Need help regarding Contract Jobs..

[kesavasankar]

HI ,

I need to know some basics abt contracting IT jobs. Right now iam in India with Tier 1 in hand. Planning to move to UK for job search for a month by July(taking leave from my current employer).

Iam seeing many contract jobs paying heavily like 450 - 700 pounds per day.. but most of them say its for 3 months. Will they really stick to it or there is a high chance of cutting the contract in a month or so ?..
Please advice ....

[inputsOnHSMP]

those jobs are generally for specialists and potentially misleading. All, of course depends on your skill set.

[kesavasankar]

Thanks. Iam into J2EE and have 5yrs of exp... the jobs i see dont have descriptions which mean its only for specialist. those asked are only common skillsets.. As u said r they misleading ?

Also pls explain abt the duration thing.. will they stick to it or ??

[samsung]

Hi kesavasankar,

Even am traveling to UK, but in August. I could have traveled in July but my visa is valid only from 1st Aug. Am from Bangalore into DW/BI Technology.

Let me know if you would like to come up with me, I ve already got another friend from forum who is coming along with me, you can pm on that.

Thanks...

[phoenixlipo]

hi guy's,
i need help of you guy's to fine the job in SEO......

[visaapplier]

Coming now is going to be a very bad decision. The job market is quite bad and the vacancies on websites are mainly for collecting resumes. And landing a job is going to be quite difficult as the main hiring sector i.e. financial is in deep slumber. And moreover after the layoffs, lot of people are still present in the job market, who have UK experience which may count you out in many cases.If you have money to waste please be one more guy in the long line of job searchers.

[aspire]

Hi kesavasankar and samsung,

i am also planning to come to UK in august.I need you advice on the place of stay.Which is the cheapest place to choose for.Can you kindly guidline me on the rent coz i need to plan financilly ....for atleast 4 months.

Also,provide me ur planning strategies to start for Uk

[nitboy123]

aspire - what a stupid decision...coming now for job search. yesterday UK govt announced that unemployment has only hit 9% and is expected to continue until mid of 2010.

enjoy man. come here and remain jobless.

[aspire]

Thanks nitboy123 for ur response....
Currently r u residing in UK.Have you got any interviews ...what kind of interviews normally ppl will have there.Is it all technicall rounds as like in India or any thing followed specially conducted over there

[kenfrapin]

Dear kesavasankar,

I have posted some details on how contracting works in the UK in an earlier post, please search and you will get some info.

Additional information to make clear on contracting and its details

1. Usually roles are for a minimum of 3 to 6 months and can be extended but is usually very rare unless the person is truly brilliant.

2. When you sign up for the contract, they make the contract duration very clear so there is no ambiguity on how long your contract is. If you sign up for a 6 month contract and for your bad luck they have to cancel it, they will give you 30 to 60 days notice to search for some other work.

3. Yes they pay good rates - anywhere between £300 to £500 a day but there is a lot more to it. If you work for 3 months for this rate, and are jobless for the next 3 months, you are worse off than having a full time medium pay job, hope you got it.

4. You need to have a very good network group or must be in touch with everything going on in the industry to pounce on a new contract once your current one is about to end. I personally know guys who are great at this, but not all of us can do it, I certainly cant!

5. Contracting in the UK is not like in India. If you contract, you need to work as a company. This means the employer will pay your salary to a Company account and not to a personal bank acccount. By law, you have to register a company and manage your own taxes. There are contracting agents who only help you with this aspect of having a company name and paying taxes but nothing else.

6. With contracting, the employer gives you nothing. You need to manage on your own eg laptop, possibly working from home on some days etc. Of course, if work related travel and expenses are there, you get re-imbursed.

7. As someone mentioned earlier, contracting can get tricky because firstly you have to be really an expert in your field and secondly, you cannot get too much help at your work place. You are paid a good amount because you are good and can manage to deliver on your own with only required inputs from other project teams

Cheers
KP

[kesavasankar]

Hey Kenfrapin...
Thank u very much man...

[Wanderer]

My last four contracts have been two and half years, four years, five years, and eighteen months. One lad I know has been on the same contract for 13 years!

