Finding contract work
Most contracts are still obtained via agents, although increasingly contractors and freelancers are relying on the internet or personal contacts to find work. We suggest you focus on three methods of search:
- Recruitment Agents
- Internet
- Networking
Recruitment Agents
Unless you are good at sales it will be advantageous to use the services of Recruitment Agents. However, you need to be aware that the Recruitment Agents themselves get paid based on their own margins, and as such might not always have your best interests at heart. Their target is to place as many contractors as possible with the best margin they can obtain. So remember to negotiate and do not accept their first offer!
Internet
The Internet is a great medium to use for job hunting - a wide number of search engines will provide you with access to the majority of contract vacancies on offer at any given time. Type in the type of work you are looking for and the location, and then scan the results for roles you are interested in.
Most contractor and freelance work is advertised on the internet through a vast variety of job sites. There are a number of generic job boards (such as, Monster, Guardian Unlimited, CWJobs, Jobsite UK, and Totaljobs), as well as sector-specific sites (for example the most popular IT site is Jobserve) that you can sign up to and usually you are able to register your CV with the site. You will also find a wealth of niche contract sites for financial services, engineering, journalism, legal, sales and distribution, although we'd recommend going to the major sites first as they tend to offer the widest range of roles per search.
Networking
Networking is usually the best and cheapest way of finding a new contract so always remember to keep in touch with former colleagues and contacts. There are online network services that can help you (such as Linkedin) build yourself a good network that will be invaluable each time you need to find a new contract. Remember to include agencies in your network a good agency relationships can be invaluable. Contractors who adopt an 'us and them' attitude are shooting themselves in the foot by missing out on the advantages of building successful relationships with their suppliers. Agents and contractors can and should build mutually rewarding business relationships.