• Home
• News
• Start-Up Guides
• Contractor FAQs
• Umbrella Company
• Limited Company
• Tax / Accounting
• IT Contractor Rates
• Contract Rate Checker
• IR35
• IT Contractor Insurance
• Money / Investing
• IT Contracts / Work
• Service Provider News
• Directory
• About Us

Free umbrella service for contractors Save over £1400 p.a on fees Click here or call 0845 602 7712.

Sharp drop in financial services IT contract offers

Published on Jan 5, 2009 | | Contract Rate Checker

• Print this article
• Email this article

Statistics released by a pre-employment screening firm show that job offers for financial services IT contractors dropped by a massive 75% towards the end of 2008.

According to research carried out by Powerchex (a pre-employment screening form), contract offers dropped by 75% in November 2008, compared to the previous month. General employment offers within financial services fell by 20% during the same period.

In a news article we ran in November, Powerchex had already reported a near 50% decrease in contract offers made during October 2008.

Investment Banks continued to cutback significantly on their new hires with a 55% drop in employment offers from October to November.

Hedge fund and stockbroking companies registered similar drops in offers made and accepted, although insurance firms bucked the trend with a 10% increase in offers; the insurance industry has performed remarkably well over the past few months while the general markets have failed.

"Recruitment in the financial sector is taking an unsurprising hit as companies are contracting in response to dramatically changing circumstances." said Alexandra Kelly, MD of Powerchex.

"Applicants will need to adjust their expectations and take a more restructured approach in the job search. Even though the temptation is there, applicants should not risk losing a good opportunity by exaggerating their credentials."