Contractors keen to learn insights into how to beat the current economic downturn can get answers later this month from Dave Chaplin, ContractorCalculator CEO and author of the new Contractors’ Handbook.
Chaplin, who successfully survived the dotcom crash and other recessions, will address an audience of contractors on ‘Surviving and thriving as a contractor through the recession’ at an event on 30th April in London, hosted by employment benefits company Tarpon.
“It’s not the best contractors who win contracts,” explains Chaplin. “It’s the contractors who are best at winning contracts who get all the plum ones when times get tough. So being a successful contractor means more than just having good technical skills.”
Contractor skills
In a fact-packed 30-minute presentation, followed by a question and answer session, Chaplin plans to cover the key ‘contractor skills’ that every successful contractor needs to stay at the top. Or, at the very least, to stay in work.
To ensure success, contractors need to understand the sales cycle, know when to time their contract moves and where to find the plum contracts
Dave Chaplin, ContractorCalculator
“To ensure success, contractors need to understand the sales cycle, know when to time their contract moves and where to find the plum contracts,” continues Chaplin. “Once they’ve found a suitable contract opportunity, it’s up to the contractors to convert this into a paid contract by having a killer CV, winning interview skills and through faultless negotiation.”
Contractors will have the opportunity to learn from Chaplin first-hand the tactics he employed during the dotcom crash to stay on top when all around others were heading for permanent jobs or the dole, and also when it can work in a contractor’s favour to take a break.
It’s not what you know, its who
“The power of personal networks should never be underestimated, and networking is just another weapon in the successful contractor’s sales armoury,” says Chaplin. “Contractors don’t have colleagues in the traditional sense of the word, so building up a personal network is vital, especially when contracts are hard to find.”
According to Minesh Gandhi, Marketing and New Media Manager at Tarpon, the 30th April event is an opportunity to do just that. “It is one of a series we run on a monthly basis to bring contractors together to share skills, experience and to network.
“Meeting other contractors can boost morale hugely, particularly for those contractors that work on many short term contracts and have little time to develop relationships,” continues Gandhi. “And contractors at the 30th April event will also have an opportunity to learn from Dave Chaplin, an acknowledged master contractor.”
Meeting other contractors can boost morale hugely, particularly for those contractors that work on many short term contracts and have little time to develop relationships
Minesh Gandhi, Tarpon
‘Portable’ skills sets
Contractors know that, by definition, their success is down to their portable skills, knowledge and experience, which can be used in different end-user client organisations as they move from contract to contract.
Chaplin highlights that contractor skills are no different: “Those contractors that learn to tailor and target their CV and interview techniques to the needs of individual clients will clean up on contracts.”
Dave Chaplin is a former IT contractor in the City of London, and is founder and CEO of ContractorCalculator, and author of the Contractors' Handbook.
Started in 1999, ContractorCalculator (this site) is the leading independent website for the UK contracting industry – most of whom are highly skilled knowledge workers.
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Chaplin’s book, the Contractors’ Handbook, which is packed with information and advice on key contractor skills, will also be available for contractors to flick through at the event.
For more information and to register for this free event, visit Tarpon’s event page.
Published: Monday, April 20, 2009
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