Job offer - sounding a bit suspicious

[Philtor]

So I registered myself on some random job site a while back when I had a few cold one's in me and forgot all about it. The I get a missed call from a company and email today. Now this seems a rather nice opportunity (If I lived in England, but what do you make of it?). The subject line in the email states 'contract'.

******************************************
Hi

Hope you are well.

Are you available for work at the moment,

I have a field based role available in London and South east.

It is a 6-8 week contract with possible extension.

The daily pay rate is £130 per day and 25p per mile.

Is this something you will be interested in?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Many thanks

Name removed
IT Resourcer
******************************************

£130 per day? How does this work? If you lived in the London or South East area would you go for this?

I probably would, hence my post

 

[--Mike--]

Available for wok!?

 

[Scythe]

£130 a day isn't bad if it's a skilled role. The informality of the message raises suspicion with me however.

 

[Beerbaron]

Its contracting. £130 is an acceptable amount but the job spec doesnt say what the role involves.

 

[Derek W]

Available for wok!?

chinese retaurant chef. travel to and from the cash and carry

 

[Amp34]

I assume it would depend on what the job was? Most contractors will work for a daily rate, with the day being set by contractor and company (usually about 8). Mileage would imply driving to multiple locations. Doesn't sound dodgy in itself at all, other than the lack of detail on what you would be doing!

 

[Philtor]

I just seen the email said 'wok' so I edited my original post lol!

 

[Philtor]

I might end up troubleshooting a computerised ordering system that is intended for Chinese restaurants here guys (in London) lol! I had no idea contracting can get this sort of $$. I'm in the wrong job!!!

 

[A2Z]

Whats suspicious about it? Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[Hades]

The rate seems a bit low depending on what the role is. But I sometimes get similar approaches.

 

[Haircut]

£130 a day contract in London is scraping the bottom of the barrel for anything with any vague sort of skill.

 

[Philtor]

I have never looked at any sort of IT contracting work before. That sort of money is decent and something I would be willing to pursue. Given the area however it would not be feasible. London is mental money as we all know

 

[kindai]

Why not follow up and find out more?

 

[Haircut]

I have never looked at any sort of IT contracting work before. That sort of money is decent and something I would be willing to pursue. Given the area however it would not be feasible. London is mental money as we all know

It's really not decent.

Assuming 230 working days a year it works out to under £30K. This particular role mentions 6-8 weeks work so if you're looking at contracts for this length of time you'll be on the bench for fair portions on time so you probably won't work this number of days a year.
You will get no benefits, pension, healthcare and that sort of stuff usually amounts to a few £k per year and if it's central London you can get first line support roles that pay £20k.

For a contract to be worthwhile the rule of thumb I use these days is that it needs to pay more in 150 working days than the equivalent permanent role pays in annual salary (and this is contracts that are advertised as 6-12 months of work)
This role would then equate to a permanent role of £19.5k.

 

[Philtor]

Why not follow up and find out more?

I think I will. My background is in this sort of thing having worked for Hp for 10 years but had to train and start doing a different job having been made redundant. I want to get back to doing what I enjoy and it would appear there are more opportunities in England than I will ever see here (unless Belfast).

 

[Philtor]

It's really not decent.

Assuming 230 working days a year it works out to under £30K. This particular role mentions 6-8 weeks work so if you're looking at contracts for this length of time you'll be on the bench for fair portions on time so you probably won't work this number of days a year.

You will get no benefits, pension, healthcare and that sort of stuff usually amounts to a few £k per year and if it's central London you can get first line support roles that pay £20k.

For a contract to be worthwhile the rule of thumb I use these days is that it needs to pay more in 150 working days than the equivalent permanent role pays in annual salary (and this is contracts that are advertised as 6-12 months of work)

This role would then equate to a permanent role of £19.5k.

Thanks for your input. When you put it like that I realise it's not such a good offer.

 

[Mr-White]

Reply to the email requesting further information

MW

 

[Philtor]

Reply to the email requesting further information

MW

I think I will. It's a little too vague for my liking and hence my post. Thanks for all the comments guys

Has given me a lot to think about as I'm ****** off with my current job. Dealing with mortgages and people in arrears is not something I set out to do in life and I want to get back on track

 

[httk]

If you're in a job already then leaving it for this doesn't seem like a great idea, however from what you've said, you should clearly use this as the impetus to find something else that's better than your current job and this one.

 

[jionu]

As a man who's been to fake interviews before I would proceed with caution, do some research about the company that's contacted you and as others have said ask for more information. Dependant upon the role/level of skill/amount of experience they want the role could be decently or potentially under paid.