As the lifting of lockdown continues, businesses are turning attention on their operations. While there’s an urgent need to meet current demands, the Covid-shaped hole in the economy can only be addressed with careful restructuring. Across many sectors, certain skills will be required, and the need for contingent staff to deliver flexible expertise on projects is paramount. If you’re a contractor, this is a good time to align yourself with marketplace demand to give yourself maximum security over the coming months. Here we take a look at the market hot spots with the most opportunities for contractors.
Contractor Opportunities Within IT Services
Despite the demand for certain digital services throughout lockdown, the IT recruitment sector took its biggest hit in 22 years, with a particular impact on contractors. While the shift to a platform model of business created an obvious need for technical expertise, especially during the first weeks of lockdown, the sector as a whole suffered from the physical restrictions of lockdown as many businesses put their projects on hold. However, demand in ICT is now rising, as it’s possible for contractors to be more mobile and start new roles, while remote on-boarding is also becoming commonplace. With technology embedded into so much of the ‘new normal’, IT remains the dominant area of all agency hiring, accounting for 35% of all vacancies over the period since the shutdown. ‘Software Engineer’ experienced the biggest surge in demand across APSCo’s 10 sector job index, with a rolling five-day average of 570 new opportunities. IT manager; IT infrastructure; IT specialist, IT analyst and IT support were the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth most-sought, respectively. Cyber Security and DevOps are also two niche IT areas expected to experience significant demand the in the coming months as businesses switch their business models.
Contractor Opportunities Within Hospitality
The hospitality sector has been hit more than most and unfortunately redundancies are set to continue as operations become leaner. However, with hospitality businesses expected to start reopening from July, and months of lockdown giving the British public a new appetite for socialising, this sector is set to make up for lost time. According to one hospitality website, the British public is looking to spend £3.8bn on hospitality in the first week of reopening: “With almost a third of customers planning to dine or drink out, there is huge potential for businesses that can cope with public health guidance and serve people safely.” However, businesses in these sectors are lacking key skills and strong leadership to adapt and thrive to the new conditions. This is creating a demand for professional interims with backgrounds in organisational change & development, change/transformation, finance, HR, property, health & safety, marketing, and operational roles such as general manager through to operations director. Contractors with these skills may consider moving into this marketplace as money is diverted into its strong reopening and beyond.
Contractor Opportunities Within Financial Services
Finance has always been a strong sector for contractors, but as the UK comes out of lockdown there will be a large uptick in the need for skilled customer-facing staff such as advisors, negotiators and handlers. One recruitment firm says that record demand indicates that up to 30,000 additional contingent customer support staff could be needed by banks, insurers and credit card firms to help the public deal with financial issues in the wake of Covid-19. The company said that In April, one UK high street bank requested 750 associate staff to handle their negotiations team. During the pandemic, many people have put off calling their financial institutions to discuss their issues and concerns. As both individuals and businesses are forced to take stock in the wake of the pandemic, the need for those with experience in areas such as mortgage negotiation and affordability control is rocketing. What’s interesting about these contingency roles in finance is the emphasis on human skills. In a sector that has seen many areas of automation, this isn’t a viable option right now. Alongside financial expertise, advisors must be skilled and empathic negotiators with the ability to quickly relate to customer concerns. For this reason, many financial institutions are requesting UK based handlers rather than the previous trend for offshoring financial services call centre operations.
With a lengthy post-pandemic transition period ahead, plus the finalising of Brexit at the end of the year, the contractor market will need to move to meet demand. Check out our news page next week when we’ll be bringing you up-to-date insights on how to bag the best post-Covid contracts. Umbrella Exchange has a range of options to help you keep your contracting career on track. To talk to a member of our team, call: 0203 393 3881