Financial IT contractor hiring spree stalls

Banks and financial institutions “took their foot off the gas” when it came to hiring IT freelancers in May, despite such financers still handing out more IT contracts than a year ago.

Releasing its latest figures, pre-screening firm Powerchex said that, other than stock brokers, IT contractors were the only financial job candidates to see their pool of opportunities increase.

But the growth was only marginal, the firm told CUK, particularly when set against April when the number of confirmed IT contractor placements surged by 75% (year-on-year).

“I suspect part of April’s large increase was down to financial IT roles going to graduates and trainees,” said Powerchex founder Alexandra Kelly, referencing the start of the new financial year.

“Now, IT contractor job offers aren’t flat - but almost…it seems clear that financial employers took their foot off the gas with recruitment of contract IT workers in May.”

Partly this is because financial employers began 2011 by recruiting ‘too much and too quickly’, she said, and because the economy is yet to make good their return on that investment.

Even worse for some financial employers, “turnover has ground to halt,” prompting some IT contractors on a good rate who would have normally moved jobs by now to “stay put,” indicating ‘bidding wars’ have ceased.   

Ms Kelly, who is also the managing director of HireRight EMEA, reflected: “Pay for most contractors generally seems to be flat.

“That’s why there’s a lot of qualified temporary professionals sitting on the bench who would have once been snapped up but who are not seeing any movement in the market.

“And they probably won’t see any until they change their expectations about pay and bonuses. Of course, this doesn’t just apply to people in the IT department.”