Trapped Permie looking to break free

[Ronni]

Edison - Thank you very much for your response.

It offers me encouragement for sure. I am going to play this as smart as possible.

With regards to specialist skills, I have been mulling over what I offer and a lot of the lower level jobs on jobserve etc, seem to fit what I can offer (to my surprise). I am someone who requires very little hand holding and so I think it will be risky but potentially fruitful.

The plan is to monitor the situation over the coming months / year - not to rush and hastily make a decision.

I will be on this site quite often and so I know should I need any advice I would be offered it readily.

Again I appreciate all your responses, it has really helped me fine tune and make my goals a lot more realistic.

[northernladuk]

With regards to specialist skills, I have been mulling over what I offer and a lot of the lower level jobs on jobserve etc, seem to fit what I can offer (to my surprise). I am someone who requires very little hand holding and so I think it will be risky but potentially fruitful.

Just to be a bit brutal but if you need to mull it over I think you have a problem. You are a specialist in a skill set you can sell to clients or you are not. Shouldn't be much mulling to be done. Also 'seem' to fit won't work. It fits like a glove or doesn't. If it doesn't you don't have a hope.

You have to be very clear and very pragmatic if it is going to work. The client want's an experience contractor to do a very specific job and there are plenty out there. If there is any grey area around this then it is going to be hard work.

Even more of the above if you are looking at lower end. There will be a lot more people to pick from.

Sorry to be harsh but that is the reality.

[MarillionFan]

I also think that 28 is quite young for a contractor wait until you're at least 35/40 + so they will think you have a lot of experience.
Remember they expect contractors to hit the ground running, no training, no 2 months doing nothing as you're new on the job etc.

It's more attitude and applicability than age. I started at 27 with a jack of all trades set of skills.

[SimonMac]

It's more attitude and applicability than age. I started at 27 with a jack of all trades set of skills.

And look where you are now!

[flapjack]

I'm in the same boat albeit different circumstances!

Hi,

The thread title "trapped permie looking to break free" fits me perfectly so rather than creating a new thread, I figured I would avoid people's wrath by replying to this one.

My circumstances are a little different to the OP but we're both looking to get into contracting nonetheless. My situation is that I've been working with a tier 1 consulting firm for the last 7 years and worked on some major transformation projects creating a specialism in process design & optimisation as well as PMO reporting. I work alongside many contractors on the client I work with as a consultant and have actively been involved in selling work for my firm over the last 12 months so have familiarity in invoicing and getting a contract signed. The problem however is that despite applying for contracts on many of the popular job sites and being put forward for a few roles by recruiters I seem to have had no offers. :-(

I'm fully mobile and willing to travel as required. There are no visa / work restrictions. The day rates I've been looking at are around £500 - £550 per day. This is based on the fact that clients currently pay £800 - £1000 per day for me at the firm I work for. At first I thought the lack of interest was because I have to serve a notice period but after experimenting to see if interest would change if I put down '2 weeks availability' - I still got back zilch.

Could anyone give me pointers for how to break into the contracting scene? It just seems ridiculously competitive. I know I can do the work but just can't seem to get a break. Happy to share my CV if anyone is able to give some constructive feedback. I just feel stumped after 3 months of actively searching.