Reply to: Finding the next contract.

[theroyale]

It depends on how 'professionally' you are looking to monetise this. Would you be willing to do this on a full-time/part-time basis (i.e. in an office), or is it something you want to continue doing from home? If the former then IT Consultancy companies in the UK are a possible employer - especially Indian consultancies that (due to cultural gaps) would always appreciate having a native (i.e. British) person on board their recruiting/new business teams.

The work you've done (in finding your husband contracts) can be made to sound fairly professional and pitched to consultancy firms - if indeed you're interested in going down that route.

[kaiser78]

Could you explain in sufficient detail what your husband does / has done, experiences, situations faced etc in looking at leads for him if you had to speak to agents ?

[stillooking]

Hi,

My question is would Contract Project Managers find it useful to have someone searching for a new job for them before their current contract finishes?


I am a graduate who worked for over 15 years in technical sales/customer service but have been a stay at home mum for the past few years. I would like to start earning some pin money and was wondering if this would be a way to make a small wage.

Would this be a service people would be willing to pay for?

Any feedback or suggestions you have would be great.

Many thanks.

I'd be happy to pay for a 'direct sales' person who could get me contracts. Would pay a v.good sum to someone who is successful. There is a skill to that. Not really interested in somebody who could just deal with agents, as I currently am able to do that myself.

[istvan]

Hi,

My question is would Contract Project Managers find it useful to have someone searching for a new job for them before their current contract finishes?

I am the wife of a contract IT Project Manager in the UK and for past 4 years have been responsible for finding his contracts. Due to the amount of work required in finding a new contract it would be almost impossible for my husband to do this whilst still working, resulting in a delay in getting his next position and hence loss of revenue.

I am a graduate who worked for over 15 years in technical sales/customer service but have been a stay at home mum for the past few years. I would like to start earning some pin money and was wondering if this would be a way to make a small wage.

Would this be a service people would be willing to pay for?

Any feedback or suggestions you have would be great.

Many thanks.

Why not? I would. If you get me in the door directly to a Client without having to go through an agent and it will cost me less than an agent, sure. I would pay one month fee over 12 months. If the contract is shorter, then prorate it (25% of one month over 3 months for a 3 months contract). Limit payment for 12 months - any renewals beyond 12 months - no more payments. You invoice my company when I get paid by Client. Also, the longer it takes to get me a gig, the less of that one month would go to you - 50% less for each month. Otherwise all you have to do is keep submitting my CV and that I can do myself. In other-words after agreeing to find me something, you are entitled during the first 30 days to 100% of one month, and next month 50%, third month zilch. Anyway, a contract would have to spell out all details...

These are just ideas that I blurted out. Keep thinking about it, you may find a business niche. If you can market for one guy, I am sure you can do it for more...

[Project Monkey]

Hi,

My question is would Contract Project Managers find it useful to have someone searching for a new job for them before their current contract finishes?

I am the wife of a contract IT Project Manager in the UK and for past 4 years have been responsible for finding his contracts. Due to the amount of work required in finding a new contract it would be almost impossible for my husband to do this whilst still working, resulting in a delay in getting his next position and hence loss of revenue.

I am a graduate who worked for over 15 years in technical sales/customer service but have been a stay at home mum for the past few years. I would like to start earning some pin money and was wondering if this would be a way to make a small wage.

Would this be a service people would be willing to pay for?

Any feedback or suggestions you have would be great.

Many thanks.

That's exactly what I do and I've never been on the bench. Tricky yes, hard work yes, but entirely possible.

[curtis]

but just someone doing the leg work getting in first with the CV, impossible to do if you are still working.

I can see that you would be getting in the way more than helping. So you submit your husbands CV what will you do when the agent rings up? Can't see them keen to want to talk to you they will want to talk to him. If his day is so rammed why can't he look at lunch or after work?

I also know it can be demoralising getting lots of rejections and having to constantly scan the job sites.

