Contractors feel puzzled of the UK job market

In a very interesting post shared on a popular LinkedIn group called IT Contractors and Jobs UK by one of the Contractors had stated, “I am really puzzled of UK job market recently”.

Contractors feel that the UK job market, be it permanent or contract, has slowed down massively and they don’t seem to find the reason for it.

With other contractors echoing the same sentiment, the UK job market situation has changed in the past 12 months. At first, they believed Easter budget to be the reason, and their problems seems to have doubled up, post Brexit.

There is a cloud of uncertainties post the EU referendum and the financial markets trickling down.

These uncertainties have forced Contractors to look for employment opportunities outside the UK, specifically in the EU. It needs to be seen as to how contractors from the UK will be looked up and treated by the European Union (EU). It won’t be easy for contractors, especially when they don’t have enough time to settle down.

It is not just Contractors, but also some of the recruitment agencies, who feel that the last 12 months have been the quietest ones. It is also believed that not all the advertised jobs are real, and that agencies and companies are building their CV database by advertising fake jobs.

One of the Contractor Iain Scobbie says, “I am experiencing the same thing. I had one design role, for 3 weeks, in February. That's the only work I've had since December. I have noticed a largerlarger number of SC roles though.”

While Masroor Mirza Mughal, a contractor working in the USA says that the market is slow in the US as well, since oil and gas industry going down.

Rita Lockley, a Contractor who lives in Shropshire says, “In the area I live one of the lowest paid counties, there are constantly loads of recruitment agencies all advertising the same job week in week out, mainly care assistant jobs, there is nothing else at all this year, in fact since late last year. All the business areas have gone quiet to.”

While some blame the changing situations in the UK and some feel that their jobs have gone (outsourced) elsewhere. Alex Levy states, “Nothing to do with the EU. Much of the work has simply gone elsewhere. The Indian outsource body shops are now using Indian recruitment agencies, many with European phone numbers that actually reroute the call back to India. I am not going to comment on the corporate greed, stupidity and short sightedness that has led to this. To survive in this new ecosystem, you either need to be somebody managerial, or do something highly specialised or niche. And you have to stay ahead of the game. For my part, I've had enough of it and plan to retire in the next 5 years.”

On the flip side, one of the Contractor based in France mentioned, “Wandering about the Brexit impact on applications from French nationals looking at the uncertainty of work permit changes! it was pretty slow and I'm afraid it is not going to be better now:(”

Many contracts have been pulled back / put on hold by blue chip companies and are probably waiting for the cloud of uncertainties to clear up, before they can go full fledge hiring.

It’s not all that is negative, many Contractors feel that this is nothing but scaremongering and that, there are the jobs in the market; you need to have any eye for it and the skills to match the job. They also believe that the UK job market scenario will change post election and Brexit (the real exit).