Dave Chaplin, CEO, ContractorCalculator:
I’m just old enough to remember the last recession in the early 90s. And I was contracting when the dot com bubble burst at the beginning of the noughties. In both cases here’s what happened:
The contractors who secured the best contracts (or any contract for that matter!) weren’t always the ones that were most qualified for those contracts. The ones who secured them were the contractors who knew best about how to secure a contract.
The lesson is clear – being good at what you do is just the start. Because even if you’re the best software developer or engineering guru in the world, if you can’t find contracts, sell yourself well and negotiate a decent deal then you will struggle.
Before you start looking for your next contract, you can safely assume:
- There will be hundreds of other contractors’ CVs on the agent’s desk, all of them suitable for the contracts you want to win
- There will be better qualified contractors than you going for the same contract.
So, with those less than comforting thoughts in mind, think about these:
Your curriculum vitae (CV)
Generalised CVs simply won’t stand out – so target your curriculum vitae at each position like a heat-seeking missile. This is not the time to hide your light under a bushel and offer the agent/client your ‘sweetie jar’ of skills to pick from – spell it out in a tailored curriculum vitae that precisely addresses the requirements of each contract. And if you get offered an interview, ask the agent if you should tailor your CV even more.
Chase those leads
Get on the blower – glue your phone to your ear and never, ever let your mobile battery run flat. Agents and clients are getting hundreds (yes, really hundreds) of CVs from anxious contractors and your curriculum vitae is likely to stay in the ‘reject CVs’ pile if you don’t call to follow up on every contract application you make.
Say the magic words
Agents, who control an estimated 80-90% of all contracts, want bums on seats and an easy life. To help them, try these magic words after they’ve seen your curriculum vitae and you’ve said “I can do the job”:
- “I interview really well and if you put me forward we could both be on to a winner”
- “I really want this contract and have no other offers or interviews lined up at this time”
- “Help me get this position and I can help you by passing on leads and the names of my past client contacts”.
There are still loads of contracts out there. Just make sure your curriculum vitae and your approach to sales and marketing (with you as the ‘product’) work so well that you win all the contracts you want!