[SKUK]

You must be a rich man by now !

[kenfrapin]

That's great Wanderer. I know of a few guys who had 1 year contracts but never more than that!
It's a definite bet that you are good at what you do, irrespective of your skill being in demand or not.

But at a very generic level for all sectors and levels of work, I would say that initial contracts normally are around 3 to 6 months. Slowly as you are into contracting for a while, one could bag long duration contracts.

Anyways, anything is possible here in the UK which is why many coming knocking. The bottom line is still the same - if you have the skills, are confident of selling yourself and have some cash reserves to keep you going for 6 to 8 months, you can give it a go. All depends on your responsibilites, priorities and goals. It's a risk, but if it pays off, you will enjoy the UK lifestyle and laugh your head off for worrying so much

All the best
KP

[aditbhiday]

Hi kenfrapin, you seem to know the insides of the UK market. Are you already in UK on a project? I am a Java/JEE architect with close to 10 years of experience. - 5 years of them spent in the USA. It looks to me that contracting in the UK on a Tier 1 visa is much better than contracting in the USA on an H1B. The H1B is a bit more restricitive compared to the Tier 1 visa. My question is : How good are the chances of getting interview calls for java professionals sitting over here in India? I believe one can possibly travel to UK at short notice for face to face rounds if one at least gets an interview call.

[kenfrapin]

Hi Adit,

I have been here for quite a few years now and hence know a little about the market, thanks mostly to my friends.
Earlier, there is used to be quite a few contracting jobs and one had some choice. But now, they are rare and competition is tough. If your experience is only in Java/JEE then a perm job is a better option. Companies hire contractors because their skills are tough to find and they are never required all 12 months. Hence the reason to pay them 3 to 4 times the average full time rate for just a few months. It works for the employer and contractor this way. But in the current scenario, you have to possess something that is difficult to find here and Java/JEE alone may not be enough.

Secondly, forget getting interviews when outside the UK, no matter where you are. Even if you convince them you can be here in the UK in 24 hours they are not bothered, most wont even pick your resume. In fact, from what I have heard, if there is an opening in the north of UK and the candidate is based in the south, the agents think twice if they should consider the person!

The basic way things work is - agents post the ad, a lot of people apply and the agents pick, say, 10 out of them based on certain key words. Agents speak to these 10 and shortlist, say, 3. Resumes of only these 3 are forwarded to the actual client. Clearly, criteria used to select these 3 is very less on technical skills and more around other issues like English, Join date, salary, mobility, future plans and so on. Note that not all this is applicable for contracting roles but you get the drift.

If you have read thru the forum, so many talented guys here are finding it tough so chances for a person based outside are very slim.
That's my honest opinion, hope others here can help you out as well

All the best!
KP

[pyke]

kesavasankar,

May I ask how you would deal with your current employer if you do indeed secure a job in the UK? That's quite a tricky situation isn't it? Notice periods and all that. I'm not criticising, but am genuinely interested.

kenfrapin,

Regarding contract employment, are you referring to umbrella companies, PAYE and all? I've come across some of them recently. It's all terribly confusing. Which is the best option and what are the pros and cons of each? I'd appreciate it if you can share your experience with contracting. Thanks!

[kenfrapin]

Hi Pyke,

Yes I was referring to Umbrella Companies but No, I have no experience of using one. That said, if you join an umbrella company

Pros
1. If you chose the right one, then you have no worries of filing tax returns.
2. The money you get into your account will be taxed accordingly without the need of running around later or being hunted by the tax man.
3. You dont need to setup your own company to contract and all paper work is neat and nice.

Cons
1. You are totally Dependant on the umbrella company and their rules
2. You don't control your finances by not having your own accountant

I know just a couple of contractors personally so best if others guide you here. What I do know is these Umbrella companies charge a flat monthly fee for their services. Many leading recruitment firms also act as umbrella companies so there are a lot to chose from. In fact, there are even some good accountants who run an umbrella company for 10 to 20 contractors and this is real advantageous as they device ways of reducing your tax liability.
All I can say is - if I were to ever go down the contracting route, I would choose a smart one and join an Umbrella company, and not dream of the tax man chasing me for filing my tax

Cheers
KP

[cb1964]

I am also an IT contractor and it is very difficult to get a job in contracting at the moment, so, no, I would not bother coming. More and more companies are outsourcing their IT departments to India anyway, so there are probably more jobs there than here at the moment.

