IT Recruitment Covid market update for Christchurch & Flexible working
With a lot of uncertainty due to the Covid crisis this extraordinarily nasty virus is causing, we’ve been talking with businesses looking for solutions to allow them to get back running as we came into Level 3 on Tuesday 28th April and a good solution is temporary, flexible contractors.
The market started to change with a downturn in seafood & forestry with the Chinese export market closing and then as the NZ borders shut this caused the tourism, travel & aviation industries to change overnight. With lockdown other industries have ground to a halt - retail, hospitality, entertainment (movies / attractions / sport), construction. Any physical work in which transmission of the virus had to stop and for good reason. I feel very grateful to be in IT in which people can work from home, remotely obviously with change & disruption to work practices and home pressures but it’s mostly been doable.
On the other hand we’ve seen industries busy including logistics, manufacturing, FMCG, health, government, communications, eCommerce. I’ve had many conversations over the past few weeks with companies as IT systems need to keep running and software needs to keep being developed.
Having worked through a couple of down markets; the GFC in 2007/2008 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 I noticed business keeps going often in ways we don’t expect. The old saying goes ‘never waste a good crisis’, but these scary times create a lot of anguish & uncertainty in which great leadership & the ability to pivot really stands out.
With a lot of movement in the market, some businesses still have a need for staff of new & different skills as they go into areas which have a need or a problem to solve, a good solution is to offer contract roles which gives flexibility to your business.
For candidates it’s also a great way to get back into the market while businesses assess the future & decide which permanent hires they’ll make.
Key advantages for businesses:
***No permanent commitment in times of uncertainty for a business
***Flexibility with a 1-2 week notice period or less if needed so you can closely monitor amount of work & cash flow
***Try before you buy - you can make sure a person is right for the role by seeing them in action
***With more candidates on the market due to redundancies & Kiwis returning home (some 40,000 of us) it’s a great time to snaggle some excellent people to meet your needs
Key advantages for candidates:
***No permanent commitment in times of uncertainty you can try out a company without fully committing
***Flexibility - with a 1-2 weeks notice period you can work in a temporary / contract role while still looking for a permanent role so it keeps your options open
***Try before you buy - you can make sure this is the right role for you by seeing the team in action
Take care in your bubble & stay safe.
If you’d like to know more about how flexible IT contract solutions feel free to get in touch with me: paul@sunstonetalent.com
Sunstone is an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting IT roles within software, web, mobile, blockchain, big data, infrastructure, security & networks in Christchurch, South Island of New Zealand.