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When I started contracting back in 2011 the market was buoyant and it was not unusual to be fielding multiple calls a week (or day) from recruiters asking whether you were available or not. This meant that when you were coming to the end of one contract you normally had another secured to follow on. Life was good.

Then Covid happened and the whole landscape changed with the contract market essentially imploding overnight. Unfortunately, when the world started to get back to normal the contract market didn’t follow suit, it remained pretty much stagnant.

The primary cause of this can be leveled at IR35 and the Off-Payroll changes rolled out to the private sector in April 2021. Now, I’m not going to try to explain the abomination that is IR35 because that’s not going to achieve anything, it will make this a very long and boring post and frankly it isn’t going away, so there is no point banging on about it.

The long and the short if it is …. I’m out … I’m done with contracting and that’s that!

But where does that leave me, because the permanent job market isn’t a great deal better.

In recent months I’ve been trying to sit on the fence a little by searching for a permanent role while also keeping an eye out for a contract gig to hopefully keep cash flowing in the right direction. The thought process was that I could hopefully secure a contract for a couple of months while hopefully progressing through the interview process for a permanent role or maybe even two.

But there’s a flaw in this approach which can be summed up in an old saying;

A man who chases two rabbits will catch neither

The process of finding a job needs something I was not providing …. focus.

That changes today!

But while I can focus my efforts on securing a permanent role I can do little about the concerns that some hiring managers have about bringing a contractor in as a permanent employee.

The ‘Should I Hire a Contractor as an Employee’ Dilemma

There are many people on LinkedIn saying that they would never hire a contractor because;

If a nice juicy contract came along they’d be off like a shot.

Now while I can understand the thought process here it is pretty shortsighted to say the least. The market is flat on its back, and even if a ‘nice juicy contract’ did come along, it would be a foolhardy contractor that would cut and run because what would happen when that contract came to an end? There is no certainty that another contract could be secured to follow-on, and they would be in limbo once more.

Also, should I be able to secure a permanent role I’d be free of IR35/OffPayroll and all that goes with it. Believe me … if I can free myself of the spectre that horribly flawed abomination I’d not be looking to stray into its path again.

I could argue that a contractor would be a better option because they will have gained a wealth of experience across multiple projects, tech stacks, project management processes and sectors. They will have been motivated to keep their skills up to date abd build a reputation for getting the job done (and done to a high standard).

Next Steps

Now that the decision has been made to focus on a single rabbit here is my plan;

  • Update Job Boards to remove ‘Contract’ as a desired job types and setup corresponding job searches and notifications
  • Reach out to previous Clients that I would work for again (not all fall into this category)
  • Send an availability update to recruiters who I’ve dealt with before or who have contacted me recently with permanent roles
  • Revisit and push my personal projects forward as part of my portfolio
  • Put a training plan together - what’s new in C#, .NET and MAUI
  • Blog more … and that means here
  • Consider a YouTube channel … scary stuff and outside my comfort zone, but I need to consider whatever it takes to raise my profile & get myself noticed.