Helping a mate with work: London, Networks.

[MSIC]

Hey there, a good friend of mine is quite down in the dumps at the moment, telling me last night that he's been told that his work is coming to an end shortly.
I wondered if anyone has any useful suggestions, as I don't work in the IT industry.

He's been an employee to a small contracting agency for 7 years, and throughout this period has been working full time (as a contractor, for 7 years!) for a very large american airline agency in their networking / tech support division, involving keeping systems up, staying on top of tickets from the airline's operators (i assume this is IT tickets, not airline tickets!), rolling out mass-deployments, upgrades, etc etc.
He really is very knowledgeable (another mate of mine who runs a large IT division in Texas always regards friend #1 as the top of the tree regarding IT support) and dedicated, and always willing to put in the extra effort (he has no family either, so unsociable hours are par for the course). I know he has some MCSE's, but couldnt swear if it's for all the very latest stuff or not.

His contract is coming to an end, and because the agency who employ him dont have any other immediate work, they cant afford to continue to pay him therefore he is losing his job with them.
I don't believe for a second that the airline company have got rid of him because of his attitude or his skills, so i assume it's a wider 'belts & braces' approach to employees, so contractors go first.
Is this happening across the board with the 'credit crunch'? (Why are we calling it a credit crunch? Is it just a nicer way of saying recession?)
He lives on the outskirts of north london, easy access to overland trains / tubes etc.
Any ideas for next employment?

[tiggerai]

Yes, it's very usual that contractors go first when there's a credit crunch or restructuring, especially in Global corporates.

I would get his CV out there on the job boards, there are plenty of contracts on jobserve, CWjobs, monster etc

The more sites it's on, the better his CV will be seen and he'll be called by agencies left, right and centre!

[Butuz]

I would have thought - if he is as good as you say he is he should be able to walk into whatever network managment / administrator job he wanted?

There's no shortage of jobs in london!

Butuz

[Agent]

Has he gone and spoke to the airline directly?

[tiggerai]

If they were gonna offer contractors perm roles they would have done so already.

[Agent]

It could be a case of one company not knowing what the other is doing - its the way my sister got her job at the moment. The agency said her contract was to end - she mentioned it the next day at work and they were puzzled....and offered her a job there the week after.

Certainly nothing to lose by asking, no matter how unlikely

[MSIC]

Cheers everyone, i'm sure that he would have asked directly to the airline but i'll remind him of that anyway.
I'll also remind him about Monster etc.
As i dont work in the field, i have no idea about the wider job situation at the moment - quite bouyant still then is it?

I would have thought - if he is as good as you say he is he should be able to walk into whatever network managment / administrator job he wanted?

I think the reality is that he will get a job very quickly again, but he's been in this one for 7 years and this has come as a bit of a shock, that's all.
Thanks again

[TheAnimus]

really depends on what their doing.

If you've been in IT for a firm that was largely credit derivs, then odds are your future isn't peachy.

The ebst thing to do would be to contact the agencies, see what they have.

ie aston carter, huxley etc.

[sidtrix@hotmail]

Thats the risk of contracting... u get paid more for the uncertainty.
Dont worry, he'll pick himself up and find another job soon (surprised hes lasted 7 years so its a good run)