Finding work

[rogerthedodger]

A very good old pal of mine has been an independent for about 25 years and has bagged ALMOST ALL his contracts through direct approaches to potential clients, using snail mail i.e. brief letter plus CV........simple.......no messing about with adverts, no messing about with recruitment agencies.

[Charles Humphrey]

Probably a daft question...

Hi all,

I really would like to get into contracting, never done it before, well not as a full time gig. I am a pretty seasoned C# backend developer having worked for the same company as a perm for almost 20 years, I recently moved jobs as where I was looked like it was going bad and a role came up that was super attractive to me, now 3 months in, it's not what I want, I have thought about contracting for years, but have had the security blanket of almost 20 years at one place.

But, how do you find work? I have fired my CV off and as yet heard little back, as I am still a perm, it's hard to chace agencies all day as work will notice... or am I just being impatient...

I have been contacted by an agency, and they have something lined up, I guess I just need to be patient...

Any advice is welcome, thanks in advance.

[cypher]

Having just landed my first contracting role all I can advise is apply to everything you feel confident that you can deliver on.

Be willing to work away from home rather than within your local area.

Be prepared to do a few interviews and get shot down for not having the experience required. That really pissed me off as my CV covers my experience. Lost weeks of time to interviews for roles that I could tell straight after they started talking they were out to trip me up rather than have a serious discussion.

Starting out its about building contacts and getting a few delivered projects under your belt. At least that's how I see it.

[northernladuk]

Hi all,

I really would like to get into contracting, never done it before, well not as a full time gig. I am a pretty seasoned C# backend developer having worked for the same company as a perm for almost 20 years, I recently moved jobs as where I was looked like it was going bad and a role came up that was super attractive to me, now 3 months in, it's not what I want, I have thought about contracting for years, but have had the security blanket of almost 20 years at one place.

That's not really a security blanket as such. It's good experience that will help you as a contractor. The money you have behind you is your security blanket. If you can't find work, you have no income.

That said even with 20 years behind you you are still a risk. You have no experience being a contractor so will likely be passed over with the gigs going to people that have already contracted. They will be used to the flexibility, hitting the ground running, work independently and the like. That's your main struggle. The second and probably your biggest killer is you have a notice period. Every one of my contracts in the last 10 years have needed me to start the first Monday after the interview. You simply cannot do that and very few clients will be willing to wait for your notice to end. That's not adding the risk you might change your mind or get something better in that period.

But, how do you find work? I have fired my CV off and as yet heard little back, as I am still a perm, it's hard to chace agencies all day as work will notice... or am I just being impatient...

I have been contacted by an agency, and they have something lined up, I guess I just need to be patient...

Any advice is welcome, thanks in advance.

This is the way of a contractor. You have to fire and forget.. possibly for long periods of time. If the agent want's you they'll chase you. It's generally pointless chasing agents. They make their money from us so if they can make money out of us they'll crawl over hot coals to contact us. We do hold a bit of power in this area.

So yes, patience is key and with the hurdles you have you are going to have to be much more patient than most I am afraid. It could be many weeks or even months before you even hear back, let along bag something.