State of the Market

[northernladuk]

Things have really changed in the last few years since I was last on the market. The number of these pass through portals that have popped up is both astounding and infuriating.

Apply for a job in linked in and you can be passed through three or 4 different forwarding pages before one pops up. Struggling trying to keep my details off some really tulip sites like ziprecruiter, Neuvoo and other crap that just harvest my data by stealth. I am super diligent not to sign up for anything and lo and behold, an hour later they are sending me target lists of jobs.. WTF.. Click them and it's back through a number of portals. It's a ******* disgrace.

Just applied for one on linked in..

Role title and company said Ironblade. Says the client in the text through.
Hit apply and I get redirected to Job4
Hit apply and it redirects me to AdView
Manage to find the apply button without setting up an account - Takes me through three forwarding screens until I end up at Experteer.
Fairly lengthy application process, upload CV, experience. Hit Submit Application for Role button and..
What the absolutely ****!!! Takes me to the careers page of that company! What have I just applied for??
And just to make matters worse, the job isn't even on the company page any more.

What the **** is all that about? Am absolutely livid.

I go back to experteer fearing the worst and lo and behold I have an account, a 60% filled in profile and signed up for job alerts.

It's a ******* disgrace. When did all this crap start?

In fact. I'll start a new thread on it.

[GigiBronz]

Just met an agent at canary wharf, this at least this one paid for a beer, but asked if i want some crips, I said yes so he got some out of his bag saying times were tough

Tesco 6 for 89p

Said he had no roles but fancied a beer

I am asking them in advance, their office or somewhere in the city.
If in the city... better know where they are taking me, because i am not putting out that cheap.
One of my friends suggested i should become a manager for one strip joint around Shoreditch, kinda know everyone around there and work is not that different. Really puts things into perspective...

[Old Greg]

You retard?

I work in a very small niche, so when I'm available, I ring around and see what's going. Works so far, but one day I may end up goosed..

[krytonsheep]

later revealed he was on 270.
Guy was the tuliptest contractor i've ever met, they eventually canned him when he accidentally took the entire public website down without a backup.

I think this is one of reasons the IR35 reforms are occurring. Back in the day, contractors were hired because of specialist skills/knowledge to help get a project over the line. They were paid more because of their skill set / flexibility and there was no guarantee of work or safety net if you got sick. Then over time more and more permies decided they wanted to earn as much as the contractor sat next to them and became permie tractors ( why not?). But the concept of a contractor has slowly shifted from someone who is good at what they do, to someone who is trying to increase take home pay.

[Jolie]

I think this is one of reasons the IR35 reforms are occurring. Back in the day, contractors were hired because of specialist skills/knowledge to help get a project over the line. They were paid more because of their skill set / flexibility and there was no guarantee of work or safety net if you got sick. Then over time more and more permies decided they wanted to earn as much as the contractor sat next to them and became permie tractors ( why not?). But the concept of a contractor has slowly shifted from someone who is good at what they do, to someone who is trying to increase take home pay.

Part of the blame for this has to come from the client. It became easy for finance directors to request a reduction in staff costs and shift the burden to business costs instead. We went from having the odd contractor here and there, to whole development teams consisting solely of contractors.

Saying that, I have been the only contractor on site for my skill in all the contracts I have serviced [EDIT: and the only person on site with that skill], with the exception of one when I brought in an ally to assist with a project.

There's nothing wrong with people trying to better themselves and increase their pay, after all that's what we all want, yes we have seen some awful contractors enter the market, but in the end the cream will always rise to the top.

[ruasonid]

Things have really changed in the last few years since I was last on the market. The number of these pass through portals that have popped up is both astounding and infuriating.

Apply for a job in linked in and you can be passed through three or 4 different forwarding pages before one pops up. Struggling trying to keep my details off some really tulip sites like ziprecruiter, Neuvoo and other crap that just harvest my data by stealth. I am super diligent not to sign up for anything and lo and behold, an hour later they are sending me target lists of jobs.. WTF.. Click them and it's back through a number of portals. It's a ******* disgrace.

Just applied for one on linked in..

Role title and company said Ironblade. Says the client in the text through.
Hit apply and I get redirected to Job4
Hit apply and it redirects me to AdView
Manage to find the apply button without setting up an account - Takes me through three forwarding screens until I end up at Experteer.
Fairly lengthy application process, upload CV, experience. Hit Submit Application for Role button and..
What the absolutely ****!!! Takes me to the careers page of that company! What have I just applied for??
And just to make matters worse, the job isn't even on the company page any more.

What the **** is all that about? Am absolutely livid.

I go back to experteer fearing the worst and lo and behold I have an account, a 60% filled in profile and signed up for job alerts.

It's a ******* disgrace. When did all this crap start?

In fact. I'll start a new thread on it.

This is a real headache to keep track of personal data for GDPR.

Annoyingly, some of these portals seem to opt in and share data by default.

[ruasonid]

In my third month looking now. Have dropped rate expectations to try and match the market. Have been applying for contract/FTC/perm roles to try and find some traction. When speaking direct with a company it seems that "conversational HR" has taken hold, leading to very ad hoc Q&A and progress (or not). My favourite is the beauty contest (HireVue) where you are asked several questions and record a video response. I'm in direct conversation with one or two companies for roles that have been advertised for nearly a year. They said they were keen to speak with me. Have been chasing them for over a week.

[Heffsta]

Perm offer

I have been contracting 10 years now with about 8 different clients. Always been commuting to London about 1.5hours each way. On £470 /day currently. Gig ends in December, and market looking pretty sure. I went to a few perm interviews and 1 in Financial services popped up local to me and pay any travel to London office and some home working. After about 5 rounds of interviews ? I got an offer, £85k and up to 20% bonus(if they deem me worthy I suppose). So I am really debating taking it. I am done with the commute and it seems a good opportunity, I will keep my ltd company going for awhile and if it's not for me, I can treat it as a 1 year contract and head back to contracting world and see how ir35 has changed the market.

What do you guys think on the salary, coming from £470 a day, bearing in mind I won't have any travel costs.and 10% pension contribution from them.

[ruasonid]

I have been contracting 10 years now with about 8 different clients. Always been commuting to London about 1.5hours each way. On £470 /day currently. Gig ends in December, and market looking pretty sure. I went to a few perm interviews and 1 in Financial services popped up local to me and pay any travel to London office and some home working. After about 5 rounds of interviews ? I got an offer, £85k and up to 20% bonus(if they deem me worthy I suppose). So I am really debating taking it. I am done with the commute and it seems a good opportunity, I will keep my ltd company going for awhile and if it's not for me, I can treat it as a 1 year contract and head back to contracting world and see how ir35 has changed the market.

What do you guys think on the salary, coming from £470 a day, bearing in mind I won't have any travel costs.and 10% pension contribution from them.

It sounds like its worth consideration against the backdrop of the current market, however you have only mentioned the numbers and not anything else about the opportunity in terms of work, training, skills, etc. Any gains there would sweeten it.

[Paralytic]

I would say that's a decent offer given the uncertainty IR35 is bringing to the market place. Perhaps not great for the London market, but probably about right when looking at your day rate.

In the end, the choice is yours, depending on your attitude to risk, the size of your warchest, what the market is like for your specific skillset and how likely you think you are to either find an inside or outside IR35 gig after April.