Sun, Sea, Sand or Success……?

As we are in the middle of the holiday season, I am quite interested in hearing people's thoughts on the effects that this period has on current projects. In my experience, there is usually a dip in the market place around mid July to the end of September, Easter and Christmas. Here at Sanderson we have seen a small slow down in the amount of contractors being hired in the testing space but nothing too dramatic.

As a recruiter, I would like to know what happens on projects during this period. Do managers make the decision to have a slow period where activity can take a break or do they hire short term contractors prior to the Summer to make allowances for permanent employees?

These questions also raises another issue. If you are a contractor when should you take holiday? I know there are a high number of variables such as school holidays and various others but should a contractor take time off during a contract, if it is initially only 3- 6 months of work?

What I am suggesting might be seen as a bit controversial, however there is method in my suggestions. I really am interested in hearing both sides of the argument. Over the last three months, over 80% off the requirements released have requested that the successful candidates have no planned time-off. If this is the common thought throughout the market, I would like my team to be educating our future contractor population on this matter thus giving them the best opportunity of successfully obtaining the best contracts.

All views welcome!

Mark