I know we have Zeb that is in the UK and has had a different experience, but I don't know a single contractor that has walked from one contract and into the next straight away. Maybe its in different branches of IT and so produces different results but my colleagues have always said to expect some "downtime" between work, and they found that even when things were hotter in the market place than they are now.

Another thought I just had, and I don't know whether this is UK/US division or 2nd-line/something-else division, but most agents don't seem to be interested in lining up work for people unless they are available (ie, current contract ending) within a week, or so. Even though there tends to be a couple of week gap before you start work again - you would have thought lead-time for the agent/client would be great, but there seems to be this discrepancy that exists.

You've been on the forum for a while.
It's pretty much most of what we do...

I'm not sure there is a US/UK discrepancy. I don't speak from personal experience on this, as I have only taken contracts that led to eventual full-time employment. But if I were ever in a situation where my contract were to expire in two months, I'd be going to the employer to find out if they were interested in extending the contract. If not, I'd start the search that day. Doesn't matter where I live!

As others stated earlier, a gap of a month isn't going to be a big deal: your CV will list one job in March and another in April, for example. In those cases, there's no real "gap" to explain - it looks contiguous.

True, some agents aren't going to want to wait. Check this story out... I sent my resume to a recruiter about 10 years ago. He called me up and said he had a network admin job available and it starts tomorrow. I didn't want to burn any bridges (IT's an awfully tight-knit community), so I wanted to give my current employer a two-week notice. So I politely declined the job opportunity, informing the recruiter of my intention to give prior notice before taking other employment. He calls back the next day with a different "starts tomorrow" job, which I again declined. After calling back the THIRD day in a row, I asked him, "What part of 'two-week notice' do you not understand?"

He didn't call back.

Ever since then, I haven't relied on an agency to find me work. I find me work. And that plan hasn't failed me yet! ;)

As far as contract extensions go, if you're lucky you may hear 3-4 weeks before the end of your current contract if it's going to be extended, normally it's the week you're going to leave. I have even had it where I have been offsite for 2 weeks and been asked to come back. My current contract was extended on word of mouth, my extension paperwork turning up after I had started it.

In the UK contract market and I am speaking generally here, if you aren't ready to move within a week or 2 at a push you can forget it, as for looking for a job 2 months before the end of a current contract?? simply forget it, there isn't an agent or company around that will wait 2 months for you to finish that job, I don't care how good you are there will be someone else around that will take that position away from you.

Now as far as travelling for a position, gone are the days where I can take a job 200 miles away from where I live, I have roots that I have planted (I own the house, I have a small child, I have a wife who also works) so I have to be more choosy in where I get my next positions. Gone are the days where I can leave the country at 10 days notice (and I did and that's how I met my wife).

I would definitely suggest that if given the chance everyone should work abroad, I am lucky that I travelled with the Army so it wasn't completely new to me, moving to a country where you have no ties and perhaps don't speak the language is definitely character building tho

We met in Luxembourg, she is actually Hungarian tho.

It's lovely over there , definitely worth visiting, however the wife will never go back to live there (way too corrupt apparently).

Are you saying you're not happy living in Europe's City of Culture? (whatever that gimmick means )

Glad to see this thread turn into a friendly thread as it should be cheerion and well done all.

I seem to get those calls all the time at the moment, favourite was the call when they asked if there was any flexibility possible in my 4 week notice period.... No. Why would I have said I HAVE to give 4 weeks notice if I was available to start next week?

The worrying bit was how desperate the poor woman sounded, with the number of unemployed in this country she can't have been short of candidates surely?


Oh and Wizard......
















AWOOGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^ thing is though, when you take your contract, there is always a notice period attached, which you will then tell a potential employer at interview etc. But there is always scope for it to be better for both sides if the notice period is reduced. That will be why teh recruiter will have asked if there is flexibility in it.

Last time I handed in my notice, I actually increased my notice period. Contract stated 1 week, I gave 3. The new employer would have liked just the 1 week, but I wanted to give my employer a fighting chance at getting the work covered before I left.

That said, I was contracted to 1 week notice, so if the new employer had kicked off about it, I would have gone with that.

How about a 17 year gap? This person managed to secure an interview(how? why?), and got accepted for the job.