Reply to: USPs from those who successfully found role recently..

[Darren_Test]

I suppose in theory, you could make a living just doing this as most Agencies offer 500-1000 quid for each lead you give them that turns into something live.

PZZ

On paper yes...But any one really received money from pimps for leads..I doubt..!

[Darren_Test]

2. Email something similar to every agent that

3. Make sure that your CV has every acronym/buzz
PZZ

On 2..
Few months back I mailed to all agents from 2004, but 99% bounced as most of pimps change agencies quite often. So it was n't helpful at all.

On 3..
Are there any tools pimps uses to find match, sure 99% pimps will not understand any technical terms..How they will match, simple find & search of 100+ CVs will not be easy any way.

[Darren_Test]

mine was a tad similar

3. Give the impression i was in demand

How to give that impression..? you cannot talk abt your recent interviews with pimps any way right..??

[Darren_Test]

My USPs have been:

2. Rewriting CV for every job applied for
3. Making a pain the arse of myself to pimps and demanding from them specific time and date replies
4. Giving the impression (rightly or wrongly that I'm in demand)

- they've

2. Having your CV in job boards may not help in that case as your prime CV & CV for a specific role may differ.

4. Long Bench time may not help then..

[Darren_Test]

The only USP you need is to quote a low rate that will enable the pimp to take a large margin.

In my experience at least, most pimps are far too short sighted to forward on CVs from contractors requesting a decent rate, regardless of their suitablility for the role.

Not sure its that simple...

[pzz76077]

excellent advice, point 4 is not one I had heard before, so are you saying you phone up one of your 5 friendly agents and say "so and so has a role going how come you didn't call me about it?" - sorry I can't quite figure this out, what do you say to them?

Nope, what I mean is: if some agent you have never heard of before (or will likely never hear from again because hes useless and will get fired soon) calls you up with a role that is totally unsuitable for you, give one of your tame agents a ring with the 'in'. Its a good way to keep the 2 way communication and sooner or later the agent will come up trumps with the lead that you privided. If you do this enough times, they will call you first every time they get something suitable for you to keep you sweet and keep the leads coming their way.

I suppose in theory, you could make a living just doing this as most Agencies offer 500-1000 quid for each lead you give them that turns into something live.


Best of luck!

PZZ

[MPwannadecentincome]

When you know your present contract is about to end (or now if you are past this point):-

1. Email everyone you have ever worked with or worked for - this should be in the region of 200-300 names if you have been contracting for a few years. Something along the lines of '..Haven't spoke for a while, how are you doing, what are you up to these days, Im looking around myself, let me know if you know of anything in my line. No more than about 5 lines for now.

2. Email something similar to every agent that you have spoken with, received a mail from. This should be a substantial list if the spam you get from agencies is anything like mime. Say 500-1000 names. If you haven't been contracting for long, you may need to make a few wasted applications on Jobswerve just to build up your list.

3. Make sure that your CV has every acronym/buzz word/skill/experience listed in any role that you apply for. Agents often receive thousands of applications for key roles and if they require 20 key attributes and your CV only has 15 of them your CV will be deleted without reaching the attention of any agent after the initial word search. Make sure that you tailor your CV to specifically target each and every individual role that you apply for.

4. Find a few agents, say 5 max, and work with them to find you a contract. If you get a call from some agent that is not appropriate to you, call up one of these agents and tell them about it. Believe it or not, if you get an agent a few commissions in a month, then it is amazing how quickly they will call you and offer you a relevant role before anyone else!

4. If you use 1-4 above you should never be in the position of haveing to use the job sites and not ever be the thousandth CV that an agent has to sift through to pick his 2 or 3 CV to be put forward to end client.

Usually 1 or 2 works for me leaving me with a role found without any agents assistance. It just leaves me to pick the lucky agent (unless end client has a preferred list of agents already) and hand him the client on a plate to tie up the paperwork.

Do this a few times and you will never be out of work. Id say that 90% of all contracts I have ever accepted have never been advertised or been offered to any other contractors before my first refusal.

Finally, brush up on your interview technique, make sure that you know all about end clients organization, what they do, how they make money, and be in a position to answer any question that they may throw at you in the context of their little world. Use a video camera to record yourself going through the motions and ask yourself if you would employ you based on what you see (which is all end client has to make a decision!).

If you sit at home and wait for something to come up on the phone or jobswerve, then you have lost control of your destiny and it is time to start to become a lot more proactive!

Hope this helps.


PZZ

excellent advice, point 4 is not one I had heard before, so are you saying you phone up one of your 5 friendly agents and say "so and so has a role going how come you didn't call me about it?" - sorry I can't quite figure this out, what do you say to them?

[MPwannadecentincome]

My USP was to undercut the Indians... beat them at their own game, who's laughing now?

maybe you should emigrate to india?

[Menelaus]

How do you get them to do that? From my experience they're always out of office or taking another call when I want some feedback.

My USP was to undercut the Indians... beat them at their own game, who's laughing now?

