Reply to: Times to get tough again

[Clippy]

Depends on how the axe falls on Tuesday and how many public sector people flood the private sector.

Problem with many redundancies is that you find the contract market is suddenly overflowing with people taking low rates because as formie permies they think that half the market rate is soooooo good.

I hope the market treats these individuals with the contempt they deserve - don't forget, hirers from the public sector rejected more than competent individuals for roles due to no public sector experience.

What goes around comes around...

[Green Mango]

Depends on how the axe falls on Tuesday and how many public sector people flood the private sector.

Problem with many redundancies is that you find the contract market is suddenly overflowing with people taking low rates because as formie permies they think that half the market rate is soooooo good.

Well half a cake is better than no cake especially when you are in a prolonged period
of economic uncertainty as this appears to be turning out to be.

[norrahe]

Yep, an agent told me that a role at BP keeps getting readvertised as the contractors applying were not up to scratch - rate has increased £125 just to get the right people interested. It was nice to hear that things are perhaps on the up.

Depends on how the axe falls on Tuesday and how many public sector people flood the private sector.

Problem with many redundancies is that you find the contract market is suddenly overflowing with people taking low rates because as formie permies they think that half the market rate is soooooo good.

[MrMark]

Yep, an agent told me that a role at BP keeps getting readvertised as the contractors applying were not up to scratch - rate has increased £125 just to get the right people interested. It was nice to hear that things are perhaps on the up.

Hope Obama's not reading this

[Tingles]

Yep, an agent told me that a role at BP keeps getting readvertised as the contractors applying were not up to scratch - rate has increased £125 just to get the right people interested. It was nice to hear that things are perhaps on the up.

[nomadd]

However I do agree with you that now is the time to reskill

Which skills would those be?

[ChimpMaster]

Heard pretty much same last week from agent i worked with a while back, his theory was the decent contactors get snapped up fast but because market is still unstable they are staying a lot longer in their current roles than they would normally

Leaving large pool of unqualified/inexperienced/ out of work permies with the odd gem in the pile

That's my experience of it so far. The client (bank) has been looking for a contractor recently only very mediocre candidates came forward. In interview I wasn't impressed in the slightest. The guys I wanted to bring in are all in contract already, and understandably weren't prepared to jump ship early.

[Not So Wise]

What I've heard from agents several times over the past 18 months is "lots more contractors on the market but the quality is crap."

Heard pretty much same last week from agent i worked with a while back, his theory was the decent contactors get snapped up fast but because market is still unstable they are staying a lot longer in their current roles than they would normally

Leaving large pool of unqualified/inexperienced/ out of work permies with the odd gem in the pile

[northernladuk]

BS. Course you can sum the market up in one paragraph. My point is that the reality we are looking at is.. more difficult market conditions due to the cuts and growing sovereign debt problems (Bit more of an intelligent way to put it northernlad ). Ofcourse we could just ignore it and stick our heads in the sand.

However I do agree with you that now is the time to reskill

Utter rubbish. Contracting is the way we get our work, it isn't a market. It covers many different skills/technologies. Some are on their backs, some are growing and some niches never went down. You cannot cover all these in one statement. To make a reasoned and sensible point accross would take you a bit more than one sum.

[hgllgh]

Thats quite a generalisation and not worth the time taken to write it IMO. You can't sum up the whole market in on BS paragraph.

BS. Course you can sum the market up in one paragraph. My point is that the reality we are looking at is.. more difficult market conditions due to the cuts and growing sovereign debt problems (Bit more of an intelligent way to put it northernlad ). Ofcourse we could just ignore it and stick our heads in the sand.

However I do agree with you that now is the time to reskill

[Manic]

I'm not looking for a new contract just yet but maybe in the near future.
I am guessing that there will downward pressure on rates again when the Lib-Con axe falls.

Loads more contractors on the market = lower rates + harder to get contracts ?

(And ofcourse agents will start using it as an excuse to bump rates down)

Not necessarily. As the cuts come, business will start investing, the pound will get stronger and confidence goes up.

[Spacecadet]

but thanks for pointing things out that don't apply to me.

Don't mention it

Are you still benched?

[stillooking]

Agents have a much better view on the market than we do. They're dealing with it every day. We only have to consider it when looking for a new contract, which for some contractors is less than every 2 years!

Don't shut agents out completely they see things which you can't

Based on your message, I'm better informed than you -by a long way.

I don't shut agents out, some are ok and I do see the picture, but thanks for pointing things out that don't apply to me.

[northernladuk]

I'm not looking for a new contract just yet but maybe in the near future.
I am guessing that there will downward pressure on rates again when the Lib-Con axe falls.

Loads more contractors on the market = lower rates + harder to get contracts ?

(And ofcourse agents will start using it as an excuse to bump rates down)

Thats quite a generalisation and not worth the time taken to write it IMO. You can't sum up the whole market in on BS paragraph.

If you are guessing like that why not start getting skilled up in niche work and look for areas that are not harder to get rather than crying about it?

[Spacecadet]

I've heard the first part i.e. "that there is lots of contractors on the mkt" but not the second part. An agents perspective or opinion should be taken lightly.

Depends on the agent, some actually know what they're talking about.

Agents have a much better view on the market than we do. They're dealing with it every day. We only have to consider it when looking for a new contract, which for some contractors is less than every 2 years!

Its in an agents best interests to keep the good guys informed, they don't actually like it when a client ditches a contractor because they're crap. It's not good for repeat business and they've lost the revenue from that contract.

Don't shut agents out completely they see things which you can't