Reply to: Officially off the bench!

[mace]

Well done.

[rootsnall]

Financially, I can live with two years.

But I'm concerned that when the jobs do come back a 55 year old with a two year gap on their CV is going to be anybody's first choice.

And then I'm not sure that a retrained 55 year old with no "real" experience of the sector is either!

tim

Ah, 55 ! Looks like it's B&Q for you I'm afraid.

My Mrs was asking me about ageism last week, I think you are still OK if your CV and skills are OK, I was working with two 60 year old code cutters last year.

I see were you are coming from, but I'm talking 'self training' and probably some sort of sideways step if that is possible. One buzzword is often all it takes to jump the queue !?

I had my first doom day last week after 6 weeks or so of very lazy benchdom with thoughts of my game is all over and Plan Bs and !?!?!? 10 mins later and an email from an old client and it looks like I am sorted for a few months.

[BolshieBastard]

Uh, what I mean is I experienced several months of being jacked around by arrogant clients that were more interested in wasting my vacation time and cutting into my war chest ( and doing the same to several colleagues ) with no apparent intentions of putting a piece of paper on the table.

Now that silly phase of the economy is seemingly over, pieces of paper have been put on the table by two serious clients.

I have accepted one and it is now official. I am off the bench.

And, yes, ICT transfers and the backlash against the abusers of same, seem to be a factor.

Ah, I see. I think!

Anyway congrats and to any one else, keep your chins up, I was once 12 months on the bench in the 2001 - 02 downturn. Havent been affected this time and have worked through it!

[tim123]

If there is no work there is no work, and once you have a big build up of experienced people on the bench then it's a struggle. I reckon two years is telling you to retrain though ( if possible and you CBA ) as those nasty recessions do keep on coming round.

Financially, I can live with two years.

But I'm concerned that when the jobs do come back a 55 year old with a two year gap on their CV is going to be anybody's first choice.

And then I'm not sure that a retrained 55 year old with no "real" experience of the sector is either!

tim

[rootsnall]

At the end of the the last two recessions I met people (mostly hardware engineers) who had been benched for two years.

tim

If there is no work there is no work, and once you have a big build up of experienced people on the bench then it's a struggle. I reckon two years is telling you to retrain though ( if possible and you CBA ) as those nasty recessions do keep on coming round.

[tim123]

My game is also in the doldrums, with barely an advertised job. What few jobs there are the agents keep quiet about if they have any sense. A mate with 10 years experience just did 8 months out with barely a sniff but eventually got something by going for anything and everything. Something always comes along but 8 months is getting into scary territory. After 3 or 4 months I'd be looking at some sort of retraining (-> blagging ) exercise as you have nothing much to lose.

At the end of the the last two recessions I met people (mostly hardware engineers) who had been benched for two years.

tim

[NickFitz]

Congratulations!

[Mr.Whippy]

I have accepted one and it is now official. I am off the bench.

Congrats

[herman_g]

Uh, what I mean is I experienced several months of being jacked around by arrogant clients that were more interested in wasting my vacation time and cutting into my war chest ( and doing the same to several colleagues ) with no apparent intentions of putting a piece of paper on the table.

Now that silly phase of the economy is seemingly over, pieces of paper have been put on the table by two serious clients.

I have accepted one and it is now official. I am off the bench.

And, yes, ICT transfers and the backlash against the abusers of same, seem to be a factor.

[EddieNambulous]

How can one be 'officially \ unofficially off the bench'!?

From what I gather, it is a complex process involving various types of chutney and numerous spoons.

[BolshieBastard]

How can one be 'officially \ unofficially off the bench'!?

[rootsnall]

What is it you guys do?

If I go to Jobserve and type in "my" search I get a total of 9 jobs for the week(only three of which are in the UK).

Even in April the number was in the 50s (even if a lot of them were doubles)

tim

My game is also in the doldrums, with barely an advertised job. What few jobs there are the agents keep quiet about if they have any sense. A mate with 10 years experience just did 8 months out with barely a sniff but eventually got something by going for anything and everything. Something always comes along but 8 months is getting into scary territory. After 3 or 4 months I'd be looking at some sort of retraining (-> blagging ) exercise as you have nothing much to lose.

[tim123]

What is it you guys do?

If I go to Jobserve and type in "my" search I get a total of 9 jobs for the week(only three of which are in the UK).

Even in April the number was in the 50s (even if a lot of them were doubles)

tim

[herman_g]

Phone hasn't stopped ringing over the past two weeks and now 3 interviews arranged.

This compares with almost no activity for the past 6 months.

That's been exactly my experience. 6 months ago I had a nice offer at a client that I could not accept because I could not "be there monday". Then it all went tulip. The offer I turned down yesterday was for the same client at a lower rate but not bad considering how dry its been.

The last time I experienced the current level of activity was April 2008 when that year's budgets came out - I only looked for 3 days at the time and came up with two offers.

itjobswatch shows a peak in activity in my niche market in May 2008 and a comparable peak in activity right now - seems pretty much accurate.

[dmuk]

Phone hasn't stopped ringing over the past two weeks and now 3 interviews arranged.

This compares with almost no activity for the past 6 months.

Fortunately I haven't seen any bench time, but getting into a new contract has felt impossible.

Agents keep saying there are "good people who have been out of work for a long time taking my jobs" (ie taking lower rates).... in contrast to when they say "we have sent other people down for interviews but they have been too senior"?