Before signing any contract we would recommend that you read it thoroughly first and if necessary take proper advice from a solicitor or a relevant body such as the Professional Contractors Group with expertise in the relevant area. That said to get you started we have listed the top 5 things we believe that as a contractor you should be looking out for in a new contract. Some of these points are common sense and some refer to what makes a contract IR35 friendly or not.  

1. Right of substitution – does the contract give you the right to substitute someone else who is capabale of fulfilling the role in your place? If the answer is no then this would require further exploration.

2. Control - does the contract imply you are under the direct control of the client or does it suggest flexibility in your working arrangements which would indicate you are working as a consultant rather than a paid employee which is one indicator that you may fall under IR35. 

3. Hours you are working – are you being paid by the hour or is your working time stated in the contract as being a professional working day? The latter is more IR35 friendly.

4. The level of insurance you are required to have on acceptance of the contract. This can vary depending on the nature of your role and whilst the chances of you needing to claim may be small there have been some high profile instances where contractors have been sued and for the sake of a few hundred pounds to avoid potential bankruptcy is good value.

5. Opt-out or opt-in form – as a contractor you shuold have the option to opt-in or opt-out of EAA regulations. This is an in-depth subject and we would recommend you read up on this at contractor UK.

If you have found this article valuable then you may be interested to read some of our other job seeker help guides.

Furthermore Chase Zander is entering the 2010 annual awards for ‘Best Small Recruitment Company Website of the Year’ with NORAS and we would really appreciate your nomination to help us win this prestigious award so click here to nominate us – it only takes a few seconds!

1. Chase Zander would always suggest that you have your next job lined up with contracts signed before you resign but sometimes that might not be possible but at the very least get yourself as far down the process as possible

2. If you haven’t got your next role lined up then do consider your finances and try to reduce your out-goings if need be to allow for a reasonable period (and over-estimate this to be safe) to find the job you want

3. What sort of reference would you like your current employers to give on your behalf? How you resign and act in your notice period can be the abiding memory people at your company have of you so act in good faith

4. Write a list of the things that you have liked and disliked in your career to date as this will help you define what you want in your next role. Also consider what your absolute ideal role would entail and consider whether you are qualified to get a job like that?

5. Consider the overall direction you want to take your career in and why. Don’t just take ‘another’ job unless circumstances force you to. Research shows that the most successful people tend to have a clear long term career plan. Follow both your head and your heart!

6. Touch base with all of your industry contacts and colleagues as early as you can before you resign. Ideally do this regularly as a matter of course and not just when you are desperate for a job. Well connected people normally find a job more easily and can reference possible companies more easily to help them find the right cultural fit. A personal recommendation is also a great way to join a company

7. Depending on the sensitivity / nature of your role be prepared that your employer may ask you to leave immediately so ensure that you have contact details for your colleagues or other key contacts who may be useful in your job search

8. Update your CV and start applying for jobs and send it to the relevant agencies in your field as soon as you canGet some interview practice under your belt even if it is just with a friend or your partner so that you are ready to interview for the job you really want!

9. Get some interview practice under your belt even if it is just with a friend or your partner so that you are ready to interview for the job you really want!

10. Remember leaving your employer without a definite job to go to can end up being an expensive exercise and leave a gap on your CV which is awkward to explain if you don’t secure something relatively quickly so do as much as you can before you leave to move towards securing that new position!

If you have found this article valuable then you may be interested to read some of our other job seeker help guides.

Furthermore Chase Zander is entering the 2010 annual awards for ‘Best Small Recruitment Company Website of the Year’ with NORAS and we would really appreciate your nomination to help us win this prestigious award so click here to nominate us – it only takes a few seconds!

1. Write a list of the things that you have liked and disliked in your career to date as this will help you define what you want in your next role. Also consider what your absolute ideal role would entail?

2. Consider whether you are qualified to get a job like that and if not what sort of training or additional experience you need to get first? Then create a plan of action to get you there. It may be that your ideal role is a step too far in which case look for a role which will offer you the right training and progression to achieve it.