I'll either hang-on the line waiting for them or I'll ask the person who I'm speaking to when they'll be finished and I'll call them back.

[Bertie]

I would agree with earlier post that being flexible with location is a big plus.

During the month or so I was on the bench I was getting a pretty good hit rate with my CV (agencies calling me and putting my CV forward to the client).

I think this was down to my CV being very brief with just a few key bullet points listed under each position / role.

[pzz76077]

How I usually find contracts..

When you know your present contract is about to end (or now if you are past this point):-

1. Email everyone you have ever worked with or worked for - this should be in the region of 200-300 names if you have been contracting for a few years. Something along the lines of '..Haven't spoke for a while, how are you doing, what are you up to these days, Im looking around myself, let me know if you know of anything in my line. No more than about 5 lines for now.

2. Email something similar to every agent that you have spoken with, received a mail from. This should be a substantial list if the spam you get from agencies is anything like mime. Say 500-1000 names. If you haven't been contracting for long, you may need to make a few wasted applications on Jobswerve just to build up your list.

3. Make sure that your CV has every acronym/buzz word/skill/experience listed in any role that you apply for. Agents often receive thousands of applications for key roles and if they require 20 key attributes and your CV only has 15 of them your CV will be deleted without reaching the attention of any agent after the initial word search. Make sure that you tailor your CV to specifically target each and every individual role that you apply for.

4. Find a few agents, say 5 max, and work with them to find you a contract. If you get a call from some agent that is not appropriate to you, call up one of these agents and tell them about it. Believe it or not, if you get an agent a few commissions in a month, then it is amazing how quickly they will call you and offer you a relevant role before anyone else!

4. If you use 1-4 above you should never be in the position of haveing to use the job sites and not ever be the thousandth CV that an agent has to sift through to pick his 2 or 3 CV to be put forward to end client.

Usually 1 or 2 works for me leaving me with a role found without any agents assistance. It just leaves me to pick the lucky agent (unless end client has a preferred list of agents already) and hand him the client on a plate to tie up the paperwork.

Do this a few times and you will never be out of work. Id say that 90% of all contracts I have ever accepted have never been advertised or been offered to any other contractors before my first refusal.

Finally, brush up on your interview technique, make sure that you know all about end clients organization, what they do, how they make money, and be in a position to answer any question that they may throw at you in the context of their little world. Use a video camera to record yourself going through the motions and ask yourself if you would employ you based on what you see (which is all end client has to make a decision!).

If you sit at home and wait for something to come up on the phone or jobswerve, then you have lost control of your destiny and it is time to start to become a lot more proactive!

Hope this helps.


PZZ

[gingerjedi]

My USPs have been:

1. Experience in the field
2. Rewriting CV for every job applied for
3. Making a pain the arse of myself to pimps and demanding from them specific time and date replies
4. Giving the impression (rightly or wrongly that I'm in demand)

I think that "3" is the one that's had the most effect - they've

How do you get them to do that? From my experience they're always out of office or taking another call when I want some feedback.

My USP was to undercut the Indians... beat them at their own game, who's laughing now?

[chicane]

so that means I should find the role with the highest advertised rate and phone up the agent offering to do it for half price?

It does help if you're at least partially capable of performing the role advertised. You're obviously not going to land a SAP role if you've no SAP experience on your CV.

What I'm getting at is that most pimps would put forward a mediocre candidate asking for a lower rate over a much stronger candidate asking for another £30/day.

[slickcontractor]

My USPs have been:

1. Experience in the field
2. Rewriting CV for every job applied for
3. Making a pain the arse of myself to pimps and demanding from them specific time and date replies
4. Giving the impression (rightly or wrongly that I'm in demand)

I think that "3" is the one that's had the most effect - they've

mine was a tad similar

1. Experience in field which meant i still got my usual rate.
2. Flexible on location
3. Give the impression i was in demand

[Menelaus]

I am trying to find USP (Unique Selling Points) of those who found job recently even during this tough time..

So guys who found roles recently please share what might resulted you being selected by agency from 100's of CVs & what might prompted client to offer you a role..???

Hope you guys understand what I am trying to unwrap. Is there anything unique in your CV or in your conversation with agency or what you said in the interview that you think might have fetch job for you..?? I am sure if some one able to beat 100's Cvs and land for an interview that itself is an achievement under current climate. Also if he was able to convince client his suitability that's really worth knowing.

So I am looking for inputs from those trend-beaters to see what they might think that helped them (in CV or in interview) to land a role..

I am aware that most of the guys after getting a role may not look at Contractor UK BB until next time they are in bench, but hopefully some one landed job recently kind enough to share their USP's...!

My USPs have been:

1. Experience in the field
2. Rewriting CV for every job applied for
3. Making a pain the arse of myself to pimps and demanding from them specific time and date replies
4. Giving the impression (rightly or wrongly that I'm in demand)

I think that "3" is the one that's had the most effect - they've