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Jumping head-first into Contracting – how easy is it?

19th April 2018

Article written by:

Chris from iContract

With the recent great weather we’ve had, you might be dreaming of early finishes and heading down to your local beer garden to soak up the sunshine. But alas, you’re stuck confined within the four walls of your office.

You’re then dreaming of enjoying the freedom and flexibility that can come with contracting. The freedom to make your own choices and experience the positive work-life balance that you’ve always yearned for.

Contracting to many might seem a lot of hassle. The sheer admin burden you’ll have to deal with eventually; managing your own accounts and arranging insurance cover – is enough to put people off making that first step. But there’s nothing to stop you diving in as a contractor first thing tomorrow. All you need is a few things…

E-mail address

Your main point of contact and a way for you to exchange information. And an initial piece of information you need to register for an iContract account. When signing up for iContract, all you need to get started is an e-mail address and a password and you’re on your way to having a contractor profile on iContract and connecting with fellow peers, recruiters and employers, and applying for the many contract jobs that are regularly posted.

A phone

Another important point of contact that enables you to exchange information, and generally speed up the process of any application for a contract you’re engaged in. With you working as a contractor, and life being so on the go most of the time, iContract is a mobile responsive platform and later this year will also be releasing its mobile app that will make working life as a contractor even easier!

A C.V

A C.V. is an important document that carries all your employment experience, skill-set and qualifications. It is essentially you as a worker on a piece of paper, and markets your services to prospective employers.

Once you have set up your initial contractor profile on iContract, you can enhance and update it through the platform’s CV import tool. Simply upload your CV through the importer and your information will be transferred over to your iContract profile.

A Skill

Contractors are hired for their unique ability to be parachuted into a job and hit the ground running on a project because they have a particular skill. Unlike working in a full time role, contracting isn’t something that you can grow into as employers hiring contractors want more immediate results.

With this it’s ideal that you have a skill that highlights your individual expertise as a contractor. Perhaps your skilled in things like compliance, business analysis, programme management, GDPR, front end development, and information security – these are all in demand skill-sets that employers hiring contractors are after.

iContract has a skills based algorithm so any skills you enter into your contractor profile will generate recommended contracts that are looking for that particular skill.

Day Rate

Like with any job, whether permanent or contract, the hiring manager has a budget to work with when employing someone. For a contract role, a day rate of what the contractor hired will be paid will be set, however there is room for negotiation in this in some cases.

Marketing yourself as a contractor, you’ll need to decide what your day rate is. It’s important to do some research when setting it and see what a sensible day rate is that neither oversells or undersells your services.

By entering your day rate into your contractor profile on iContract, you’ll also receive recommendations for contracts based on these rates.


It’s never been more easier to start as a contractor. You could start as early as tomorrow – start your journey by registering with iContract for free at www.icontract.co.uk and join our growing contractor community.