Cyber security shortages fuelling IT contractor demand

Growth in demand for the services of IT contractors last month continued the upwards trajectory which it has been on since December.

That makes March 2018 the four month in a row where demand not only grew but actually accelerated, returning an index score of 60.5, found staffing body the REC.

It represents the body’s highest score for IT contractors since October 2017, a month when the number of scarce IT skills soared.

And yesterday, one scarce IT skill was still topping clients' wishlists.

In fact, there is a “shortfall of candidates” which is not being bridged in Cyber Security, said Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) policy director Tom Hadley.

“As a result,…starting pay [is being increased] to draw candidates away from current roles into new positions,” he said, pointing to both London and the UK as a whole.

“Growth in pay for temporary roles especially is accelerating…[so] candidates planning to move jobs have a strong chance of getting a pay rise.”

Also scarce on both a full-time and contract basis are; Automation Testing, CAD, DevOps, Data, Digital, General IT/Technology, Java, Oracle, Fusion, Gaming and Web Development.

Shortages of IT contractors were also reported by REC’s member agencies in March for GDPR, Security Clearance, Software Development, and UI/UX.

Other recruiters hiring last month for full-time openings reported insufficient applicants for E-commerce, Graduate positions, .Net and Software Engineering.