Reply to: Strategy to reducing my rate

[GhostofTarbera]

Morning ladies and gents,

I know it's not the best time of year and we are in funny times, but I would much rather be in a contract that sitting at home.

I know that my day rate is pretty much at the high end in the market and am considering reducing it.

Currently my strategy is to spend another week looking at my current rate, and as we enter February I am thinking about dropping about £50 off my rate.

How do people typically do this. Do you:

A) Quote your new reduce rate for any new queries/applications

B) Send out a flare to any agents you have recently dealt with, in order to restart any conversations that may have stalled due to rate.

Thanks

P.S. I tried searching a few terms but I think I am crap at search smh.

How’s it going 1 week in?


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[krytonsheep]

Quoting a rate up front to an agent means you are likely pricing yourself out of the market even after you've danced around their questions.

Yeah. I've dealt with an agency from a recruitment perspective, they were charging a fixed daily fee for contractors (obviously not all of them do this). So from the agencies perspective, getting contractors who will accept a lower daily rate will always be the preferred choice, because they make a lot more money from them. E.g. if they've got two CV's, one contractor is willing to accept £300 a day, the other £400, and the end client is paying £500, they'll make an extra £20k a year off the £300 contractor. Guess which CV is going to get sent to the client.

[BolshieBastard]

The issue with this type of thinking is that if you don't have a family nor dependents then you're better off widening your target market to: the world. If everybody lowers their rate and just accepts being treated like muck by clients then that's exactly what facilitates a vicious circle that will see no rate increases for many years to come.

This week RBS have broadcast many roles, some senior, inside IR35 @ £360 to £380/day. I don't really care how large your ego is, if you perform a senior role for that rate and bring the market down with it then you're a mug. Then again I'd also suggest you're a mug if you don't have a six figure war chest from performing senior roles for many years as a contractor, so: you make your bed and must lay upon it - the true answer to this thread is that if you're desperate then you'll do anything. The trick is not to become desperate through solid financial management.

Well, I was in agreement for all of your first sentence. After that, what a load of bollocks.

Just my opinion though. Im retired so dont have the hang ups you clear have.

[PerfectStorm]

Don't be shy to take the stuff that's 50/100 less than you're used to. It's a hell of a lot better than £0/day once that starts to bite.

[rogerfederer]

Now we are all here, trolling this forum.
Waiting for 12pm to have the first glass of wine. (if we happen to wake up before that)

I am not joking about this but I was getting bored before the holidays and knew it wasn't going to happen much over the next month or so.
Started as a challenge with a friend but ended up applying for a Temporary Supermarket Assistant job.
Went through gruelling 1h questionnaire online about biting your nails and how would you react if...
Followed by a "group assessment" where it was myself and confused 18-19y old youngsters.
Survived 1.5m working the register 3days per week, the most "challenging" role that they could find for me in that place.
They say that you learn a lot about yourself when you do manual labour.
I learned that I do not like doing manual labour.

Hopefully we'll get some better times ahead...

btw £9.24/h for whom is interested, I can put you in touch.
peak of my day was refusing alcohol to students that were from outside of EU and had anything else but a passport.

The unspoken truth about recession, whether within an industry, one country or the world: the ladder shifts and in a bad way.

Having very experienced individuals take significantly lower level service jobs pushes those potential workers, such as the gent at your interview, off the ladder entirely. The younger millennials were pushed off after 2008 as people educated to PhD level accepted Masters levels job; Masters took Honours level jobs; Honours took much less skilled non-graduate jobs, and so on.

I personally ensure that I keep a float of money and don't need to take this job from the young and very poor or uneducated. No matter how bad things seem there is always the option to move and hedge your bets. Having an open worldview favours such movement and will ensure that your own kids, friends' kids, relatives' kids and the rest are able to get work and get something on their CV. I've known good teenagers and young adults rejected from basic work and struggled for years to even build a CV after the financial crash.

When we look at our own childhoods I'm sure we could say that we were able to get out there and get work as a youngster, but the last 12 years have been extremely difficult for many particularly in northern England. Very few are truly lazy, most are just trying to keep costs down and searching within 15Km and not finding many jobs. It looks like shopping centres and the like will also be finished in a few years, if Intu and their misfortunes are anything to go by. The market is changing and, if you've ever witnessed the internal workings of an Amazon 'delivery centre' then you'll know you don't want such robotic work for your kids growing up.

