My friend has just been made redundant from a big consulting firm in London. I’ve suggested that she tries contracting as a short term option (the company i work for seems to have a bit of a hire freeze but not on contractors). Obviously, i’m aware that a lot of contracts are by word of mouth / old clients, but are there any websites that have contracts advertised on them? She’s in L&D / HR Capability strategy – fairly senior.

(and if anyone has any information on how to become a contractor in simple words, that would be useful!)

L&D / HR?
Life and Death?
Human Remains?

https://www.indeed.co.uk/

Might need to set herself up as a ltd company, some companies I’ve worked for only take consultants on this basis.

Agencies. Many larger companies insist that all their contractors are sourced and dealt with via agencies. They should contact them first.

HR person doesn’t understand how to get a job. But she’s senior.

Ignore the likes of Indeed and Total Jobs – they’re nothing more than web scrapers.
A senior HR pro should have contacts with major multi-disciplinary recruiters; if she doesn’t, what’s she been doing?
Does she have a network; if yes – use it. If not, start developing one.
I’ve just done a 30 second Google search for HR recruitment consultants; that’s a start point – it’s not difficult.
Update Linkedin profile – many recruiters start there using a few key words in searches.
As for becoming a contractor there are plenty of guides available online.
Key considerations are…ltd company or sole trader? short term filler until moving back into perm or in it for the long term? requirement to keep records and submit accounts; possible need for a business bank a/c? what can she offer to prospective clients?
She should be proficient in CV writing given her background; this must reflect adaptability given the nature of interim roles – they’re all different.
This is from a former professional interim.

As for a recruiter’s perspective you could/should contact lunge of this parish as he’s on that side of the desk.

Before she leaps into contracting, make sure she’s up to speed with IR35 and in particular the changes that will be coming into force in April. I’m in a different industry, but a lot of contractors are now shutting up shop and going permie.

To answer the question though, Jobserve.com is good and has a filter specific for Contract roles.

For general background info on contracting, there is a wealth of stuff on contractoruk.com. Its mostly IT bods on the forums there but the same rules apply in terms of LTD company etc.

I say HR, in reality pretty much fully L&D – just that some companies put L&D in HR. She’s worked for the same consultancy for the last 13 years and progressed to just below partner level, so it’s not entirely unreasonable she’s not familiar with consultancy.

Thank you for the advice, will pass this on. She’s already doing the normal linked in, recruiter stuff.