Are there any project mgmt/admin contractors out there?

[bunjies]

I've been out of the salaried work for 3 years having emigrated to France with dh and dcs. As much as I love being here I need to start earning money again. The trouble is my career gap. Before we left I was a project delivery team manager for a local authority and would like to be able to get work in this field again but on a short term temp contract basis. I have applied for a few jobs through jobsite.co.uk but so far without any success.

Can anyone recommend any recruitment agencies in the London area that deal specifically with these kinds of job? Also, has anyone been in a similar position re taking a career break then going back to work via contracting?

[div22c]

Among the various others, you could try the NHS careers page. After doing a search on the jobs that are already listed, you could set up a 'jobs by email' (so you keep getting regular mails about new roles posted). They do usually ask for some sort of project management qualification though, if you haven't already got one, it may be an idea to enrol. That way you can show on your CV that you have recently re-skilled yourself. Good luck!

[bunjies]

Thanks for the tip div22c.

[GruffaloMama]

Hi - I have used Arras people for project manager recruitment - both temp and perm. Good luck!

[gallery]

project management key sought after area. Make sure you get basic level PM qualification. APM do one at level 1, it is a weeks course plus exam. Well worth doing. You can make sure you are talking correct language. Constuction industry desperate for good PMs. Can you manage a programme, cash forecast aseess risk, know what SPI CPI means, use measures to demonstrate project sucess? I would look at big construction jobs like olympics in London and see who is working on them.

[mumofjemima]

Try Campion Wilcox for more senior project managers and programme managers, otherwise Hayes for basic project management in financial industry. Try contacting your target industry players and find out who their preferred suppliers are. e.g. I work for Barclays and our temporary resourcing people would be able to tell you who our preferred agencies are (I know it always goes out to Hayes first if i'm looking for a PM and then to wider group of agencies after that). Also, you must have project management qualifications e.g. Prince2 really esp, if you've been out of work for a while. Be prepared that there are a million and one project managers at the moment being made redundant so be prepared to take any job you get offered, one probably you think is 'below you' to get recent experience and accept that rates will be low.

[bunjies]

Hi, thanks for the recent replies. I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond but I actually managed to get a job!! One of the agencies I applied for a post with through jobsite contacted me about another post with my parents local authority which was a stroke of luck. I ended up having a telephone interview and started work on 1st Sept. It's not as much per hour as I was hoping for but as mumofjemima says in this climate I need to be realistic about what I can earn. However, now that I will have this job under my belt hopefully I will have more success. I've thought about Prince2 training but it costs £1500 and I would have to pay for this myself, something that is completely impossible at the moment.

I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what those acronyms mean but then again I'm not looking to work in the construction industry. Public sector is more my thing.