The Hunt

The hunt for my next contract

It’s 7am. I promised myself an early start so I grudgingly slide out of bed, don my faithful – and slightly musty, it has to be said – dressing gown, and pad across the hall in my slippers to the study. The cold glow of the monitor suffices for light as my laptop boots and I quietly chew on a pencil.

First stop, the job boards…

Criteria. Contract jobs from the last 24 hours. Daily rate at least £300. Within 5 miles of Leeds. Keywords, Project Manager. Search.

There are currently 0 jobs matching your search criteria.

Oh, okay. Never mind, try again. Contract jobs from the last 2 days. Daily rate at least £280. Within 15 miles of Leeds. Keywords, Project Manager. Search.

There are currently 0 jobs matching your search criteria.

Oh, come on, seriously? Okay, okay, compromise. Would I rather have a well paid contract and a long commute, or a badly paid contract and a short commute? Winter approaching. Short commute?

Right. Criteria. Contract jobs from the last 5 days. Daily rate at least £240. Within 15 miles of Leeds. Keywords, Project Manager. Search.

There are currently 4 jobs matching your search criteria.

Okay, now we’re in business. Novell Technical Infrastructure Support. What? How is that a project manager role? Next. Infrastructure Engineer. Nope. Project Manager. Ah, perfect. PRINCE2 qualified? Tick. 5 years experience? Tick. SC cleared? Oh, nuts. Okay, don’t be disheartened, still one left. Programme Manager ERP.

ERP, ERP, ERP. Enterprise… something and something? Google. ERP. Search. Enterprise Resource Planning. Well, that’s absolutely fine. I’ve planned resources, that’s what a project manager does, after all; and I’ve planned resources for large companies which means I’ve had experience with Enterprise Resource Planning, surely? Oh, who am I kidding? I haven’t got a clue what ERP is, and if by some miracle I make it past the agent, it’ll only be a wasted interview.

Criteria. Contract jobs from the last 7 days. Daily rate of at least £200. Within 50 miles of Leeds. Keywords, Project Manager. Search.

Technical Project Manager – Datacentre Migration. My prestigious global client is in URGENT need of an experienced PRINCE2 qualified infrastructure project manager to plan and execute a Datacentre Migration. Salary £200 per day. Distance 50 miles. You must be available for IMMEDIATE interview.

Finally, I’ve found something, and it was only posted yesterday afternoon! Perfect! Okay, it’ll be a 100 mile round trip, that’ll be heavy on petrol, and the rate seems a bit low for a “prestigious client”, as well, but anyway, I should at least call the agent to find out a bit more about it.

“Hi, I’m calling about the Technical Project Manager role you’ve got advertised on… oh, right, it’s already gone? Can I send you my CV just in case anything else… oh, okay, no, that’s alright, I guess you must get a lot of… okay, yes, thanks, bye.”

Criteria. Permanent jobs from the last 24 hours. Annual salary… actually, no, you know what? I still prefer contracting.

Peter Roy is a freelance project manager and personal productivity trainer.

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