All the daily conversations I have with clients or with candidates always reflect and evaluate the Contracting market – How are you seeing it? Where is the opportunity? What skills are in demand? How are the rates?
Given my role and the industry we are in, we are always keen to hear our clients take on things as our demand will be driven by them. With all the talk of layoffs and the talk of an impending recession, it did feel like things would inevitably slow, which they did – on the permanent side of the recruitment world. Subsequently, we saw an increase in the flow of new contracting requirements coming in. This occurred from November through to the end of January and could be attributed to several factors such as year-end, budgets, and all the other usual reasons.
The expectation is that in times of uncertainty permanent headcount requirements can always be paused. This is true. Being the eternal optimist and working on the contracting side of the business, I am of the opinion uncertainty can be good for contracting. This has certainly been the case since November. A recent conversation with a senior figure in a large consulting firm has reinforced this viewpoint. Albeit some clients may choose the consultancy route over the contractor route.
The demand is remaining consistent across the PM/BA skillsets as well as the Software Engineering. Noticeable increases have been seen in the DevOps skillset in the last 6 months also – although this may not surprise many.
Additionally, a publication from Contractor UK echoes our own experience in the market for January, leaning toward cautious optimism.
