Contractors help to ease skill shortages

By ADAM GIFFORD

A year ago Gavin Hazelden walked out of the corporate rat race and into the world of IT contracting. "It gives me flexibility and variety, which were my two killer objectives," says Hazelden, whose job description now reads: project manager for hire.

"I can work from home if I want to, on site if needed or with other contractors in a team. The variety for me is fantastic. On my plate today are 14 projects ranging from a big infrastructure roll-out to a website cutover, with clients ranging from big multinationals to a not-for-profit.

"If I am managing multiple projects, I can pick up my kid from daycare in the afternoon, then do some work at home at night."

Hazelden is one of a dozen contractors working under the umbrella of MJ Blomfield, a hybrid between the large consulting firms and independent contracting.

Principal Matt Blomfield says the model means the contractors can share the cost of professional indemnity and public liability insurance, which is out of reach of most independent contractors, and give clients a statement of work, a comprehensive document that works out the likely time and cost of a project.

That makes a big difference to the way the consultants work, he says.

"It means we can be small and nimble but with no surprises. The advantage we have is we are all experienced senior managers who have spent a lot of time at the corporate level, so when you pay for advice, you get it from a person who has been there.

"We keep in touch with global trends, but there are a lot of fixes and opportunities which are unique to New Zealand."

Programmer Andrew Goldie has followed a more traditional contracting path, moving from firm to firm for the past 12 years. He cites variety and lifestyle as the reason for staying independent.

"You tend to be on project work rather than maintaining the status quo, so you get to build new things," says Goldie, whose specialty is building scheduling systems.

Along the way Goldie has had to upgrade his skills from C++ to Visual Basic to Microsoft's new .NET programming architecture, as well as doing postgraduate work in mathematical modelling.

"Most people you work alongside are under the impression you make more money than they do. What they don't take into account is the down time between contracts and the need to cover your own training and leave," he says.

"I probably do make more, but not as much as the hourly rate would suggest."

That hourly rate is usually about $70, but it can go up or down, depending on the type and duration of the job.

Steve Gillingwater, a contact specialist with recruitment agency Robert Walters, estimates at least 10 per cent of IT jobs are done on a contract basis.

And the market is picking up again, after the post Y2K slump and the almost total project shutdown after the September 11 terrorist attacks."There is three times as much activity on the contract front as last year," Gillingwater says.

He says recruiters need to build relationships and rapport with the contractors they are trying to place, so they can put them in the most appropriate slots. Contractors' rates have definitely gone down since the salad days of the late 1990s, but a project manager can still expect to collect between $80 and $150 an hour.

Many contractors are people returning from overseas.

"A lot of Kiwis worked on contract in Britain, so they are used to that style of work," says Gillingwater. "When they come back to New Zealand they want to check out the market, check out the companies and the cultural fit, and contracting is a good way to do that."

A three-month contract is standard, but they can go longer or be extended. Project management, testers, business analysts and people with business management software skills, particularly Peoplesoft, are in demand.

Christine Fitchew, the general manager of rival recruitment firm Candle, says in the past three months her firm has placed more contractors than permanents, a reverse of the normal pattern. Their rates depend on skills, experience and qualification, she says. "At present a goof .NET or C

programmer can claim a higher rate because it is a new skill."

For employers, contracting allows smaller companies to access skills they would not be able to hire, or would not need, permanently, Fitchew says. "It is like a plumber. You don't want one living in your home, you only want one when the drains are blocked. Contractors are the same."