If this is such a bad thing and he sees it as being that bad why contract?? As other people said this is part of the course when contracting and obviously especially when looking for a new role.

[captainham]

And just as importantly, how much are you expecting to charge for this 'service'?

Last thing I want is an extra layer to go with the agency and end client.

[MyUserName]

Not acting as a recruiter but just someone doing the leg work getting in first with the CV, impossible to do if you are still working. I also know it can be demoralising getting lots of rejections and having to constantly scan the job sites.

As I mentioned previously, we already do this and have done for years without any help from anyone.

What can you offer which is not something we already do ourselves?

[northernladuk]

Not acting as a recruiter but just someone doing the leg work getting in first with the CV, impossible to do if you are still working. I also know it can be demoralising getting lots of rejections and having to constantly scan the job sites.

No it's not. Why ask for advice and then not listen to a raft of answers all saying the same.

If you can't take the demoralisation (that affects salespeople, small companies looking for business and permie job hunters) then you need to grow some. It's life.

[Notascooby]

I can understand what you are saying but from the experience I have had there is an awful lot of work required in finding the next contract which is not easy to do if you are still working. I suppose it all depends on how much down time you want between contracts - I like my husband to have as little as possible!

Is there really though? I usually get an inMail from LinkedIN, a follow-up chat to discuss the role, read the spec - say yes or no. Have interview then maybe have a ding-dong about rates?

Or I spend 15 minutes on jobswerve, attach CV to application then go-to follow-up chat.

Unless you're covering a large geographic area I can't see how you could step in to step 2 - as if a recruiter wanted to ask about experience etc you wouldn't be able to answer this. Maybe your husbands skills are very niche or doesn't get much follow-up from chasing roles?

[JoannaE]

Not acting as a recruiter but just someone doing the leg work getting in first with the CV, impossible to do if you are still working. I also know it can be demoralising getting lots of rejections and having to constantly scan the job sites.

[JoannaE]

I can understand what you are saying but from the experience I have had there is an awful lot of work required in finding the next contract which is not easy to do if you are still working. I suppose it all depends on how much down time you want between contracts - I like my husband to have as little as possible!

[Notascooby]

Most agencies will pay a referrers fee, so there maybe a possible win-win in that you could offer your services and the candidate who would like the initial search / rate discussion taken care of and only be ready to present themselves for interview could use your service but for free.

[Zippy]

I kind of agree with the others i.e. not sure how much you can add to the actual getting a contract bit.
What you could do to add value (and hubby's co can pay you for this) is research markets and emerging new business opportunities, technologies (with a view to geting on training courses), how best to market his cv, cv refreshes etc. Maybe you know other people who would pay you for this service?

[northernladuk]

Hi,

My question is would Contract Project Managers find it useful to have someone searching for a new job for them before their current contract finishes?

I am the wife of a contract IT Project Manager in the UK and for past 4 years have been responsible for finding his contracts. Due to the amount of work required in finding a new contract it would be almost impossible for my husband to do this whilst still working, resulting in a delay in getting his next position and hence loss of revenue.
I am a graduate who worked for over 15 years in technical sales/customer service but have been a stay at home mum for the past few years. I would like to start earning some pin money and was wondering if this would be a way to make a small wage.

Would this be a service people would be willing to pay for?

Any feedback or suggestions you have would be great.

Many thanks.

Sorry but that isn't generally true and seems a very situational problem, not one that affects many people. We all do it and have done it for decades in some cases. Some roles I have been in have been incredibly hectic and yes taking calls has been a little difficult at times and couldn't spend the time searching jobserve that I would have liked but that is just the nature of the beast. I made as much time as I could and got on with it. If it meant I hit the bench then so be it. It is pointless looking less than 2 weeks before you leave really anyway so shouldn't really put you back much if you can't search in those 2 weeks.

Might be a problem in a bad gig but it isn't generally an issue.