Testimonials

A last-gasp in hiring before 2021 ends boosted IT contractors in November, arresting a three-month decline in growth.

In fact, demand for freelance tech skills notched up to 79.0 last month, up from 77.9 in October, 77.5 in September, and 78.6 in August.

In the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s Report on Jobs, which features the index, KPMG’s Claire Warnes said hirers were, already, “looking to the New Year…to fill gaps”.

‘Temp rates are rising fast’

“This pace of activity continues to feed through to starting rates,” said REC chief executive Neil Carberry, in an online update referring to pay overall, not just in tech.

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The pandemic will preoccupy the chancellor at Autumn Budget 2021, making even the best thing he could do for UK contractors – regulate umbrella companies – an outside bet.

Sounding this consensus last night, experts said the second best outcome of Rishi Sunak’s package on Wednesday would be an acknowledgement of the upending IR35 has caused.

But mirroring the concern about the already government-backed SEB so it can regulate umbrellas, covid is likely to stop Mr Sunak from doing anything meaningful on off-payroll.

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As even first-timer contractors tend to know (and first-timers can be more receptive than veterans actually in this regard), a little ‘constructive criticism’ of how they operate as a temporary job-seeker can go a long way to upping their game, writes Natalie Bowers, founder of niche contractor agency Bowers Partnership.

And given us agents are apparently rubbing contractors up the wrong way at the moment – and vice versa apparently, here’s my top five tips on what NOT to do as an IT contractor. Assuming, that is, your goal is getting hired and keeping your agent on-side Games, goals and keeping on-side. Anyone would think I’ve not recovered my national pride from a certain sporting contest!

Chop-chop

First, my personal bugbear. Contractors, if you’re gonna’ bow out of the process, can you just get on and bow out quickly?!

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If you hadn’t noticed, there’s quite a lot of frustration in the agency contractor space at present, and unfortunately, whether you’re a contractor or an agent, the feeling seems increasingly mutual!

Let me break the mould by empathising with candidates and saying, from the point of view of a contractor, I can quite understand the frustration, writes Natalie Bowers, founder of niche contractor staffing firm Bowers Partnership.

What contractors have been contending with

Contractors have spent the last year or so dodging an invisible virus, wearing their spouse’s flowery face-covering because they forgot their own, avoiding human contact when the government says to avoid human contact, and adhering to ever-changing guidelines on the few covid-19 income support measures which do actually apply to them. Enough to boil anyone’s blood! And that’s before you even start to consider the impact of ghastly IR35 reform!

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Six million jobs in the UK have been made “anywhere jobs” by covid-19 and home-working coming together, with no subsector more vulnerable to its roles going abroad than niche IT.

In fact, ‘Computer Programming, Consultancy & Related’ has the biggest industry share of such jobs — 561,400, all of which can now be done remotely, offshore, “potentially for cheaper.”  

This definition of an Anywhere Job  — as spelt out by the Tony Blair Institute which is behind these new figures and findings, also extends to the role being exportable to “equally skilled workers.”

‘Replacement by an offshore worker’

Examples of Anywhere Jobs (‘AJs’) named in the thinktank’s new report include Software Developer, IT Technician/Support, Programmer/Developer, Web Developer/Designer.

But writing exclusively today for ContractorUK, a former services management consultant who worked in IT for 45 years, says quality and low cost aren’t guaranteed with ‘AJs’.

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"I have worked with Bowers Partnership for many years and always found that they really understand the clients needs and match those carefully with their candidate selection. This leads to a great working relationship between Client, Agent, and Contractor“

"My experience with Natalie has been nothing short of exceptional.

Natalie is thoughtful, a great professional and made the whole hiring process very fast and smooth for me. At every stage of the process, Natalie was in touch with me and kept me informed. Natalie’s thorough communication made her easily relatable and reliable.

I really appreciate all the support I received from Natalie. She was always there to answer all my many questions. Many thanks Natalie.

Feel free to contact Natalie if you need a good job in the future.

If you are working with Natalie, you are definitely in good hands.“

"Investment Management & Wealth Management specialist, Natalie Bowers, is hands down the best recruiter I have worked with in my 20 year IT Career. Natalie worked tirelessly to close the position for me, supporting and coaching me through the entire process. I look forward to working with Natalie again as the employer. It was a pleasure to work with you Natalie, thank you for everything.”

"Natalie makes the entire recruitment cycle seamless with her experience, enthusiasm, patience and good humour cutting through the nonsense and getting results where it matters.

She is a pleasure to work with and I wholeheartedly recommend her to any candidate seeking new opportunities or to any employer who needs to access and onboard quality resource.”

"Natalie was superb at providing all the information I needed prior to interview, during the process and gave very thorough feedback and individual coaching.