BITE's blog UK Contract Jobs and Career Transition

BITE’s career transition services

The effective way to become a Freelance Contractor

BITE offers a comprehensive support package to help people with their personal career transition into the UK Contract market from either unemployment or a permanent job. The service requires attendance at our London resource centre and provides you with your own personal mentor.

The programme includes £4000 of mentoring and job search guidance for a complete purchase of £2500+vat up front with a no job, no fee guarantee or is PROVIDED FREE if you contract through BITE!

• Killer Contract CV optimised for contracting
• Establishment of your personal brand
• Access to the' hidden job market'
• Marketing & advertising to 3000+ clients

 

Personal Brand and Killer Contract CV

BITE provides a killer specialist CV for the contract market; vital to position you with your own Personal Brand. This usually takes 2 days face to face contact work to produce a specialist CV for the contract and interim market. Each CV is optimised for skill searches on recruitment and H.R. databases and for Google searches on the net.

Interview training is provided to secure that vital job. This ranges from an initial 2 hour module and producing an interview plan, to detailed questioning and dummy interviews with video feedback.

Telephone 'selling' training on how to secure interviews by presenting yourself correctly; vitally important to secure the interview.

Network training on how to network in order to access positions in the hidden job market; using LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google, plus a range of other useful sites.

 

Hidden Job Market

Lots of jobs are unadvertised, particularly during the credit crunch – learn how to tap into the hidden job market

 

Many companies don’t like to advertise nor do agents like dealing with lots of new candidates. The contracting market often relies on word of mouth and recommendations. Having the support of BITE and our existing contractors allows you to access the hidden job market in a whole new way. It’s not unusual for an existing BITE contractor to recommend you to an agent, and of course we do so to. Because of the unique way in which we operate you’ll soon discover just how large and lucrative unadvertised jobs can be.

 

Marketing and Advertising

Looking for the right IT & Telco, Accounting, Banking & Finance and Interim Professional contracts at the best rates? Want to find the next contract quickly?

The UK contracting market is unique and fast paced; to ensure you have the best chance of finding jobs and contracts quickly you will need comprehensive marketing services. BITE offers a range of marketing services and training opportunities to help you secure contracts quickly.

Most CV’s are never read, we maximise the opportunity of your CV being selected by clients.

“The 3 Day Personal Brand Plan”- Our Contractor Placement Programme provides marketing and advertising for Contractors through our mailing list and websites. It also provides each contractor with an updated fully optimised KILLER CV that really performs by helping to take you to the top of any database searches.

Each contractor is given use of our database with its’ marketing and advertising facilities, the BITE phone app for I-phone, Android and Blackberry, and shown how to use RSS feeds for job search straight to their phone. All can be used from anywhere in the world remotely.

What next?

If you’d like to know more about the job market in the UK, and wish to contract via BITE, send in your CV and come and meet us at our London offices. 

 

New Year, New IT Contract Job

New Year, New Job

• Do you find yourself looking at your manager and thinking you could do better?
• Does the thought of spending the rest of your working life at the beck and call of others make you sigh?

Then moving towards a career in IT Contract work could be just what the Doctor ordered.

It may sound a little scary at first, leaving the security of a fully paid job, but let’s be honest in times of economic strife is any job really secure? Perhaps now is the time to make that break away from the routine of corporate work and into the world of Contracting.

 

What are the advantages?

Remuneration: It is a fact that IT Contractors can make significantly more money doing the same work if they are contracted rather than employed.  30% higher rates than the equivalent permanent positions (Note – If you work full-time for one employer, then the IR35 tax regulations may in the UK.)

Flexibility: You choose the hours you work, you choose what IT Contract jobs you want to do, and you choose how much you are going to be paid. If you wish to take a break between contracts, you have that choice, if you want to take 3 weeks holiday in the spring, again the choice is yours.

Variety: The flexibility of IT Contract work means you can work wherever you want, for whomever you want. This can lead to meeting some very interesting companies, meeting lots of new people and contacts, and the work will be very different and varied too.

Skills: When you work as an employee, your job is your job and you often do not get the opportunity to enhance your IT skills and learn new things. As an IT Contractor you can set aside some time to go on courses and learn new things.

There are many more advantages of being your own boss.

 

How much would I get paid?

