I haven't had many cold calls from recruiters except for the maggots promising contracts with great rates but they'll only forward you with references. Also the moment you make yourself phoneable on Indeed you get a tonne of scam calls. CV Library is much better anyway. JobServe could be good but the site seemingly hasn't been updated since 2000.

Hiring managers are taking an absolute age to make decisions. So I'm carrying on with my side project until I hear something.

I expect most companies will wait for the budget. That will probably end up a nothingburger. So companies will hire like crazy in January and the usual boom/bust cycle will continue.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

This one is a big name consultancy - they have the contract for the initial design phase that lasts until Xmas - but they don't have the gig to implement it yet. Too risky even for me and I'm not especially risk averse - the problem is it's mostly stuff I'd have no control over.

[herman_g]

Just off the phone from an agent trying to place someone for 2 months at £900/day

I did one of those "someone's walked out" projects before - it was good money but no fun and I don't think it helped my career.

I signed up for a contract in Frankfurt in 2000 that was supposed to last 6 weeks - the contractor left suddenly also. I ended up staying on for 6.5 years. I met the contractor 10 years later. He was working for the software vendor and he wasn't getting his hotel bills paid. I worked for the vendor some time later and had the exact same issues.

[oliverson]

Just off the phone from an agent trying to place someone for 2 months at £900/day

I did one of those "someone's walked out" projects before - it was good money but no fun and I don't think it helped my career.

I also did one. Late Friday and I’m finishing up on a contract and this burly guy and his sidekick came marching down the corridor at pace. I watched them getting closer and they finished up at my desk! Turns out they’d been working with a contractor for over a year and he’d been escorted from the building a few days earlier, a result of an explosion of expletives in the office, taking with him all the source code on his laptop. Nothing had been committed to source control. One of the Big 4 consultancies as well. Head office. They’d heard I was finishing up and did I want a challenge?!

Now, you can imagine the heat of this project, already late and now they have absolutely sweet fa to show for it. Clients were expecting an imminent release. So, we got on with it. There was some initial friction at the start, understandable I guess, but I stood my ground. It took another year or so but that project got delivered and into the hands of the customer. It was one of the best projects I ever worked on. None of this scrum nonsense, I was given an actual spec, in Word format. Actual requirements with screen mock ups. In fact I’d say the vast majority of successful projects I’ve delivered have been like this. Quite the opposite of scrum.

The work schedule was hard but fair and they asked me to work extra hours given the circumstances. A lot of those weeks were 7 day weeks. At least one was 8 billable days. Not the kind of thing that can be sustained forever. Two years or so later the project came to a natural conclusion and that was that. So, to the original poster, I wouldn’t rule it out. Where there’s adversity, there’s always opportunity. In fact what I’d give for another opportunity like that to present itself right now.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Just off the phone from an agent trying to place someone for 2 months at £900/day

I did one of those "someone's walked out" projects before - it was good money but no fun and I don't think it helped my career.

[oliverson]

I dance around the court.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Can people stop with the snidey personal comments and stick to the thread subject please? Why does every online community end up as two bald men arguing over a comb?

[sadkingbilly]

Within 20 mins the soul came off one of my trainers

[oliverson]

Maybe they found your posts on here.

Which ones specifically do you think they'd object to, even if they could link 'oliverson' to my LinkedIn profile?

On a more serious note, my tennis session yesterday was brutal in 30+ degrees of sunshine. Haven't use my ball firing machine (or tennis trainers) out here since the lockdown. Within 20 mins the soul came off one of my trainers and right at the end of the session the ball machine spectacularly died a death, one of the rubber wheels that propels the balls splitting and peeling away. Kind of like my contracting career I guess :-(

[ensignia]

What has changed between that request and it being fulfilled? A short period of time!

Maybe they found your posts on here.

[rocktronAMP]

It's happening again!!

So, late yesterday afternoon I'm approached on LinkedIn regarding a short piece of work. I ask the usual questions, etc. and they get answered aside from sending me the spec., which they sent through early this morning. It looks like a nice little project with potential for extensions, so I'm interested and ask the day rate.

NOTHING

WTF is wrong with these people? Usually it's the provision of my mobile number they've asked for that kills the opportunity stone dead. Now it's asking the rate.

I just don't know anymore, I mean, this is hardly a one off, it's EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Booked a tennis court for this afternoon with a 'feels like' temp. of 33 C, so I'm just going to take it out on my ball firing machine and then get pissed in clubhouse.

I can concur that there are fake recruiters or strange people on LinkedIn. The clue is "nice little project with potential for extensions".
Sounds like a bot, researcher looking for contract rates, getting statistics and building privacy data store for the future to do <whatever>.

What's gets me is a certain associate director working for "Jamie Oliver" recruitment enterprise, who keeps advertising for "SC cleared developers". I added my name to his LI output more than once, few threads over the last wee while. I replied "Interested" and even sent my CV to his direct email. Nothing. Dead as a door knob.

So what is going on here? This "Jamie Oliver" recruiter does exists. I have seen his LinkedIn profile over several years. The company checks out. Company house checks out. I wish there was a way to market direct to clients, but I must be dreaming.

[willendure]

Weird kind of logic you have there. Why contact me in the first place? Surely the provision of my phone number in a timely manner isn’t enough to offend? What has changed between that request and it being fulfilled? A short period of time!

I reckon if someone contacts you on LI, google their name and employer and try to get a direct email or phone number that way. Also send a standard reply on LI asking for their contact details. If you fail to make contact by phone or email as the very next step - forget it. Have zero expectations. Its just a bot, or a 12 year old, or some idiot out in the sub-continent-of-timewasters.

[oliverson]

maybe it's not them??
maybe it's closer to home?

Weird kind of logic you have there. Why contact me in the first place? Surely the provision of my phone number in a timely manner isn’t enough to offend? What has changed between that request and it being fulfilled? A short period of time!