Reply to: New (ish) contractor, any advice on the search / or leads

[rocktronAMP]

Bit of an update from the OP (me) and a few positive words.

I found a contract and will be starting in a couple of weeks. It's exactly the type of work and company I want to be doing and at the rate I wanted.

So my search was around 3 months, but I was trawling job boards / calling agents roughly once per week, maximum twice.

Some of the things I learned:

1) Most of my interviews came through chatting with agents as opposed to specific jobs on the job board.

==////==
Alex

Congratulations on getting another gig. I just reached exactly one month on the bench today.

When you say chat to agents, what is it that you actually do and talk about? Are you contacting and reaching out to them directly or are they contacting you as in the case many of us here?

[PrimulConsulting]

Rob.
EDIT Rob, just been talking to Georgeta. I realise now you have to create a professional profile in addition to the personal profile.

Explained to Georgeta that the personal profile contain the cv upload, company number and 500 words profile. Other may think as I did that you only need complete the personal profile page.

I'll create a professional one and Georgeta says the links should work.

Might be a good idea to make it a bit clearer that both profiles need creating and moving the cv upload of the personal profile, state the 500 word profile isnt you business profile etc?

Cheers

BB

Thanks for the feedback. (There is a yellow warning bar, but we have a number of yellow buttons so it's useful feedback that its not standing out). In the short term we will add some words to cover your points. In the medium term I think we need just 1 profile.
BTW, we now have 7 contracts live (if you include the free charity one). I don't see us being getting job board scale (6million cvs and 200k jobs or whatever they claim). Our target is 3-5 new ones a day and take them down the moment they are filled/dead

[BolshieBastard]

Hi Bolshie

"....instead of not working!". I can't do much here other than apologise. We rolled out a site refresh (mainly graphic refresh and a bit of content) and the webbies seemed to mess up some of the core functionailty too. With the exception of CV upoads (which have another level of security) we think its all settled down again now

"...crap you only see available jobs on the home login page". The home page shows a teaser. Once you login and search contracts, the full contract specifications should be visible. It could be that you just had a nightmare visit when nothing was working. The search contracts is now live, tested, and retested

"..I'd hope to pick something up or post a job in the future..." The number of contracts will grow as the base grows. We had 1 new contract posted yesterday (SQL expert, north west) and another today (BA, South coast).

Someone else on this forum made a post about the Club requesting a free bit of web design.I thought I'd explain - we were approached by a charity (a 1 man band working in disaster recovery) who asked if we could post his requirement. We thought it was the least we could do - and that a member may wish to assist - but this is the only zero fee contract we've posted

Rob

Rob.

Im using Firefox 21. Clicking on Search for Contractors, Search for Contracts etc at the top of the page dont seem to work. Im not taken to any other page.

Im a tester by profession and can assure you through FF, your links dont work (unless there's no associated pages behind them which seems wierd). My cache is regularly cleaned and these links have never worked since I signed up.

I've just tried them all today and still no joy.

EDIT Rob, just been talking to Georgeta. I realise now you have to create a professional profile in addition to the personal profile.

Explained to Georgeta that the personal profile contain the cv upload, company number and 500 words profile. Other may think as I did that you only need complete the personal profile page.

I'll create a professional one and Georgeta says the links should work.

Might be a good idea to make it a bit clearer that both profiles need creating and moving the cv upload of the personal profile, state the 500 word profile isnt you business profile etc?

Cheers

BB

[alexanderroan]

Update

Bit of an update from the OP (me) and a few positive words.

I found a contract and will be starting in a couple of weeks. It's exactly the type of work and company I want to be doing and at the rate I wanted.

So my search was around 3 months, but I was trawling job boards / calling agents roughly once per week, maximum twice.

Some of the things I learned:

1) Most of my interviews came through chatting with agents as opposed to specific jobs on the job board.

2) Some agents are a waste of time, get a feeling for the agents knowledge / skills / personal style and the reputation of the agency, don't waste time with the ones that won't be helpful.

3) Try and get a feeling for how series the client is about the role and your fit. I was invited to some interviews where I subsequently found out the client had already made up their mind about the role, but was just interested to meet me.

4) Watch out for the agents 'fishing', I tell them all now that I don't disclose my colleagues details and other applications (companies / rates etc.).

5) If you see the same role posted repeatedly over time by multiple agents it might be a client that's not serious (overly selective) or agents just fishing for people.

Other than that stay positive and remember quality is more important than quantity. Having a really good face to face chat with the more respected and good agents is worth 100 quickly made / not well thought through job board applications!

