Transitioning to Contracting

[xS9]

I went down the road of just handing in my notice and hoping..

Worked out quite well, but I made sure my CV was up to standard and asked contacts about potential contracts first. Ideally you could do with getting your first contract from a previous colleague.

[Wanderer]

Is the company losing the contract actually allowed to prevent new contractors from contacting current employees?

If an employer is paying me money and they say I can't do something then there is the threat that if I breach my contract with them, they will not pay me.

To get around this, the company will normally pay people a "gardening leave" payment for a few months whereby you don't do any work for them but you still get paid. This is a way to enforce the restriction on you moving directly to a competitor - if you did then you you will lose your gardening pay.

But as soon as you stop working for an employer and they stop paying you money, they also stop telling you what to do.

[Pogle]

Is the company losing the contract actually allowed to prevent new contractors from contacting current employees? It's not like the contract is moving elsewhere or they have other contracts and they'd be losing employees, it's completely terminated. All of the employees are going to be out of jobs if they can't join the new company, not to mention it would be a waste of time and money to hire a completely new staff to do the jobs they already know how to do. It seems like that has to be illegal or shady that they are doing this because they are all qualified and it seems completely wrong that they would be denied to apply for a new job because their soon to be former employers won't let them be contacted...

<mod snipped. no advertising please.>

[marcellarhughes]

Transitioning to Contracting

Is the company losing the contract actually allowed to prevent new contractors from contacting current employees? It's not like the contract is moving elsewhere or they have other contracts and they'd be losing employees, it's completely terminated. All of the employees are going to be out of jobs if they can't join the new company, not to mention it would be a waste of time and money to hire a completely new staff to do the jobs they already know how to do. It seems like that has to be illegal or shady that they are doing this because they are all qualified and it seems completely wrong that they would be denied to apply for a new job because their soon to be former employers won't let them be contacted...

<mod snipped. no advertising please.>

[MaryPoppins]

No you don't.

You don't transition. You fall into contracting.

HTH

WHS, and then pretend all along it was deliberate when really you should be working on the checkouts in Tesco.

[MarillionFan]

You don't transition. You evolve in to contracting

No you don't.

You don't transition. You fall into contracting.

HTH

[northernladuk]

Transitioning to Contracting

You don't transition. You evolve in to contracting

[Joxer]

Just a quick post to say a big thanks for all of the above for their advice.

I did indeed take the plunge and after relatively smooth negotiations with my previous employer and a successful first contract interview I've now manage to rack up 6 months in the contracting game with very few battle scars to speak of.

I got a day rate I'm happy with and with reduced work hours I feel like I've got my life back again.

Great forum btw, a credit to all it's contributors.

[lukemg]

I would test the market by contracting up my CV - make assignments look like separate jobs/roles/projects to imply flexibility and range of experience, highlight improvements you helped to introduce (if any) - Don't lie and make them look like separate employers but break them down by date.
Then - Start applying for roles you can find on job boards, you MUST make yourself seem available, even if it's not true, tell them the function is closing etc etc. IF you are getting offered interviews (plural would be nice) then you can be reassured your skills are in demand if you decide to jump (and vice versa !) IF these turn into offers, a lot of employers will be prepared to let you leave unless you are in a critical stage of work - talk to the highest up person you know.
Secondly - I hope you have been making good contacts while at the sweatshop, there are many senior people who are ex-consultancy, use linked-in if you don't know them well enough to phone. Mate scored £850/day + expenses + wfh fridays at a big oil co because his ex consultancy boss was their CIO and knew his consultancy rate was 1200/day !!!
Be certain you want to jump, it can be awful cold in here !

[Ardesco]

I'm hesitant to resign without having a contracting job lined but with the long lead time it seems like a catch 22 situation at the moment.

You may want to rethink the idea of contracting then. Remember a contract is only guaranteed to be as long as the notice period they have to give you (And not even that a lot of the time)...

[lightng]

to transition your role to another consultant

[lightng]

Transitioning

Why do business types always insist on using the word transition as a verb? Welcome, by the way

[Scrag Meister]

I'm at a big 4 consulting firm and am contemplating a move into contracting (as a BA) and have started taking tentative steps in identifying potential roles.

I have a 13 week notice period with my current employer so clearly it'll be very challenging to find contracting roles which could accomodate such a long lead time.

I'm hesitant to resign without having a contracting job lined but with the long lead time it seems like a catch 22 situation at the moment.

Any advise would be helpful.

Specifically on whether attempting to source a contract role and request early release of my existing contract is an advisable course of action (i.e. do big 4 firms have a history of playing hard-ball or are they likely to be accomodating)

Thanks.

Hi and welcome.

Sometimes there is no choice.

I also needed to work 3 months notice in my perm role and was "forced" to leave without a contract to go to, because as you say most clients won't wait 3 months, although most are willing to wait a month.

Took me 3 months after leaving to get a contract, but I was being quite picky about the industry and role i was looking for.

Not sure about early release though if a contract does come up. Depends on the reliance on you I expect

GL in your search.

[Joxer]

I'm at a big 4 consulting firm and am contemplating a move into contracting (as a BA) and have started taking tentative steps in identifying potential roles.

I have a 13 week notice period with my current employer so clearly it'll be very challenging to find contracting roles which could accomodate such a long lead time.

I'm hesitant to resign without having a contracting job lined but with the long lead time it seems like a catch 22 situation at the moment.

Any advise would be helpful.

Specifically on whether attempting to source a contract role and request early release of my existing contract is an advisable course of action (i.e. do big 4 firms have a history of playing hard-ball or are they likely to be accomodating)

Thanks.