3. Consider the overall direction you want to take your career in and why. Don’t just take ‘another’ job unless circumstances force you to. Research shows that the most successful people tend to have a clear long term career plan. Follow both your head and your heart!

4. Touch base with all of your industry contacts and colleagues as early as you can before you resign. Ideally do this regularly as a matter of course and not just when you are desperate for a job. Well connected people normally find a job more easily and can reference possible companies more easily to help them find the right cultural fit. A personal recommendation is also a great way to join a company

5. Update your CV and get it proof-read by several people including a specialist recruiter in your field and incorporate all feedback to make it the strongest possible tool to sell you for the role you want

6. Start applying for the type of jobs you are interested in and gauge feedback on your CV relative to your competitors. Do what you can to differentiate yourself positively

7. Send your CV to the reputable and relevant agencies in your field and articulate what you are ideally looking for ideally in the CV itself as cover letters often get separated.

8. Consider posting your CV to relevant job boards as this is a great way to let jobs find you. Be aware however that your current employer’s recruitment team may use these boards to find new recruits so it may pay to disguise your current employer etc.

9. Set yourself up for job alerts on the relevant job boards and websites of the leading recruitment agencies in your field.

10. Get some interview practice under your belt even if it is just with a friend or your partner so that you are ready to interview for the job you really want!

Good luck and feel free to contact the team at Chase Zander if you want any further tips or advice on what to consider when starting your search for a new job.

If you have found this article valuable then you may be interested to read some of our other job seeker help guides.

Furthermore Chase Zander is entering the 2010 annual awards for ‘Best Small Recruitment Company Website of the Year’ with NORAS and we would really appreciate your nomination to help us win this prestigious award so click here to nominate us – it only takes a few seconds!

We want to create a vibrant and interactive online community to reflect our real world one and we see Facebook as one of the main elements of our strategy to achieve this.

You can find a mini photographic history of Chase Zander online and see how the company, team and locations have developed and changed over the years to make us what we are today – “an outstanding and successful recruitment business with our brand values at the heart of what we do.” We will continue to post updates on the company to Facebook and tell you what’s new to keep you up to date.

We want to hear from our clients and candidates on this forum and Facebook offers an easily accessible vehicle to do this and we hope will complement Feefo, the independent customer feedback company, to let you tell us how we’re doing, what you would like to see more of and what you love about Chase Zander.

Further to that we will be posting all of our new jobs onto Facebook direct from our website so it offers people an alternative way to find their next role which might just be easier to do in an office environment than trawling through job boards.

To join our Facebook community, to see what’s happening at Chase Zander and to keep up to date with all the roles we are recruiting for click here. Alternatively, you can simply click on the Facebook icon in the footer of the new Chase Zander website  to follow us on Facebook.

Our intention is to post short pieces of information onto Twitter designed to add value to and provide useful information to our clients, candidates and potential employees helping them all achieve their goals in the most efficient way possible and thereby helping us achieve our business goals.

We are also keen to add tweets on the state of the recruitment market, on hiring trends, salaries and who is doing what, where and when! We want to keep it light-hearted and interesting to grab your interest and make you want to read more. You, yes you are key to this whole project and as such we would love to hear what you would like to hear about to make sure we are meeting the needs of our community so feel free to contact us with your thoughts.

To join our Twitter community and to follow our latest tweets click here or you can simply click on the twitter icon in the footer of our new website to sign up.

James Gittins, a Director at Chase Zander said that “from the start of this project we placed a real emphasis on what our clients and candidates wanted from a recruitment website and that really directed everything that we have done since.”

In fact this is the start of a long-term vision to provide our candidates with all of the resources that they may need as they leave one company and join another. We will be adding more and more candidate advice, guidance and tools as we move forward.

To celebrate the launch of our new site Chase Zander is offering:

• all of our candidates a free CV review and feedback
• (as part of our on-going relationship with Trees for Cities) to plant 1 tree for every 25 candidates registering with us for Jobs by Email or via RSS feed from the 20th July to the end of August 2010

Furthermore we would welcome any comments on the site – good, bad or ugly so please don’t hesitate to drop us a line via the contact us page.