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18 October 2007
IT is central to business, therefore IT contractors are needed These days it is true to say that ICT systems are now a core component for most businesses. This means that specialist contract staff - who can install and maintain them - have become more of a necessity. This is according to Karen Geldenhuys, newly-appointed MD of Pretoria-based IT recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment. "There has often been talk in the industry these days that the IT contractor's days of demanding top dollar - and always been in demand - are numbered. There was an increasing feeling in the marketplace that the demand for contractors would decrease. But this does not appear to be true." Meanwhile, according to a recent issue of UK-based on-line IT publication, www.contractorUK, financial experts are reviewing the dwindling share price of IT jobs agency SThree Recruitment, "in a verdict that bodes well for contractors' prospects". The on-line publication reports: "In an editorial yesterday, the Mail on Sunday's Midas column said the agency should be less exposed to a downturn in the economy than its generic recruitment rivals. "IT staff, the column said, tend to be a priority for most companies today because the systems in their remit, such as computers and servers, 'are so central to business life.' "Moreover, even if the downturn does deter clients of SThree from recruiting permanent staff, 'they are still likely to need contract workers'" Midas predicted. "This is more or less a swing in opinion. There was a shift towards companies using permanent staff to maintain core ICT systems. That is still the case in SA to a large extent, but changes in the UK might mean there will be a certain amount of 'echoing' this overseas tend locally," said Abacus Recruitment's Karen Geldenhuys. |