Of course payment varies according to your skills and experience, and who is paying you and what you negotiate, but we have pulled together some interesting facts from various trusted resources to help you decide if IT Contract work is right for you.

 

Role / Job Type	Average daily rates (*varies on skills and experience)
Networker's, Administrators & Support	£280
Database Administrators & Systems Administrators	£330
Analyst Programmers & Developers (General)	£350
Specialists: ERP, Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft etc	£390
Programme Managers, Project Managers, IT Managers	£410
New Media (Web) & E-Commerce Developers	£370
Testers, IBM Mainframe & Others	£250
Business Analysts, Data Analysts, Business Intelligence	£430
Infrastructure, Windows, Security Specialists	£320
Graphic Designers	£240

Source: BITE Statistics

 

How easy would it be to find work?

Of course as an IT Contractor you would need to ensure you have the work to maintain your lifestyle. Here in the UK 50% of the job market is contracting! It’s normally around 30%, but due to the current economic environment there are more contract jobs available in place of permanent jobs.

Most IT contractors will look for contracting positions through an on or offline recruitment agency. There are 1000's of agencies in the UK. Some specialise in only IT contracts and others are more general, covering all sectors of employment.

Agencies are not only for contractors, and most agencies will have jobs for: permanent, contract, temporary and part-time employment. The agency will put you in touch with the client but to get paid you need to have a limited company - either an Umbrella Company or your own limited company of your own.

Before you sign up with any agency ask yourself and them a few questions:

• Is the agency you are going through credit worthy?
• If they cannot pay you how will you recover your earnings?

 

Which agency do I choose?

The IT contracting market in the UK makes up 50% of the total IT job market, substantially more than in most other countries.

No recruitment agency or software house in the UK has more than 3% market share. It's therefore important to work with several agencies. The size of the recruitment agency is not important, often a smaller one will work in a specialised sector within IT and will have clients that other agencies do not.

But with so many agencies it’s vital to ensure they are credit checked before contracting with them. If working through BITE, we'll guarantee you are paid even if the agency is late or unable to pay.

 

What about the legal requirements?

When working as an IT contractor, it is really important to ensure you are keeping within the law to ensure you are protected, and to ensure you get the best deal.

BITE Consulting have detailed a few laws that you should take note of:

2007: Managed Service Company

This law introduced in April 2007 which made it illegal for contractors to operate through a limited company that was “managed” by a third party. A contractor can only legally work via an Umbrella Company or their own limited company, known as a Personal Service Company.

2000: IR35

Legislation introduced in 2000 that's used by the Inland Revenue to determine whether or not a contractor meets the definition of being self-employed or a freelancer. Contractors who do not fall under this category are said to be caught by IR35 or said to be inside of IR35 legislation and are therefore liable to pay full tax and national insurance.

You want to make sure you're operating outside of IR35 (safe from the legislation). If you're on a visa there may be further implications for you. You can find out more by visiting our website below:

http://www.biteconsulting.co.uk/uk-contracting/ir35.html

 

2011: The AWR Legislation

On the 1st October 2011 the UK implemented the EU legislation for agency workers.

This means in practise two key stages;

Day one right for workers and equal treatment after 12 weeks. Some examples of day one rights include the staff canteen, car parking and child care facilities and it is the end client who has the responsibility for ensuring agency workers are provided access to these facilities. This includes access and information to job vacancies that permanent staff would also have access to. In the event of a dispute there is no liability on the recruitment company.

After 12 weeks the agency worker acquires additional equal treatment rights provided they remain in the same job role. This includes pay and bonuses, duration of working time and annual leave. The requirement is simply to treat the worker as if he or she had been recruited directly to do the same job. In the event of a dispute it is the recruitment agency that is initially held responsible but will have a defence if they requested the info and failed to receive it from the client/hirer. End clients can include indemnity clauses in their contracts to pass liability to the recruitment company .Equally recruitment companies supplying contractors through another organisation will need to request the required information just as they would do in dealing with the end client directly and checks will need making on the contract.

Where possible workers/contractors should always be advised on any pay/rate comparator data and asked to confirm if they operate through a limited company that they are in business of their own account. For more information, please click the link below:

http://www.biteconsulting.co.uk/uk-contracting/awr-legislation.html

Request an appointment to discuss your individual circumstances with BITE.