[GigiBronz]

And that is how you end up being payed less than people installing Central Heating Units.

[simes]

Strategy to reducing rate: Mention a lower rate next time an agency calls you
/Strategy

Quite!

It really does not seem that hard...

[MasterBait]

Strategy to reducing rate: Mention a lower rate next time an agency calls you
/Strategy

[GigiBronz]

Ever since reading the post previously about the guy who did cold calling, I was thinking about getting a manual labour job.. thanks for setting me straight on that one..

well, decided to stop as I was afraid the physical tiredness would get to me and would not be able to set aside enough time to follow what I want to do.
It was never about this but 3d/w was covering only half of my rent. Most of people in there were either young and living with parents, working part time and "subsidised" by her majesty. or old and with own home, trying to fill time. Could be a hobby at best.
And to be honest it is the hardest I have ever worked in my life.

[password]

Now we are all here, trolling this forum.
Waiting for 12pm to have the first glass of wine. (if we happen to wake up before that)

I am not joking about this but I was getting bored before the holidays and knew it wasn't going to happen much over the next month or so.
Started as a challenge with a friend but ended up applying for a Temporary Supermarket Assistant job.
Went through gruelling 1h questionnaire online about biting your nails and how would you react if...
Followed by a "group assessment" where it was myself and confused 18-19y old youngsters.
Survived 1.5m working the register 3days per week, the most "challenging" role that they could find for me in that place.
They say that you learn a lot about yourself when you do manual labour.
I learned that I do not like doing manual labour.

Hopefully we'll get some better times ahead...

btw £9.24/h for whom is interested, I can put you in touch.
peak of my day was refusing alcohol to students that were from outside of EU and had anything else but a passport.

Ever since reading the post previously about the guy who did cold calling, I was thinking about getting a manual labour job.. thanks for setting me straight on that one..

[GigiBronz]

I did this back in the day

I.e before this year when market crashed

Now we are all here, trolling this forum.
Waiting for 12pm to have the first glass of wine. (if we happen to wake up before that)

I am not joking about this but I was getting bored before the holidays and knew it wasn't going to happen much over the next month or so.
Started as a challenge with a friend but ended up applying for a Temporary Supermarket Assistant job.
Went through gruelling 1h questionnaire online about biting your nails and how would you react if...
Followed by a "group assessment" where it was myself and confused 18-19y old youngsters.
Survived 1.5m working the register 3days per week, the most "challenging" role that they could find for me in that place.
They say that you learn a lot about yourself when you do manual labour.
I learned that I do not like doing manual labour.

Hopefully we'll get some better times ahead...

btw £9.24/h for whom is interested, I can put you in touch.
peak of my day was refusing alcohol to students that were from outside of EU and had anything else but a passport.

[GhostofTarbera]

Strategy to reducing my rate

I usually just say XXX (high end), "or that kind of ballpark" which is basically saying, "try me".. and sometimes they say that is fine, or we settle for a little less (lower end of my expectation, which is fine by me).

I did this back in the day

I.e before this year when market crashed


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[password]

For the initial contact on a contract just make sure you're not outside the range they advertise. Then it's a matter of demand. If you're inundated with calls you go to the high end, if not then be flexible, i.e. quote the high end but mention you're flexible or give them a range.

I usually just say XXX (high end), "or that kind of ballpark" which is basically saying, "try me".. and sometimes they say that is fine, or we settle for a little less (lower end of my expectation, which is fine by me).

[BlasterBates]

I'm not in fire sale mode.... just trying to figure out if I need to reduce my rate and if so, how to go about it.

For the initial contact on a contract just make sure you're not outside the range they advertise. Then it's a matter of demand. If you're inundated with calls you go to the high end, if not then be flexible, i.e. quote the high end but mention you're flexible or give them a range.

[password]

Let us know when you land your next contract and the rate please

I’m betting July £375


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I'm not in fire sale mode.... just trying to figure out if I need to reduce my rate and if so, how to go about it.