Contractors get the thumbs up!

CWJobs Reveals latest IT Recruitment Trends

The demand for contract staff in the technology and communications sectors is set to increase indicating that the UK economy is on the road to recovery. The latest research from specialist IT job board, CWJobs.co.uk, reveals that UK companies are looking to recruit proportionately more contractors than permanent staff during 2003. This indicates that there will be increased investment in IT projects in the UK that contractors will be employed to deliver upon.

According to the CWJobs research, 47% of companies surveyed predict recruiting permanent staff and 63% anticipate recruiting IT contractors in 2003. In 2002, the bias was more in favour of permanent employees, with 57% of IT companies recruiting permanent ICT staff and 48% recruiting contractors.

Traditionally, IT contractors have been used to fill in and support a predominantly permanent workforce. Now companies appear to be increasing their reliance upon a more temporary workforce in order to fulfil short and medium terms IT projects, commented Nigel Sterndale, User Experience Director of CWJobs.co.uk. While this shows a degree of hope for the economy, it is clear that UK companies are not yet confident enough of the future to increase permanent headcount.

The survey was conducted by CWJobs in association with Computer Futures Solutions Ltd during February 2003. The sample size was 272 respondents within UK companies who have ICT (Information and Communication Technology) staff recruitment responsibilities. UK companies from all sectors were included in the survey, though 45% of respondents were from ICT companies.