 

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http://www.biteconsulting.co.uk/special-offer.html

 

Thank you - Keith Boatman

Smart Job Search Tactics- be clever access the hidden job market!

The Easter and Royal Wedding holiday is a time when many people are off on the 11 day break and this will include the majority of decision makers.

As a result interviews are hard to arrange and most people stop looking for a job effectively. However using your time effectively could put your name at the top of the list when recruitment resumes.So try these ten smart suggestions.

1. Update your LinkedIn profile- ensure it is 100% complete and use the new features  recently made available.You are 40 times more likely to gain a job with a complete profile.

2. Set up a twitter account and use it to update your status and job search on a daily basis. Google will find you and so will other recruiters soon after the holiday.This activity will increase awareness of your availability tenfold.

3.Network with people who interest you and can help develop your contacts on LinkedIn and search and join relevant groups to you, your industry/profession , H.R. and recruitment prou.This takes time but people may have a little more time currently.

4.Set up a facebookpage as your professional page keep it wide open as a chatty informative page on you and the services you provide.Lock down your personal page so only friends and family see everything.

5.Use RSS feeds effectively- set up google reader to search for and pull down the RSS feeds you want and configure it to search for relevant jobs using aggregators.Thus the best jobs will come to you in real time with no delay.

6. Buy yourself a smart phone and learn to use it. Configer  the app for My6sense to receive your RSS feeds and relevant information from LinkedIn straight to your phone. Down load an app that allows you to upload your  cover letters and send them from your phone to interested parties.

7. Use the phone and ring your contacts that appear to be the most promising. Speak to people ask for help and advise (not a job) and you'll we surprised how helpful people can be.Ask them to comment on your CV don't be defensive and demonstrate to them you have taken on board their advise.

8. Relax don't panic let people know how well your job search is going and how your new initiatives are bearing fruit! No one wants a stressed out desperate candidate.

9. Be prepared to find and apply or send your CV to 155 people in 3 weeks.Get on their databases and again the jobs willl start coming to you.Be smart!

10. Always renew yourself-we've mentioned updating your LinkedIn status but also renew your profile on the job boards every Sunday evening ready for the next week. This will position you near the top of any candidate search list in your skill set .This week do it on Monday night remember the long weekend.... and relax!

Successful Career Transition, six steps and the flexible labour market

Many people are now facing a dramatic career change in the next few months or year. Some will have it forced upon them others will be fed up of re-applying for their job and want to take charge of their own career.Some people will move across the world others sectors,industries or domains and many will face moving from the private to the public sector. Some will relish the challenge others will dread it but for everyone it is a challenge and an opportunity to grow and achieve.For everyone though there are a number of things they must get right.

1. Your State of mind -  This is easy to talk about but hard for many to sort out. Do you look at the glass of water and see it half full or half empty?

If you are very upset finding it difficult to focus then you have to remove the trauma of career change first and foremost.For many the first chance to talk about it is at the next interview and then when everything pours out they wonder why they didn't get the job. Find someone and talk talk and talk till any bitterness is out of your system.If that does not work seek some professional help- when you do you'd be surprised nowadays how many people are also seeking professional counseling.Don't be proud and stupid be honest with yourself and look after your confidence.

For many career transition is a choice they have made and a challenge to relish! Whether it's your choice or a decision that has been forced upon you the trick to be successful is to see the process as an opportunity and try to enjoy it. In short become a "the glass is half full" person.

2.The opportunity- decide upon your personal brand and it's positioning! What's this marketing /HR /Recruitment speak i can hear people saying?

Quite simply what are your skills and achievements, what can you do what have you proved you can do? How relevant are these skills to a career? People often refer to these as your key transferable skills and to be transferable you have to be able to deliver them in a new environment. These need to be split between your personal strengths and your business/career skills and experience. They need defining and you need to learn how to communicate them effectively naturally illustrating your skills with practical examples either in the work place or your personal life.

