Reply to: Contract only - CVs

[SueEllen]

thank you for your considered approach. do you work in recruitment?

Virtually every agency I've had contact with puts your CV in their format.

On lots of occasions this means removing words or phrases they don't like or think are relevant that's if they haven't (and that's the more honest ones) asked you to edit your CV yourself to include/exclude information.

A direct client wouldn't care if you have "contract only" on your CV as that's the reason they hired your services.

[monobrow]

What a pile of crap you have written.

thank you for your considered approach. do you work in recruitment?

[Svalbaard]

Personally, I think this is a bad idea.

granted, it's your choice, but a lot of clients would at like least to think that you won't jump ship as soon as another job comes in paying a better rate, but by saying "Contract Wh0re Only" in big letters on your CV doesn't give the right impression imho.

as others have said, ideally you should do a new CV per role, or at least have a contract /perm type CV, but if don't want to increase your chances of getting chucked in the bin straight away, play the game and leave contract only well off your CV

What a pile of crap you have written.

[Svalbaard]

There is nothing you can do. Agents will call you regardless because they are mostly idiots that have fallen into their role in lieu of any real tangible skills. On my CV under my contact details I have a single black bold bullet point that reads "Seeking contract work only". Do you think this does any good? Right... none whatsoever.

Strangely enough, "none whatsoever" seems to be the average IQ for an average recruitment "consultant". When they phone up now regarding permie work I simply ask them if they read my CV or not beforehand, and did they see the big black bullet point leaping out at them like a frog on speed.

Makes them look pretty stupid, and me very happy.

[nomadd]

Personally, I think this is a bad idea.

granted, it's your choice, but a lot of clients would at like least to think that you won't jump ship as soon as another job comes in paying a better rate, but by saying "Contract Wh0re Only" in big letters on your CV doesn't give the right impression imho.

as others have said, ideally you should do a new CV per role, or at least have a contract /perm type CV, but if don't want to increase your chances of getting chucked in the bin straight away, play the game and leave contract only well off your CV

This ^

As a "hardcore" contractor myself, I still wouldn't put it on my CV.

[monobrow]

Hi,

Like many contractors I have my CV posted on the major job sites and CV databases. Also, in order to avoid hundreds of pointless calls about permy work I always ensure I tick the "contract" related boxes and deselect any "permanent" ones in my account preferences.

However, this doesn't seem to work very well and I still receive > 50% perm calls rather than contract. Frustratingly I often forget to ask if the role is perm or contract at the start of the call, and only find out after a lengthy conversation with the agent

Has anyone tried going further and putting words like "Contract Only" on the top/front page of their CV?
If so, any success, or any other tactics?

CS

Personally, I think this is a bad idea.

granted, it's your choice, but a lot of clients would at like least to think that you won't jump ship as soon as another job comes in paying a better rate, but by saying "Contract Wh0re Only" in big letters on your CV doesn't give the right impression imho.

as others have said, ideally you should do a new CV per role, or at least have a contract /perm type CV, but if don't want to increase your chances of getting chucked in the bin straight away, play the game and leave contract only well off your CV

[CheeseSlice]

In my case having my CV on certain job boards has lead to contracts.

To date, all of my roles have come from the unadvertised market, and certainly before they make it onto the job boards. So I really can't afford to take my CV away from these sites. I will just have to continue putting up with the endless calls.

On the plus side, the calls make me feel popular

[SueEllen]

I don't have my CV's on the job boards as it leads to unsolicited calls.

In my case having my CV on certain job boards has lead to contracts.

Though on one of the boards I leave my CV on it seems that it's HR staff who have the problem reading not agencies.

[configman]

What makes you think the systems have a "contract box"??

...because we are some of the people who wrote those systems. When you put your CV on any job board it asks if you are contract/temporary/perm.

[CheeseSlice]

I usually give a polite reply to irrelevant emails that are personally addressed as "Dear..." and say that I'm only interested in contracts, please correct your database.

If only that worked. Every time I upload my CV to Jobserve, etc I get an auto-subscribe email from Evolution Recruitment saying...

"Evolution has jobs for you!"



These guys dont care if you're a contractor, have the right job title, or even in the right industry... so long as one technical skill matches your CV, thats good enough to receive every single 'Fantastic opportunity' job alert paying £20K in the middle of 'kin nowhere.

[CheeseSlice]

In fairness to the agent, having never done PHP, you are in fact Junior in that market place

[nomadd]

Offer to interview ratio is now 32 out of 33 interviews over 13 years.

Yeah, but anyone can clean toilets...

[MarillionFan]

I don't have my CV's on the job boards as it leads to unsolicited calls.

I now have about 20 combinations of CV which I use to reply to roles I spot when I review my RSS Feeds.

I have six RSS feeds which I review when I am looking for contracts. I apply for no more than 1 or 2 roles per day when benched.

My last unsolicited call was last week and was actually from a LinkedIn Forum(which I got a contract from) from an old agency I have worked through before.

I believe in strictly targetting roles once they are advertised. This allows you to change your CV without being challenged because you have '1' on a job board.

Once I get an interview the contract is mine.Offer to interview ratio is now 32 out of 33 interviews over 13 years.

I do not believe in the scatter gun/numbers approach.

[The Agents View]

I usually give a polite reply to irrelevant emails that are personally addressed as "Dear..." and say that I'm only interested in contracts, please correct your database, when my contract ends and what I'll be looking for then. Some then email/phone about contracts. Some consistently ignore the request to correct their database. How difficult can it be - just tick the contract box on your system!? Monarch Recruitment and PSR are the worst offenders. I get so much spam from them. They obviously have no regard for the requirements of the candidates.

What makes you think the systems have a "contract box"??

Usually you'll find that agencies will match the skills first, and worry about whether its perm or contract later - most sensible people will listen to worthwhile perm calls, as well as contract opportunities - If it's not right, just be grateful you're even getting the calls - there are plenty out there that aren't

[javadude]

I usually give a polite reply to irrelevant emails that are personally addressed as "Dear..." and say that I'm only interested in contracts, please correct your database, when my contract ends and what I'll be looking for then. Some then email/phone about contracts. Some consistently ignore the request to correct their database. How difficult can it be - just tick the contract box on your system!? Monarch Recruitment and PSR are the worst offenders. I get so much spam from them. They obviously have no regard for the requirements of the candidates.