A new research study from a professional umbrella service company has revealed that IT contractors are on the lookout for projects with job security.
According to Giant Group, the umbrella company that conducted the research study, a full 64 per cent of those surveyed said they would trade a high hourly rate for the relative security of a log term contract. This figure was 4 percentage points higher than it was just two years ago, indicating that even interim workers would much rather know where their next meal is coming from for the next several months than know that only their next few pay cheques will be higher than usual.
If this wasn’t interesting enough, the number of survey respondents indicating that the most important facet of any particular contract was whether it offered high job security also increased over the past few years. 2011 figures were 7 percentage points lower than this year’s results, as 23 per cent of those surveyed in 2013 said they would rather job security over anything else when it came to which contract they favoured to take.
Giant’s managing director, Matthew Brown, said that he was not surprised in the least by these results, especially since the economy in the UK and throughout the entire eurozone has been shaky and, if you ask me, more than a little frightening. Freelancers and umbrella company contractors may float from one client to another, but longer-term contracts mean less time scrambling for new clients than if you’re taking shorter-term ones, and I don’t know about you but I could use a little peace of mind right now indeed!
Luckily, IT contractors are positioned quite well when it comes to demand for their services. There are currently some serious skills deficits in the UK and on the continent, leading to any skilled and qualified IT worker being able to more or less write his or her own ticket. However, competition can be fierce amongst those looking for a good, long-term contract in order to gain a bit of financial stability, so if you ask me it’s never too early to start networking and looking for the best long-term contract you can get if you an information technology specialist working in the UK.
Of course, IT workers do have another advantage that they aren’t as tied down to geographical limitations as much as other contract workers, thanks to the advent of telecommuting and mobile working. Unless you’re physically installing or upgrading new servers, much of an IT worker’s duties can be done remotely, which meas that it doesn’t matter if your client is across the street or hundreds of miles away – you can still service them effectively.
