Contractor Gurus - Help a first timer

[BAContractor]

Depends where in the country but who is going today 350 quid for someone with 3 years work experience? I was thinking by 175 to 200

I am based in London currently but can work anywhere nationally. So I guess my shot at this would be remote locations ha :-)

[SueEllen]

I am based in London currently but can work anywhere nationally. So I guess my shot at this would be remote locations ha :-)

Then you would need to take extra living costs into account so won't be worth doing a lower rates.

BTW if you want to be an artist of any sort it's worth having a decent paying career with fixed hours and paid holiday. The art e.g. film making will rarely make you enough to live on especially when starting out. There was an artist on my road who worked as a waiter.

[alreadypacked]

I am based in London currently but can work anywhere nationally. So I guess my shot at this would be remote locations ha :-)

In my experience the high pay contract roles are project based.
New project starts, they have a budget in place, experienced contractors are hired. To get the job done etc. Most big UK contracts kick off in April, beginning of the financial year. Hiring starts March, so a few more weeks to wait.

[ContractorHardman]

So you want to be a contractor....

I think this will come down to your CV. It will be the case that you probably haven't sold yourself properly. When people go out to the contracting market they want the best value for money. There is a reason why a Bank is going to pay you upwards of £400-£500 a day.

1) Consider your skills - Being a contractor is all about being a business. As a contractor I have 4 CVs tailored towards roles. Data Analyst, Business Analyst, VBA Developer and my niche experience in certain areas like Financial Crime or Systems. Your skills are now your products you offer.

2) Unique Selling Point - There are several Business Analysts on the market however what makes you stand out from the crowd, what exactly have you achieved and have you put your achievements on your CV? If I see a BA of 5 years with no achievements on the CV, my next question is, are you a plodder and what are you going to bring that is different to the team. Everyone wants a contractor who is going to be a game changer because that is exactly what they need the majority of the time.

3) No pressure - One of the things I get asked is what is the difference when you walk in to a Contractor Gig vrs a Permie role. I say "You need to walk in, read the game, read the people, make people respect you, make people like you but not take advantage of you, have the strength to challenge things but have the ability to explain why. Everything you do needs to be of a good standard (Sometimes perfect). You have no training, no induction and some people wont like you because you are on 3 times what they earn because they don't understand that you could be out of a job at anytime. There is no bitching because remember you need to keep people sweet as you might need them. You have to speak with confidence when you might not know much about what you are talking about. By the way, No Pressure pal because you are paid a lot to handle it!"

4) Availability - Clients rarely wait for a contractor, they want someone in and it is usually by tomorrow although some gigs require screening. I remember one gig, they made me wait 4 weeks whilst another was only a week.

5) Agents - An evil you need to deal with. You can fire off your CV a million times and get no response but you need the ability to maybe get yourself in front of agents if you are really wanting the gig. If I am on the bench I will send my CV and call the agent to sell myself a little. Some agents go through a lot of CVs to try and find someone. On the other side of the fence at the employer, they have the task of going through 50 and a lot of what the agencies send through is crap which then means you really need to make your CV stand out. Remember, once your CV is in for a gig, forget about it afterwards because there is no call back to let you know your application wasn't successful.

Lastly, you are not simply trading your £50k a year salary for £400 a day. You are becoming a Business and you need to think like a business. You enter in to the world of accountants, insurance, contracts and a hate for George Osbourne.

Lastly, I am sorry if you think above is a little direct and harsh but like most good contractors, I would rather lay it out to you straight than give you a sugar coated answer.

[northernladuk]

Absolutely nothing harsh in that post. Nicely done.

[BAContractor]

So you want to be a contractor....

I think this will come down to your CV. It will be the case that you probably haven't sold yourself properly. When people go out to the contracting market they want the best value for money. There is a reason why a Bank is going to pay you upwards of £400-£500 a day.......

I think this has been very useful . I don't mind the directness here as all this is useful info and I am learning all I can as much as possible. Any chance you may have an example anonymous CV of yours that I can look into?

[BAContractor]

Then you would need to take extra living costs into account so won't be worth doing a lower rates.

BTW if you want to be an artist of any sort it's worth having a decent paying career with fixed hours and paid holiday. The art e.g. film making will rarely make you enough to live on especially when starting out. There was an artist on my road who worked as a waiter.

Well I still need close to £60k for the tuition alone. I can probably take a part time job like that while studying.

[LondonManc]

So, bottom line is that you're a business analyst whose heart isn't really in it and doesn't have the range of experience to earn top dollar. So, where do you go from here?

Stay perm? If you're currently in a perm job, what are the job opportunities? Routes of progression to Senior BA, then on to Project and Programme Manager - are these available at your current employer?

If you want to go into film-making, you're potentially going to sacrifice all thought of working in IT completely. I think the quick fix you were hoping for isn't going to happen so may have to rethink your plans. With the financial sector cutting rather than creating jobs, you'll also see even more experienced CVs hit the market in the coming months, which will push you down the queue.

As one of the guys said, what makes you stand out - why are you worth the money? If your cv doesn't explain that, you need to revisit your cv.

[BAContractor]

As one of the guys said, what makes you stand out - why are you worth the money? If your cv doesn't explain that, you need to revisit your cv.

I can only say I have decent BA experience. I am trying to highlight and bring out the stand-out reasons. I will need to keep pushing but this forum has been super useful and very helpful. I now have more clarity regarding the CV making process.

[northernladuk]

I can only say I have decent BA experience. I am trying to highlight and bring out the stand-out reasons. I will need to keep pushing but this forum has been super useful. I now have more clarity regarding the CV making process.

But you don't.... Not compared to everyone else that has 10+ years.

Am sorry but you be had all the advice you need. Desperately thrashing about to change that isn't going to help. If everyone did less than 4 years work before contracting it would be absolutely screwed.

Your CV layout is fine, do what you can to fill it with less than 4 years work, start spamming it and pray.

No other advice is going to makeup for your lack of experience.