We’re seeing CTOs increasingly turning to strengthening their freelance/interim/contract network this year. Here’s why…
The vast majority of executives across Europe say they’re planning to accelerate their digital programmes. The top focus areas for 2023 are IT security, increasing efficiency and cloud computing projects. But, there is business outlook uncertainty, and business pressure is increasing. Many companies have pivoted their focus on driving productivity, performance and efficiency per head. It’s creating opportunities for CTO’s to sharpen their competitive edge and find strategic advances.
Wider selection of candidates
The candidate market remains buoyant, and we’ve seen an increase in candidate availability year on year. It’s not just attributed to the recent rounds of redundancies in the tech sector (Google, Amazon, Meta, Github etc) but we’ve seen more candidates entering the market looking for a salary rise to off-set the increased cost of living. As many businesses look to move staff back to being full time in-office, candidates are now on the market looking for more hybrid and remote roles. There’s also been an increase in candidates looking for freelance, interim and contract roles.
Quality bar is being raised
The bar is being raised for the quality of hires, with greater emphasis on the calibre, track record and expertise of candidates. How quickly they get up to speed, and greatly reducing their time to impact is now key.
CTO’s are injecting expertise for more agile working
The number of job postings for contract roles in the technology industry tripled in the last two years. As businesses lean more towards temporary hiring, they gain the leverage to let go of high-priced internal talent and dispatch low performers. Knowing the best way to exit people is important, as is knowing all the flexible options to meet a CTO’s needs such as fixed-term contracts (FTC), temp to perm, interims, statement of works (SOW) and consultancies.
Salaries are reaching the point of overpriced
Permanent salaries became so inflated in 2022 that many businesses were at risk of breaking internal pay structures. We had seen salaries over Q1 this year stabilise, but we’re now reaching the point of overpriced. The salary market is the first mover and business outlook uncertainly drives salaries down, although they haven’t started to fall yet.
Highly qualified, readily available talent with the freelance and contract network
The freelance and contract network supports business leaders in boosting their agility. It allows CTO’s to bring forward projects that need to get done, usually projects outside of BAU. Specialist skills and expertise that could be needed to meet a challenge are immediately available in the network. It’s a flexible, quick way of hiring in 2023, which reduces reliance on consultancy firms.
See our freelance and contract network in action here.
With over 12 years of experience providing flexible staffing solutions to businesses, we have built an extensive pool of highly skilled and fully vetted professionals for businesses all over Europe.
Don’t limit your options. Speak with a Venquis expert to unlock the power of the Venquis network or build on the one that you already have.
