Reply to: 1 Month Notice Period - A problem going from Permanent to Contract

[swamp]

Lot's of gung-ho advice coming through here! Very easy to dish out if you're tucked-up in a cozy 12 monther but perhaps not that relevant to the OP's situation.

OK my solutions may be a bit aggressive, but I do believe you should be prepared to take a cold bath at least once since that is the very nature of contracting. If you start your contracting career (potentially) on the bench, then at least you know what it will be like next time.

In answer to the OP, I have twice had clients wait a month for my previous contract to finish. In both cases I moved from contract to contract. It can be done.

[Kelstar]

Hi

I was recently in your shoes. I was a consultant with a Big4 for 6 years and was getting a lot of interest but my notice period was a problem. May recruiters would just skip my CV because I wasn't immediately available.

I eventually found a 3 month contract and they were willing to wait for me. It took about 3 months and ALOT of phone calls and applications. In the end I negociated my notice period down to 2 weeks. I was shock at how accomodating they were. I clearly stated the date I wished to finish up in my regisnation email and more or less told them thats when I was leaving. I think the language you use is key. Assertive. I guess from their point of view it was better to have someone leave rather than be dead weight and an expense.

My tips would be apply for immediate jobs anyway, in my case they recognised the skills I had and where I could add value in their team. I must have applied for 100 jobs however to get 3 interviews. One job fell through - they were also willing to wait but luckily I hadn't handed my notice in yet. 1 tried to negociate down the rate and the 3rd offer came in at the same time as the 2nd. They offered me more money and better terms so happy days - told 2 polite no thank you and went with 3.

Stay determined. Find a good recruitment consultant via just applying for everything suitable, you never know what they may have coming down the line. My recruiter got me the job, he seem my CV when I applied for something else (which I wasnt suitable for) and eventually got me a job which was unadvertised via a contact within the business they knew so they sold me in.

Hope this makes sense, and good luck!!!

[Worzel]

Lot's of gung-ho advice coming through here! Very easy to dish out if you're tucked-up in a cozy 12 monther but perhaps not that relevant to the OP's situation.

If you have a significant war-chest plus skills that are definitely in strong demand then maybe you should consider taking a leap of faith. Otherwise I'd just start applying for a few contracts and see what happens.

One other thing, have you noticed how much easier it is to find work when you already have a job? Don't underestimate unemployment discrimination - it happens to contractors too and some clients might consider it reckless to jack in a permie role in just to get a contract. I agree this is how it used to work though - but times were very different then!

[swamp]

You have two choices:

1. Man up and quit. -- If you can't do this you probably haven't got what it takes to be a contractor.

2. Tell the agent you are available in two weeks. Sign the contract and either get time off work, phone in sick, tell the agent you're going on holiday, whatever. Chances are the new contract won't start on time anyway. -- If you can't do this you probably haven't got what it takes to be a contractor....

[SueEllen]

No, in the current market agents only want someone immediate. You'll be extremely fortunate to find any role where the client will now wait 'for the right person.'

As has been suggested, build up your holiday, secure the contract and leave.

The agent says they want someone immediate but it doesn't mean the client does.

Tell the agent you are immediate but find out exactly at interview when the client wants you.

[Wobblyheed]

You're a permie.....go on the sick

[BolshieBastard]

Hi

Ive been a permie for the past 5 years and then a contractor for the past 8 years before.

I want to go back into contracting but I have a notice period of 4 weeks which Ive got to stick
to.

Unfortunately given the nature of many contracts which need a start ASAP, im at a bit of a dead end!

Question is have you found clients out there who are willing to wait the 4 weeks for someone to start?

Also what would you do in my position, sit and wait for client that will wait...
or take the plunge hand your notice in and hope you find somethng quick!

No, in the current market agents only want someone immediate. You'll be extremely fortunate to find any role where the client will now wait 'for the right person.'

As has been suggested, build up your holiday, secure the contract and leave.

[yasockie]

I've been offered two contract roles starting October, so definitely not asap.
The downside to this by the time you quit, they may change their mind and the roles disappear or the start date is moved - welcome to contracting

[Hex]

I had a 3 month notice period before my first contract. Got offered a contract from a bank with the line "now how quickly can you get out of there". Managed to negotiate it down to 6 weeks and the bank waited for me, even though they'd have preferred me to start right away.

Then I had the typical bank thing after joining that they had no desk for me and no machine for quite a few weeks.

[northernladuk]

Building holiday probably won't work. Some permie contracts won't allow second jobs while still employed. Check your contract carefully.

You should know the score as ex-contractor so I think you know the answer. Brand new newbies would problably worry about this but you should know you are a risk coming from perm, exploer might up your package while waiting, better contract yadda yadda. You also shouldn't be afraid of the bench if you are an ex contractor either so just take a breath and jump in IMO.

Being a risk, actually securing a job against other experienced guys, looking for specific/rare roles and (in the clients eyes) not being a solid contractor I think you are narrowing your options down to nil if you try and dovetail it.

[Fred Bloggs]

It depends..... for my first contract the client co waited for me to work my 4 weeks notice. But they had been looking for the right person for ages anyway so an extra 4 weeks was small beer. I finish my current job today and start a new role in two weeks time after a 2 week holiday. The next job will have been waiting for me for over 6 weeks, but when they were recruiting they knew that the project was going to ramp up over August/September, so again, no problem to wait. The majority of my jobs have been where the client co has been screaming "it's urgent" and when I have got there I've typically waited anything between one and three weeks before really getting stuck into the work. I no longer take a lot of notice of the "it's urgent" stories.

[Moff]

Agree the recruitment process has slowed !!!

[Scrag Meister]

Not a problem for any manager who realises that they have just interviewed a skilled person who would make an excellent addition to the team.

I'm sure there are some knobs out there though.

Not been a problem for me.

When I turned contractor I was on 3 months notice, so had no choice but to leave with nothing to go to. 1 month should be cool though.

[fullyautomatix]

The thing is my company enforces the rule that you have
to work a 1 month notice period, so if you had 4 days holiday in that period...that would
be added on to the end of your originally intended finish date.

Also they wanted to change the notice period for our staff to 2 months!

If you are confident of your ability and skills hand in the notice and try for a contract about 7-10 days before the last day. Many contracts do not wait for a month. Some do but you have to be lucky and there should be nobody around to bag that contract.

[Weegee]

The thing is my company enforces the rule that you have
to work a 1 month notice period, so if you had 4 days holiday in that period...that would
be added on to the end of your originally intended finish date.

Also they wanted to change the notice period for our staff to 2 months!

Most contract ad's say "urgent" and "ASAP" but this isn't always the case. While it's true that the agents are always in a race against time to collect and submit CV's the client may be quite happy to wait for the right person. Places I've worked at in the past took 6 weeks or longer just to get budget approval for a contractor so a lot of the perceived rush is artificial.

From recent experience it also seems to me that the recruiting process has slowed down a lot and the days of "interview Friday, start Monday" are over.

Have you accrued any holiday that you could possibly use to reduce your notice period? I would certainly not just up and leave.