No work for a year in London

[Winterlit]

I’ve name-changed for this post.

My husband and I have found ourselves without work for a year while raising two kids in London. We’ve had a string of unpredictable events that depleted our savings in the 3 years before. So, we only had savings for 3 months plus I had made some small investments that I could liquidate. Since then we’ve used credit cards and taken out 2 loans.

We thought it may take us 6 months at the most to find work! We work in tech as freelance contractors (for over 15 years) and all contract work has dried up. A couple of small freelance jobs almost went through but got cancelled last minute. We’re very proactive people and as such have applied to permanent jobs as well as working on a tech product for which we are applying for investment for.

We have had so many contract jobs, permanent jobs and investment rejections - in the hundreds! - over the last 12 months. Moving to a cheaper city is a last resort option I’ve thought about but changing the kids schools + home is not something I want to do. Especially as one of them is in secondary.

I have this feeling that perhaps we’re too experienced to be hired?! Perhaps most of the tech hiring is happening at junior levels. I say this as we know many others in their mid 40s also out of work for 6 months + in London.

I’m not sure why I am posting! Maybe to hear a hopeful story or ideas on how to get out of this mini crisis for our little family.

As a side I had a fairly emotionally and possibly physically traumatic childhood and have been working / self-sufficient since I was 16. My partner has also been working since a young age. We worked many jobs to pay our way through uni. We got together young and supported each other a lot in our careers.

I feel bad complaining as we have our health, our two lovely children and live in a fairly stable country. Apart from the recent riots! We’re both UK born ethnic minorities so it’s close to home. Anyway, that’s a digressions. Essentially, financially this last year has been a lot!

We’ve cut back on many expenses and are living quite frugally with a small mortgage on our tiny London flat. Our biggest expenses are school fees and we’ve given ourselves another academic year to see if we need to change to state school.

My husband and I feel even stronger as a unit through all of this which has taken me by surprise as it’s quite a testing time. We’ve had some issues in the past and had couples therapy a while back which was very helpful. We’ve also always actively worked on our relationship since the beginning which I feel is helping us now.

A bit of long winey post but I guess I am so ready for some tailwind! 🤞 🍀

er, she says no job for 12 months in London and it took many pp incl me to point out she may need to look outside London etc.

as for me, it is relevant as that's pretty much all I could bring to the debate. I don't know her sector etc.

but I think you are probably looking for something else, so will leave you to it.

12 months in London, yes, but there must be more employers with that type of work in such a big city. They have had many interviews, but yet no offer - this suggests there is something that employers are put off by - and employers elsewhere may be likewise.

“this suggests there is something that employers are put off by - and employers elsewhere may be likewise“

Spot on - I think employers are put off by us. The last 20 + years of our working lives were probably a fluke and not just companies in London, but globally will find us not employable.

That could be the case, did you get in to it by a non conventional sideways route / fall into the work? Since then are there people coming through with say a masters in the discipline and that has now become the defacto criteria for offering a job?

@Education79 my partner has a computer science degree and I have an undergrad in design and an MBA.

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘fall’ into work. I actively applied myself with studying plus internships followed by work experience. I don’t think I have ever fallen into it!

Think your husband could do with a change in direction , we currently pay our building site labourers £150 + per day with 254 working days in 2024 that would equal £30,480 a year after tax

Starting your own business- with that much experience- sounds like a plan too. As suggested previously many times on this thread; and in many different ways.

Starting somewhere, anywhere is the answer!

20 years of contracting at high level by your DH- where has all his money gone?! He must have made a couple of millions. No?

You have good hard skills for starting and running your own business, or finding someone to run their business for them.

also, with 20 years of contracting, as pp have said, you need to go back to your contacts and see what comes up. None of you can find an ex colleague to start a business with?!

I now also see the relevance of continuing private school fees that others have strongly advised against- I couldn’t see it then. Which is, your DH needs that money now to really leverage his contacts, ideas etc. I am afraid, I was personally able to move up or sideways because my finances were solid and not being eaten up by private school fees I couldn’t afford. Your DH must be under so much financial pressure now which, I am sorry to say, will be a negative at the time he needs his brilliant mind to focus on a solution. I don’t envy you! What does DH say about private school fees at the moment? I hope it’s not only you who made that decision.

@pleasantgreenery he started out in permanent jobs as you need some experience to start contracting. We both had student debt to pay off too. I also started out in permanent jobs before going freelance due to redundancy. Other than school fees we don’t have a lavish lifestyle. No car, 1 holiday abroad every 2 - 3 years.

When you get paid as a contractor you are also liable for your own pension, tech equipment, sick days and holidays. It works out to be only slightly better financially than a permanent job.

Ok. Thank you for giving more info.

i so wish you had someone irl who can give you guys good advice which will lead to an immediate solution. You desperately need that!

OP, you're not unemployable. As mentioned earlier IT has always had significant boom/bust cycles but also, ageism. This makes things difficult for permies but more so for contractors.
Also, if most of your work so far has centred around working on 'cutting edge'/ building new stuff/project work. You lack the experience for the daily running, 'keep the lights on with skeleton staff' sorts of jobs that will mainly be recruiting now. Building and handing something over is very different from running it and making operational improvements/new features - for a couple of years at least.

Have you spoken to any recruiters BTW? Or contacted any contract companies like CapGemini or IBM? The Big4 accounting firms' software development teams?

