The run up to Christmas is always an exciting time, after all who doesn’t love having a mooch around some Christmas markets, deciding whether to have a real or fake tree or going all out with the decorations?
But with some businesses winding down for the year and others closing their doors completely over the festive period, if you’re a limited company contractor it’s important that you have planned for this downtime.
So here are our helpful hints and tips for how limited company contractors can prepare for the festive break.
Plan your time off
First and foremost it’s important to decide what days you’ll be taking off as early as possible. Remember, if you’re a limited company contractor you don’t have to ask your client to take time off, rather you let them know when you’ll be taking time off. However, it is courteous to let them know sooner rather than later. Even if you don’t have the specific days when you first start the assignment it’s best to give a heads up that you’re planning on taking some time off over the festive period.
Catch up on admin
Using your time off to catch up on that all important company admin may not seem like the most appealing way to spend your time off, but it’s a vital task nevertheless. Whether you spend time sorting and filing your documents, organising your receipts or logging expenses, the more time you put in now, the less time you’ll need to allocate to it in the New Year.
Update your CV!
When searching for a new assignment it goes without saying how important your CV is in being successful in your search. Much like a CV of a permanent employee, a contractor CV should include a brief summary of skills and it’s best to try to include some recent roles which are relevant to the job.
Struggling with nailing your CV? Take a look at our tips on creating that perfect contractor CV.
Identify areas for training
With the way we work constantly evolving and changing it’s vital that you don’t get left behind. Spend some time identifying where you can improve your skills, whether that be through a short course or a longer qualification it will all help to make you stand out from the crowd. You’re aiming to become a specialist in your field so constant training will further your claim.
Finding new assignments
When you’ve updated your CV and brushed up on your skills it’s time to start searching for that next assignment. It’s natural for some assignments to draw to a close before Christmas as companies are winding down for the year end, which is great timing if you were already planning to take that time off. But in order to start your New Tear as you mean to go on, we suggest that you begin finding your next assignment as early as possible so that you can enjoy Christmas time knowing that you have a new assignment lined up, ready to start straight away in the New Year.
Why not read our handy article for hints and tips on how to avoid gaps in between assignments?
Whether you’re expecting to have a gap in between assignments or your assignment runs over Christmas, we urge you to factor in at least some time off to unwind, de stress and relax. But whatever your contracting needs this festive season PayStream have you covered, that means you can leave all of the boring accounting stuff to us, while you can get on with the things that matter to you.