One of the  simplest and best examples of this i've seen was by brother in law who was running a milk franchise as a milkman working hard getting up early and making very little- no matter how hard he worked he could not ignore his industry was in decline.He looked at his milk float decorated by children from the promotional competitions he had been running, the thank you notes, from grateful residents,the awards he had received for community service and started to calculate his personal strengths and career skills. He stopped dwelling on the money he was loosing and started to look at opportunities to use his administrative, face to face communication and community skills.He then researched a whole series of careers completing a S.W.O.T. analysis on each looking at the strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats of each. His conclusion was that a career in nursing would be best suited but the weakness was that he would have to completely re-train over a period of several years. However this was also the opportunity he would be able to apply his strengths and move into a career where he could continually learn and grow.He discovered and created a POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE to CAREER TRANSITION without professional help but by understanding himself and talking to many friends and colleagues.

 Incidently he was successful and now years later is qualified and  manages a team of nurses having a fufilling career.

Now i know we are not all going to be male nurses but the principles are exactly the same and you will need people to give you feedback on your strengths and how they see you.Seek advice talk to as many people as you can but then make a decision! You will then need to build a CV that reflects you strengths skills and experiences to communicate to the world the opportunity you have to offer.

3. Now become a "doer"- not a thinker! Be action orientated! With your mind set straight and the thinking exploring stage over you have to be action orientated.

a) Develop your CV and complete it within a week.This is long enough to do an excellent job gain feedback fine tune and test.I've been in an outplacement environment where career coaches have spent weeks working with candidates on CV's this is to long and you loose momentum.I've met candidates (one last week) that thought they could produce their CV in 3 hours.You must strike a balance and get the right result for you. Oh and don't believe your CV has to be 1 or 2 pages long it needs to have good copy and may be 3-4 pages long as long as it has a good summary page defining your personal brand defined in a personal statement and displaying the key words and long-tail words (short phrases) around your brand.Your CV has to be right for you, appealing across the range to different groups of people, recruitment agents, H.R. and client managers and interviewers.Once you have produced your CV don't get caught in to an endless cycle of re-writes concentrate on researching and marketing your skills to the right people!

b) Research  who you intend to send your CV  to then send it and keep sending it against a clear set of personal achievable targets. Agencies manage 80% of the recruitment market in the UK so love them or hate them, you have to use them.You also have to deal in volume - the old add-age of the rifle and the shot gun is out of date you need a semi automatic rifle making many well targeted shots with your CV.The internet has changed everything and without volume you may be unlucky no matter how professional your approach.In dealing with hundreds of people in the last 24 months they need to make 155 well targeted applications on average to find success. For a doer that is 10 applications a day and 3 weeks work 9.00am till 5.30pm every day with no time for Jerry Springer on the TV or doing the washing. This should yield 3 interviews and at least one job, if you stray from these figures something is going wrong review your techniques. If your still working in a job while searching for a new one, then you have to be well organised contactable during the day and be prepared to work evenings a weekends to hit your targets. By the way make sure your phone, voicemail and email all work effectively.

4. Learn the tactics to apply for jobs efficiently and effectively - To find success you need a highly efficient production line with a good spreadsheet or database to help manage your job applications so that any point you know exactly where you are.Very quickly you will loose track unless you efficiently manage your job search.You need to do so much more that simply hit the apply button on the job boards, you have to speak to people and communicate your brand.The correct tactics are so important and the devil is in the detail as this is where so many people go wrong failing to gain interviews and never knowing why they have fallen short.

Have you worked out how to use aggregators and RSS feeds to manage these into google reader and a smart-phone using my6sense? You need to be a smart intelligent job searcher finding jobs  in real time before they expire usually as quickly as 4 hours later.

For many the best opportunity for career transition is to move into contract work or interim consultancy or management positions. Many future employers may not take you on full time but will be less reluctant to give you a 3 month contract.In practice such a contract may last nearly 2 years never more or you will loose the tax benefits of being a contractor.Managing a contract career can develop your career keeping you up to date and more than doubling your earnings provided you can find work quickly. A professional contractor needs to become a professional networker.

5) Become a Professional Networker - Very few of us are natural networkers we have to learn how to become one and adopt it as a lifestyle approach and not a one off to find one job. The good news is now in the new digital age it could not be easier. With your email system, LinkedIn, facebook, google buzz and Twitter you can make a real difference and physically see the results from your work.

If you've worked in the UK for the last 10 years you may not know it but you may have a very good network you can deliver- the secret let everyone know you are looking for work.If you have just arrived in the UK then you are going to have to start your network from cold and that means working very hard to network with recruiters because it is the fastest way to become known. There are over 11,000 relevant agencies in the UK for most professionals  and therefore you have to discreetly play the field.Each agency will probably ask you to concentrate on them, but few of them will have the volume of vacancies to ensure you find success solely with them.