“What does DH say about private school fees at the moment? I hope it’s not only you who made that decision.”

It’s just me making the decisions. If he doesn’t obey I would walk out on him.

“I now also see the relevance of continuing private school fees that others have strongly advised against- I couldn’t see it then. Which is, your DH needs that money now to really leverage his contacts, ideas etc”

I’m glad you got it! Thats how we get all our jobs by paying school fees.

Can I assume you are both very active on linkedin?

@thesandwich we were for the first 8 months of searching. It didn’t yield much so we started to attend lots of in-person tech meet-ups these last two months. This yielded way more - 2 job interviews, meetings with 3 different investors and the 2 freelance gigs which fell through in the end. So we know what we need to do more of. We also learnt a lot from others by attending all these meetups.

Also adding OP most contractors I know, who do it for this long either have a history of multiple contracts with the same company or niche qualifications in the same industry. Like security clearance, or a niche in either legacy/extremely new tech.

By their early 40's most contractors go back to permanent jobs. Post 50 it gets harder and harder to find new contract roles. Also with IR35 the benefits of hiring contractors in place of permanent employees (as opposed to a genuine business need for short-term labour) is much lower.

How have you positioned yourself in permanent interviews - as someone really looking to leave contracting?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ContractorUK/comments/1atpx0r/it_contract_market_2024/

@OneCoolPearlOP you’re right about the contractor market. It was just bad timing for my husband as he was in a 2 year contract while the contracting market ground to a halt. So at the end of the two years there weren’t any contract jobs.

I am more of a generalist freelancer so it’s a bit different but also not much work around atm.

We are positioning ourselves as keen to switch to permanent roles. But our recent CV obviously doesn’t support that ambition.

Can you both not get a job in other area while applying for jobs within your field?

@bitesthedust we will do that.

Maybe we’re doing something wrong (I know I am as I spent all day replying to messages here!) but the job applications, investment applications and working on a project as both a backup option but to also learn & showcase new skills takes a lot of hours.

Best contribution on this thread. Looks like the whole market is quiet. Interest rate also cited as reason as it contributes to cost of borrowing to finances any projects, so that has been stopped.

Good luck op. Keep up the positivity!

Hi OP, I’m a bit surprised at the direction of this thread since this morning!
Given your DH’s skills and experience, and the fact he’s making the final two, I strongly believe it’s a question of time only. I don’t think LinkedIn is marvellous for job adverts as it’s mostly a CV harvesting exercise but equally I’ve seen posts from ex-colleagues saying “hi, I’m on the market looking for a permanent role as XYZ, also open to contract as a second option”. They’ve had some success as many people will hire a known quantity directly when they know someone is available.
As for you, you have more options in that you can reinvent yourself: teacher, lecturer, PMO outside tech, civil service or local authority technologist. The key is to have a CV to match each avenue, not one for all.
Someone mentioned security roles.. I think that’s dated information as I heard of someone who applied for a job that literally only 50 people in London can do of whom presumably mostly have other jobs - and over a hundred applied..
The market is just terrible so I hope you’re soon back on your feet. The main challenge you have is paying the school fees and as I said I’d try to address that assuming there is no rich grandma in the wings who can step in. I hear what you say about the racial issues you faced and am sorry to read it; however London is a very different place now with state schools very integrated and good.
Fingers crossed for you OP and hang in there.

because the two of them haven't had any income for a year?

But Mirabi's suggestion (and also my own) would enable them to earn 5 to 6 times that minimum wage with no effort and using their pre existing skillset, I understand holding out for what you want, but this is two people getting nowhere fast in 12 months. There is, presented here a better, more lucrative and flexible alternative to selling TVs in Currys for naff all.

They've earnt nothing.

Between two of them.

In a year.

They're going to have to pull their kids out of school.

These clearly aren't the most go-getting entrepeneurial people or they'd have already tried consulting etc.

So one of them needs to start bringing some money in on a temporary basis.

If your savings are below £6k you'll get the maximum job seekers amount. No it's not much, but it's better that nothing, better than taking out credit cards and running up debts. You have to cut your expenses to your income and live very frugally. It will be a huge shock to the system and a learning curve, if you're used to being a high earner.

Debt isn't the answer because if you can't pay for "it" today you can't pay "it" tomorrow with interest, either. I realize you thought the situation would be temporary and you'd be able to pay off the debt once employed again, but a year isn't all that temporary so your mindset needs to change now. You're not "between jobs" you're unemployed (I know, ouch) and you need to face reality and start acting like it.

I'd contact every recruitment agency you can find, accept temporary or permanent work, focus on transferrable skills. Take anything however short notice or inconvenient location. The agency will love you and put effort into finding you work. People who say no get dropped down the list of priorities. You want to be the first one they call when a job comes up. Let every company you do temp work for know you're looking for permanent work and ask about vacancies.

Dumb down your CV if possible so you don't look overqualified and like you'll move on ASAP, which will be putting people off hiring you. Come up with a plausible explanation/ reason for the year off, sell it like it was a lifestyle choice. "Nobody will employ me" doesn't sound good and however unfairly, prospective employers will start wondering what's wrong with you. Ditto for why you're looking for a different sort of work. "I can't get the work I want and am qualified for" doesn't scream of commitment to the new company/industry.

If you're a high flyer you'll be used to selling yourself to get a job. You still need to sell yourself, but you need to market yourself in a different way now.