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For the last eighteen months demand for IT contractors has slumped, but new data shows the need for temporary computer staff has now increased to its highest level since the inception of the financial crisis in April 2008. Economists at Markit, which monitors Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) agencies, said October was contract IT staff’s best period in eighteen months. The IT sector is benefiting from a "broad-based stabilisation" of demand, said Markit’s Jack Kennedy. REC agencies recently reported shortages of software developers, CNC programmers, Sharepoint and .NET specialists. And the Monster Employment Index, a monthly count of online job adverts, showed October was the best month for IT workers since February. Yet it is too early to conclude that the hiring trend in IT has turned positive, Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide, told CUK. Indeed, while some online indexes and surveys show light through yonder Windows, some consultants are still in the dark. (No jokes please.) Logica reported that revenues in the third quarter – for its professional services and consulting arm – had fallen by twelve per cent, and Capgemini reported a "sharp reduction in corporate IT spending." But you would expect larger firms to take time to heal. Recovery will not show in quarterly reports until at least three months after green shoots have begun to appear. Yet for independent contractors the signs are very promising. So how should you prepare for the economic recovery? CUK asked this month. Alan Rommel, managing director of Parity, the public sector IT recruitment specialist says contractors cannot afford to be shy in promoting their attributes above their rivals. He said "modesty and humility will need to be left at the door" if IT contractors want to be part of the upturn, not just observers of it. However, the self-trumpeter of the interview must stay at the door for the contract, according to Alexandra Kelly, founder of the firm, Powerchex , which vets IT contractors for roles with financial institutions. We are entering a 'more for less' period, and it is not the right time for 'prima dona' IT contractors, she says. IT contractors already on-contract need to be humble, polite and hard-working, she says. Such flexible friends to the economy are no longer the scarce resources they once were, and the 'silly money' thrown around in 2007 is no longer being paid. But for bare faced cheek in marketing this month, the prize goes to The Nude London Tech Calendar, a gallery of 24 pictures of the capital's internet pioneers in all their unclothed glory. The calendar supports Take Heart India, a charity focused on IT education projects for blind and disabled students in India, and can be bought from Firebox. According to The Guardian, "It costs Take Heart just £37 to provide a six-month computer training course which secures a job for life for one of the students, so your money will make a difference." Yet for all the naked optimism for higher rates and easier interviews to come, Martin Hesketh, managing director of Brookson, an accountancy firm specialising in contractors, believes the freelance IT market needs a total overhaul. "Employment status in the UK is a mess. This is true both in terms of the legal definition - and how that definition is applied from an employment rights perspective, and the tax definition - and how that definition is applied from the tax authority perspective," he wrote on CUK. Of course employment status goes right to the heart of the issue. For years, contractors have had one eye on the monitor, while monitoring the tax man trying to prove they are an employee. This recession has shown beyond any doubt that contractors are first to suffer from swift cuts to IT budgets and are in business on their own account, taking the gains but accepting the risks. The number of freelancers in work has fallen by twelve per cent in the past year, according to a member poll by the PCG (the ‘Professional Contractors Group’ before a re-brand this month), and this month the organisation once again called for IR35 to be scrapped. "The largest single impediment to freelance working," must now be removed from freelancers and from the economy, wrote Chris Bryce in a letter to the chancellor, Alistair Darling. It would be a fantastic Christmas present if the curse of IR35 were to be dispelled, but common sense has been lacking in government ever since Alfred The Great burnt the dinner while fiddling in his underpants. So as an antidote to incompetence, NotAllThere, writing on the CUK bulletin boards suggests, "Before anyone is allowed in government they should be forced to pass a test entirely based on Yes Minister." Q: Why might repealing IR35 create a dangerous precedent? A: "If we do the right thing now, we might have to do the right thing again next time.” William Knight Nov 27, 2009 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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