Reply to: So, do we think Jan and Feb will be buoyant months for new contracts?

[PropertyCrashUK]

The irony is that I've just renewed my current contract for another 6 months and I'm getting about 5 decent sounding agency calls a week.

The downside though is that they are mostly in London and I swore that after Merrill Lynch "never again".

What was so bad about ML?

[Svalbaard]

The irony is that I've just renewed my current contract for another 6 months and I'm getting about 5 decent sounding agency calls a week.

The downside though is that they are mostly in London and I swore that after Merrill Lynch "never again".

[kingcook]

Only permies get stressed.

kingcook likes this

[TOSH1]

I've ahd a few calls but nothing concrete yet.

[jmo21]

Not sure why agents would disguise trawls to be honest (although I'm fairly sure they do)....in my opinion if an agency wants to get up to date CVs and details they only have to ask or send a mailshot.

Trawling is not about just getting uptodate CV's, it's getting the names of people who work at the companies on your CV.

[jmo21]

I have been offered a role with a public sector body in Wales paying good money... but it is basically 3 people's jobs in 1 on a very demanding project... other IT boys have told me to walk away as it would be very stressful... one said a killer...

The money is tempting and the work would last the year... but would I...

I think I will give it a miss and hope something better comes along.

Only permies get stressed.

[VirtualMonkey]

I've been getting lots of cold calls as well. Much more than I would normally expect. Things do seem to be picking up.
Not sure if they are trawls though as I'm lucky enough to have just been offered another 3 month extension at current clientco and have been politely telling people that.
Not sure why agents would disguise trawls to be honest (although I'm fairly sure they do)....in my opinion if an agency wants to get up to date CVs and details they only have to ask or send a mailshot. Got to be good for us if they know when we're likely to be available and have a current idea of what we're looking for and the rate we want (or will accept).
Is that just an innocent way of looking at things though?

[PropertyCrashUK]

I have been offered a role with a public sector body in Wales paying good money... but it is basically 3 people's jobs in 1 on a very demanding project... other IT boys have told me to walk away as it would be very stressful... one said a killer...

The money is tempting and the work would last the year... but would I...

I think I will give it a miss and hope something better comes along.

[wantacontract]

well so far Jan has been a dud for me...

[Fred Bloggs]

Please tell me these are North West Roles....

I can't speak for those, but the roles I referred to were/are indeed in the NW, Manchester and Warrington areas.

[Scrag Meister]

I'm sure hope its going to be a good Jan and Feb.

Otherwise it'll be the first non-self-imposed benchtime I've ever had.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I've just taken a new contract and the place I'm going is still desperate for more good people across the board. I also know of a couple of other places that are very likely hiring in early Jan so I reckon it could be looking quite good.

Please tell me these are North West Roles....

[BobTheCoder]

I've just taken a new contract and the place I'm going is still desperate for more good people across the board. I also know of a couple of other places that are very likely hiring in early Jan so I reckon it could be looking quite good.

[ascender]

I can't remember the last time there were so many PM positions advertised in the lead-up to Christmas as there have been this year. Many are with banks and many are real positions as myself and others I know have moved recently in to new contracts over the last 3 or 4 weeks. While banks are still reducing permanent headcount as part of their continued drive to "streamline" to keep their owners happy, there's a lot of work to be done with integrations, mergers, break-ups etc which could go on for some time yet.

[PropertyCrashUK]

Most firms are not back until next week - same for most IT agencies.

It wil ltake a couple of weeks for firms to have their meetings, get the go ahead, etc, etc, so I doubt we will see signs of an upturn until the middle to end of January but end of Nov and early Dec seemed very buoyant in the job ads on the job sites - I take your point about agents trawling but when several sharks are advertising the same roles then it is hard to put them down as some kind of collective trawling.

Time will tell but several studies - like the CEBR report on the main page - seem to be pointing towards an upturn in IT work.

Lets hope it is a good year for us all in 2011.