[pyke]

Hi Pyke,

Yes I was referring to Umbrella Companies but No, I have no experience of using one. That said, if you join an umbrella company

Pros
1. If you chose the right one, then you have no worries of filing tax returns.
2. The money you get into your account will be taxed accordingly without the need of running around later or being hunted by the tax man.
3. You dont need to setup your own company to contract and all paper work is neat and nice.

Cons
1. You are totally Dependant on the umbrella company and their rules
2. You don't control your finances by not having your own accountant

I know just a couple of contractors personally so best if others guide you here. What I do know is these Umbrella companies charge a flat monthly fee for their services. Many leading recruitment firms also act as umbrella companies so there are a lot to chose from. In fact, there are even some good accountants who run an umbrella company for 10 to 20 contractors and this is real advantageous as they device ways of reducing your tax liability.
All I can say is - if I were to ever go down the contracting route, I would choose a smart one and join an Umbrella company, and not dream of the tax man chasing me for filing my tax

Cheers
KP

Thanks kenfrapin. Definitely less hassle with the umbrella company route as opposed to doing it independently, but the PAYE schemes sound tempting too - if only they don't take out such a large chunk of the hourly rate.

[sreed_iyer]

Please guys do not leave anything you are doing in india and come here.
Agents are very specific theese days and employers are also very very specific.

if earlier you had 70% of the total requirement there was a chance of interview but now you need about 90-95 %.

Like if the job description says 3 years exp in somehting you need 3 years in that nothing less because there are so many people around.

This is generic scenario and may different from case to case...

[kenfrapin]

I second that as well.
Earlier if your skills were a close match it would suffice to get through the door but now they look for people with exactly the skills advertised and so the window of opportunity has reduced drastically.
There are quite a few adverts out these days but then the question of the so called 'perfect' profile being available is much easier now than 2 years back - thanks to the effect of the recession and the huge migrant and local population

Cheers
KP

[aditbhiday]

Thanks Kenfrapin dude, for sharing the knowledge. Your posts are really a ton of help.

[cskmail]

I agree that It is not possible to get a job in UK while sitting outside UK.

Happy Job Hunting

Hi Adit,

I have been here for quite a few years now and hence know a little about the market, thanks mostly to my friends.
Earlier, there is used to be quite a few contracting jobs and one had some choice. But now, they are rare and competition is tough. If your experience is only in Java/JEE then a perm job is a better option. Companies hire contractors because their skills are tough to find and they are never required all 12 months. Hence the reason to pay them 3 to 4 times the average full time rate for just a few months. It works for the employer and contractor this way. But in the current scenario, you have to possess something that is difficult to find here and Java/JEE alone may not be enough.

Secondly, forget getting interviews when outside the UK, no matter where you are. Even if you convince them you can be here in the UK in 24 hours they are not bothered, most wont even pick your resume. In fact, from what I have heard, if there is an opening in the north of UK and the candidate is based in the south, the agents think twice if they should consider the person!

The basic way things work is - agents post the ad, a lot of people apply and the agents pick, say, 10 out of them based on certain key words. Agents speak to these 10 and shortlist, say, 3. Resumes of only these 3 are forwarded to the actual client. Clearly, criteria used to select these 3 is very less on technical skills and more around other issues like English, Join date, salary, mobility, future plans and so on. Note that not all this is applicable for contracting roles but you get the drift.

If you have read thru the forum, so many talented guys here are finding it tough so chances for a person based outside are very slim.
That's my honest opinion, hope others here can help you out as well

All the best!
KP

[ssuresh83]

i got 5 calls from UK for job roles. i am from bangalore. some of them ready to schedule me interview.i do not care ,if u believe it or not.


1. Do PR job for your own cv.
2. the cv should say that u are worth 4 yrs of exp.
3. detail yourself truthfully.