A lot of the comments seem to be about the CV. Is that really the reason someone with my experience is getting ignored? Because of minor stylistic issues?
This is all excellent advice, but I doubt that's the only reason.
Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
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Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#12I'm in the same situation as you (or was, until about a week ago). I'd been looking for a new contract for a couple of months and also had lots of enthusiastic calls with recruiters, only to be ghosted or hear nothing more. A couple of my contractor friends have also had the same experience. Compare to late last year, when I was batting contracts away whilst I was taking a couple of months off. Picked up a new contract when I was ready within a few days in November.
Whilst I'm a full stack dev, I found narrowing my CV, or creating multiple versions (one FE, one BE, one devops) helped sustain more interest/got me through more doors. Being a full stack dev puts you behind anyone that pitches themselves as a BE dev for BE roles, FE dev for FE roles, and so on. It's assumed that since they're 'specialised', they're better suited for the role.
Same goes for tech. Whilst everyone _here_ will appreciate the fact knowing/working/having experience in multiple languages will generally mean your the better programmer, it's not something HR seems to grok.
In short: If there's a Go contract, send a version of your CV that pitches you as a BE Go Dev and that only. Once you're through the door and speaking to the people that matter, you can open up about your other experience.
As for timing, generally now is a good time. Some companies will have budget to use before the end of the tax year. Some companies will have new budgets at the start of the next tax year.
There have been a lot of layoffs, so the market isn't quite as much in the favour of developers at the moment.
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Anyhow, that said, I've just taken a perm role again, just for another year or so whilst I learn some new tech and hopefully the contract market sorts itself out. It's only about £1k/month less. Worth it for the security, for now.
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#13The government attacked contracting via IR35 to fix imaginary problems they invented to ensure large consulting companies get all the work instead
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#14I'm curious if you think the IR35 changes are having an effect?
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#15I'm curious if you think the IR35 changes are having an effect?
I guess, 90% of the contracts I can find on any UK job site is Inside IR35.
Considering that for every contract job there are 10 full time employment offers, real contractor work (i.e. outside IR35) is basically 10% of 10% = 1% of the entire job market. It is abysmal.
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#16Looking at your resume, in a market that is slightly tightening. I see the following items: 1) your technical skills look great, and imply you want a technical job 2) I would separate your freelance work from you employment at Punters, to show you have experience as a contractor, not someone who just got laid off (made redundant), cannot find a job and now is trying to go contracting. 3) Punters Lounge - job title -…
My problem is #2: I have been freelancing since 2012, and it's hard to list 20+ different projects I have worked on since, and being clear it was a contract, not full time employment. I have to choose between just underselling myself, or listing so much stuff no one will take me seriously. Do you have an example of a good CV that clearly separates employment from freelance work? I have yet to see one. To answer #3: I…
write contract or full time and list everything
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#17I used to have only 1 CV (like you, I assume). Not anymore. Now I have some sort of a template with fixed parts (e.g., education, past experience)... but whenever I apply for a company I put on my CV 90% or so of the keywords they are looking for. I usually know very well around 60% of what they are looking for, and have a bit of knowledge of everything else. So, for instance if they say that knowing Nginx is a plus, well, I put I used Nginx in some of my old jobs. I certainly know a bit of Nginx but I'm no expert. The point is that when they open my CV, they get to see their keywords.
Obviously this technique is only useful to pass the recruiters/screeners. When I get to talk to engineers and managers, I take it more seriously.
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#18I have some British clients in my network and with similar experience I am doing well at 300 pounds per day. I know that it’s very low. But I’m fully remote working from Asia.
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#19Perhaps add a line saying what kind of role you are looking for? Doesn't have to be the same every time you submit the cv - tailor it to that role.
Re: Ask HN: Has the British contract market dried up, or am I just unhireable?
#20You may find this site, and this thread in particular, useful https://forums.contractoruk.com/business-contracts/114560-st...
Pretty big and active forum for UK contractors