Reply to: First Timer - Scared Of Contracting

[Cyberman]

I say go for it, if you are single, have a year's savings and really want to try it. A permie job is not guaranteed in today's economic climate anyway. I was also apprehensive when I first went contracting but have now been doing it on and off for 12 years.

Good Luck !!

[sappatz]

Uk

lets be serious !
in the current job market (characterized economic depression) I would not even switch perm jobs
only a fool would go contracting
for information the UK GDP has experienced a -5% growth

[Paddy]

Ok - I have six years experience in IT development and a solid degree. I have only ever worked perm and generally speaking been good at it - Never sick , always arrive early and stay very late and generally focus on what needs to be done.

I have been offered a contract role at 500 per day (and given that my salary iat the moment is £50k) you can tell I am quite excited. Its a one year contract.

Why would I not take it? Is it SAFER to e a permie? I have seen these people let go but contractors tend to get chopped right at the beginning - Right?

Can anyone please give me guidance - I am really only concerned of getting the role and then getting sacked five months in.

In this environment this would be devastating as going back to perm after contracting is impossible??

Any ideas?

It unlikely that an agent would offer a contract to someone who is in permanent employment unless you could leave at short notice. In my case and as with many other contractors; I left a well paid job to go contracting. It was only when I was free and ready at short notice (like 24hrs) I managed to secure contracts.

I suspect you may have been led down the garden path by an agent. There is a big difference between an offer and enquiry by an agent. If an agent wants you he will be phoning you every five minutes.

[swamp]

Ok - I have six years experience in IT development and a solid degree. I have only ever worked perm and generally speaking been good at it - Never sick , always arrive early and stay very late and generally focus on what needs to be done.

Oh dear!

You had six years to take free duvet days and you didn't take them! And now you want to go contracting and you can't take a sick day lest you lose a day's pay.

[mace]

Why I got in to contracting

I went contracting because I had very good technical skills and not great people skills so I didn't see me being able to shin up the corporate ladder quickly, and at the time I was on £32k and got offered a job paying £350 per day (This was more than 10 years ago).

I got out of contracting because I managed to shin up the ladder whilst contracting but my skillset is niche and it wasn't economical to try to maintain the position. Having got somewhere, I wasn't then satisfied doing lower level roles, and spent some time finding a permie role that I wanted to do whilst contracting.

Contracting's great when you first start and are making more than double your permie wage. However, making money is a bit like a drugs fix, you need more of it to get the same feeling of euphoria as you originally had. Over the years the gap between what you can make contracting and what you can as a permie narrows. You've given an example of being on £50k and being offered £500 per day and yet are met by a lot of skepticism by posters, whereas the relative difference was perfectly possible in the good old days.
The stresses of contracting have also greatly increased. When I started out, there was no IR35, no liability insurance, there were loads more jobs. To be fair to agents, they're generally better than they were in the late 90s when a large number of agents entered the industry with no clue as to the skills they were trying to place. Nowadays, I typically get rejected for not being an exact match of the skills/industry sector. In the late 90s you often got rejected because the agents were keyword scanning CVs.

One warning, a 1 year contract means that you're expected to work for the client for a year. The agreement isn't reciprocal, a client can chop you at any point. A year's contract is usually indicative that you'll be doing a contract that they can't find a permie for, however, which implies a certain amount of longevity. For your first contract, avoid taking one that's linked to a specific project, as you're likely to get chopped prematurely with those types of contracts (this also holds true for permie jobs offered by small/medium consultancies btw). Other things to think about is that you should check sites like jobstats to ensure that your skillset remains mainstream. Don't stick with a contract even if it's secure, well paid and close to home if you can see that your marketability is diminishing. Being a contractor is a half way house between being a paid employee and running your own business.

[jmo21]

I suppose it could be an old boss or co-worker that has offered Chloe the opportunity, or as others have said, she is working in a niche sector.

1 year @ 500 a day does sound a bit too good to be true at the moment

Tyke has wise words, and 50k permy in this climate is pretty good for your experience

[threaded]

There are many ways this could be on the up but still a scam.

A company might want to dump someone but not pay redundancy / avoid a legal battle. Why not get an agent to lure them away on the promise of a well paying gig elsewhere, and then it's like, whoops, the client canned the project.

Maybe there is a real job, but it's only a months work. No one will bite. So why not offer a years contract but terminate early.

Anyway, who actually offers full year contracts to first timers.

[moony1234]

1 year contract @ £500/day? Go for it but save save save!!

[BrilloPad]

Ok - I have six years experience in IT development and a solid degree. I have only ever worked perm and generally speaking been good at it - Never sick , always arrive early and stay very late and generally focus on what needs to be done.

I have been offered a contract role at 500 per day (and given that my salary iat the moment is £50k) you can tell I am quite excited. Its a one year contract.

Why would I not take it? Is it SAFER to e a permie? I have seen these people let go but contractors tend to get chopped right at the beginning - Right?

Can anyone please give me guidance - I am really only concerned of getting the role and then getting sacked five months in.

In this environment this would be devastating as going back to perm after contracting is impossible??

Any ideas?

I would take it : but save as much money as possible. Job market is bad but should start getting better next year : so if you dont get terminated you should be fine.

Best of luck and let us know how it works out.

[NotAllThere]

500 quid a day for a first time contractor? I dont think so, Chloe.

Depends on the sector. E.g. http://www.jobserve.com/W7F3ECBF97AD38132.jsjob

And the idea that first timers always get lower rates comes from agency practice at driving their margin up. The client pays the same.

However, coupled with this

I have only ever worked perm and generally speaking been good at it - Never sick , always arrive early and stay very late and generally focus on what needs to be done.

I'm rather skeptical also. If it is genuine, then it seems to be a world away from contractor attitude. We don't work for no money. We impress with getting the job done, not presenteeism.

[ChloeRadshaw]

Chloe, please join in!!

I am trying to - My posts need to get moderated.

[Sundial]

Chloe, please join in!!

[Sundial]

Oh yes, like any agent in the current climate is going to give a first timer 500 sheets a day! Wise up!

Depends on the attitude, skills & job market though, surely?! I used to work with people who didn't do much more than me but were on £300 a day more.

They were much more experienced about negotiating etc but I should imagine if a very firm but new to contracting person came in they should be able to negotiate a good rate? Or if it were more specialised skills? *sits back and waits to hear why not*

[SuperZ]

Some of these guys give wise words.
£50k isn`t bad with 6 years of experience. Right now I`d personally stick to perm if I were in your shoooeess

[ChloeRadshaw]

You should advertise You could deter uncertain contractors! Wish I'd found you!

I definitely agree there's a mental mindset to successfully contracting, and that it should be considered carefully (I got into it after some very non-specific temping, didn't even realise it was contracting at first).

But Chloe, hope to hear why you'd like to.

Well I d like to for one reason - Money.

I work hard - 7:30 -> 8PM Mon to thursday in my current role so I want to be rewarded for this.