Networking is a two way process and you have to learn the skills simply broadcasting your availability is not enough.In the era of Social and Digital professional networking you cannot ignore the biggest website in the world facebook. However i'd advocate ensuring your personal profile was clean or locked down and developing a professional page for the world to see.LinkedIn is the best professional site and 80% of your effort should go here, developing your network in the right areas.You must have a 100% complete profile with this you are 40 times more likely to get a job. Twitter can be your broadcasting tool not to tel me the contents of your breakfast but to communicate positive messages that are google search-able and update your status throughout LinkedIn and your network. With Twitter you can automate your updates and you  will increase the effectiveness of your networking 10 fold, the bonus is that you will also discover new opportunities to job search as you become familiar with it, but to start with use it as your broadcast tool.Lastly google buzz -you should have your profile on the biggest search engine in the world and link it to your network once automated there is very little to do to maintain it.It is also naive not to believe that the biggest search engine in the world won't prefer it's own ..you!

6. Preparation and practice - deliver your personal brand professionally. To be successful you have to be able to communicate effectively and for 90% of people this means firstly planning you fit for a role and then practice, practice, practise to deliver it effectively. You have to be able to develop your telephone skills for screening conversations and telephone interviews and you have to be able to deliver a good interview.This is more than simply answering the questions that are asked of you but having your agenda to deliver your fit for a role and as to why you are the best candidate (your Unique Selling Point). If you are not asked then you need to state it anyway by listening and linking to the the points made by the interviewer.

Now many people are shy or at best out of practice and this is why practice makes perfect.Do rehearse so that you become confident and plan your interview to make your strategy and tactics clear for the interview.It will be easier than you think!

Finally don't forget from my previous blog that you must give a positive impression through being: flexible, available, organised, intelligent and enthusiastic.

 

Career Transition how easy is it?

Career Transition Services are talked about but what do they do?

For many it is a re-branding of outplacement services where candidates or their soon to be ex-employer are charged for strategic help in re-targeting the candidate in a new career.The fee which is large is charged up front on a credit card or to the corporate body and may be as much as £10,000 per person.This support is often too academic and not direct enough

Candidates in Career Transition need direct tactical support-factualand actual help!

If you are wishing to move from the public sector to the private sector? Want to find contract work or a job quickly? How to you make use of a support package without an upfront fee? You approach an organisation that makes its money through contracting you on a margin or one that charges training fees but with a no job no fee guarantee!Or a least a  more reasonable fee below several thousand pounds.

Whether you wish to move from Permanent employment to Contract Engagement, from overseas to the UK ,from the Public Sector to the private sector  or simply change industries moving into the contract market is usually the  best way to achieve your goal! You will often receive many good reasons why you shouldn’t however, organisations such as BITE  (contract) and Career Practice (permanent) offer a range of Transition services  to help you succeed and secure  a contract quickly.

Without Industry experience most CV's are never considered, you need to maximise the opportunity of your CV being selected by clients! How?

Via Personal Branding and Clever Contract marketing gaining access to the hidden job market!

With your chosen company you need to:

• Obtain a consultation with your chosen  career coach to establish your personal brand –who and what you are in the market
• Identify the right key words or long tail words to optimise your brand
• Produce your CV and place your details on the Contractors availability list.
• Advertise you on CV on sites like www.getitstaff.com   or www.getacontractor.co.uk
• Network your availability through our contractor work force into the unadvertised job market
• Generally advertise your services in the UK contract market place.
• Build awareness of your availability on the Internet by expressing this each day in Groups and through a Social Network  Marketing and P.R plan as well as via Mailing Lists.
• Leverage your brand in the Social and Professional networking arena via a one stop shop marketing specialist
• You need access to a exclusive specialist job search database and specialist leads client databases
• You need membership of contractors and job seeker network group with its network jobs and opportunities

Try to avoid the COSTLY INITIAL mistakes everyone makes by engaging professional help immediately and not after you have failed or had a tough time of things. Help to ensure you are successful in the UK marketplace with professional support and ask how long they have been in business.Look for a specialist that knows the UK market and helps you  quickly, ensuring clients and agents quickly start calling you with potential contracts or jobs!