Having said that.. I'm still a complete newbie, so just use your own instinct and follow the advice of the other experienced people here.

Alex

[PrimulConsulting]

It would help greatly if the links for Search for contracts, Post contracts & My contracts actually took you to a landing page instead of not working!

IMHO, its a bit crap you only see available jobs on the home login page. What's the point in that?

The idea is great and Id hope to pick something up or post a job in the future but, I dont think there's going to be many jobs on there in this market.

Hi Bolshie

"....instead of not working!". I can't do much here other than apologise. We rolled out a site refresh (mainly graphic refresh and a bit of content) and the webbies seemed to mess up some of the core functionailty too. With the exception of CV upoads (which have another level of security) we think its all settled down again now

"...crap you only see available jobs on the home login page". The home page shows a teaser. Once you login and search contracts, the full contract specifications should be visible. It could be that you just had a nightmare visit when nothing was working. The search contracts is now live, tested, and retested

"..I'd hope to pick something up or post a job in the future..." The number of contracts will grow as the base grows. We had 1 new contract posted yesterday (SQL expert, north west) and another today (BA, South coast).

Someone else on this forum made a post about the Club requesting a free bit of web design.I thought I'd explain - we were approached by a charity (a 1 man band working in disaster recovery) who asked if we could post his requirement. We thought it was the least we could do - and that a member may wish to assist - but this is the only zero fee contract we've posted

Rob

[BolshieBastard]

What's the first rule of Contractor Club ?

I joined as well - there are 3 contracts on there now it seems. 1 asking for some free work.

It would help greatly if the links for Search for contracts, Post contracts & My contracts actually took you to a landing page instead of not working!

IMHO, its a bit crap you only see available jobs on the home login page. What's the point in that?

The idea is great and Id hope to pick something up or post a job in the future but, I dont think there's going to be many jobs on there in this market.

[radish2008]

Not a jobboard - but there is an online community of contractors that try to get each other their next contract - ContractorClub. You will be "vetted" if you don't know a current member (not too painful!). Contractors that hear of contracts tell other members. Neither companies themselves nor Agencies are members.

What's the first rule of Contractor Club ?

I joined as well - there are 3 contracts on there now it seems. 1 asking for some free work.

[zorgi]

Can't be sure but I was asking the top end of the rate range they we're offering so I assume they went with someone cheaper, funny part is that I am on 10% more now than I would have been if I had got the role through that agent

Ah, yes that makes sense.

[kal]

Puzzles me why do they do that. Are they just trying to get you out of the competition so their client has better chances or what is actually behind that?

Can't be sure but I was asking the top end of the rate range they we're offering so I assume they went with someone cheaper, funny part is that I am on 10% more now than I would have been if I had got the role through that agent

[zorgi]

... (agent came out with some tulip about my skills/background not being a match)...

Puzzles me why do they do that. Are they just trying to get you out of the competition so their client has better chances or what is actually behind that?

[kal]

I have LinkedIn account but am not very good at using it. Did they find you or you found them? I would love to be able to skip agents. I don't care if I don't get more money for skipping middle man I simply don't like dealing with most of them.

I originally applied for the role via an agency and didn't even make the first cut (agent came out with some tulip about my skills/background not being a match), luckily for me I managed to get the end clients name and approached HR direct, one tech test, telephone interview and a face to face and I got offered the role

[zorgi]

LinkedIn is a good resource, especially as it lets you connect directly with end client resoursers bypassing the whole recruitment agent bull, its how I found my current role

I have LinkedIn account but am not very good at using it. Did they find you or you found them? I would love to be able to skip agents. I don't care if I don't get more money for skipping middle man I simply don't like dealing with most of them.

[kal]

LinkedIn is a good resource, especially as it lets you connect directly with end client resoursers bypassing the whole recruitment agent bull, its how I found my current role

[bobspud]

Anyone else having trouble building a war chest with the current rates?

While the warchest is the most important point within contracting. The type of rates that you need in order to get a warchest up and runing don't seem to be available anymore.

With rates greatly reduced (had a good increase with my current contract but still down 200 from my best rates)

I have spent most of my warchest last year thanks to a few bench stints followed by short contracts on much reduced rates I am starting to think its not worth contracting if you have to effectively halve your rate then spend three months on the bench only to then struggle to get your warchest back to then repeat the whole sorry cycle...

[northernladuk]

Don't worry about him dear. Ignore him. He won't shut up but soon enough his chatter starts to resemble a faint electric hum - like trying to sleep in bed with an aging tranny turned on downstairs.

Only one aging tranny in our house and it doesn't sleep downstairs