Financial IT contractor demand revives

An ongoing recovery in the jobs market facing London's financial district is being driven by freelance IT contractors.



Although last month's total number of IT contract offers by the City was slightly lower than 12 months ago, IT contractors are experiencing an unrivalled "revival" in demand.



Evidencing her claim Alexandra Kelly, of screening firm Powerchex, pointed out the number of offers to IT contractors in February rose by 57 per cent on the previous month.



"It is fairly normal to see a small increase in job offers around this time, especially amongst IT contractors to the financial sector", she said.



"As we come towards the end of the financial year, managers tend to revive non‐vital projects as they realise they have money left to spend in their budgets."



Investment bankers and stockbrokers also saw more demand, but the gains for such personnel were more fragile – between 20 and 30 per cent, the firm said of its findings.



Still, overall recruitment in financial services grew six per cent on January's level, the findings show, despite a declining number of job offers to hedge fund and investment managers.



Powerchex said hiring by investment management firms was less common in February than at the peak of the recession, with most "treading especially carefully when it comes to recruitment."



Whether full-time or temporary, staff entering financial institutions should expect the security vetting process to extend to full referencing, as well as credit and criminal checks.