| 2006
- IT Independent Contractor Survey Images |
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Self-employed
information technology professionals anticipate banner earnings
in 2006.
According
to the results of HotGigs.com's Annual "State of the Contract
IT Marketplace" survey Independent information technology contract
workers continue to reap the benefits of contract employment.
"Large and small U.S. employers continue to use contingent
employment strategies in place of hiring full-time permanent IT
staff," said Doug
Berg, CEO of HotGigs Inc., a revolutionary contract talent marketplace
that makes it easy for employers to plan for, acquire, and manage
contract labor.
Of the HotGigs.com members responding to the survey — conducted
November 28 to December 13, 2005 — 64 percent expect their
contract earnings to increase in 2006, while 19 percent anticipate
no growth in 2006 earnings, and 12 percent foresee a decrease in
earnings. The findings show a rising optimism among self-employed
IT contract workers, who in April 2005 HotGigs
survey saw flat or decreased earnings in the first quarter of 2005.
Hourly Rates to Remain Constant in 2006
The
survey found that although contract workers predict strong earnings
in 2006, the gains will not come from an increase in their hourly
rates.
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61% said their hourly rates would remain constant in 2006
- 32%
said they planned to raise their hourly rates.
-
7 % said they would be reducing their rates.
Rates
for self-employed workers vary dramatically. The survey showed,
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27 % of respondents billed at a rate of $50 to $75 per hour
- 21
% of respondents billed at a rate of $100 to $149 per hour
- 21
% of respondent billed at a rate of $75 to $99 per hour.
Among
the highest earners in the survey were:
- Technical
project managers
- IT
managers
- database
developers
Although
the self-employed expect higher earnings in 2006, 51 percent of
survey respondents reported that their 2005 invoices were below
expectations in 2005, while 34 percent said 2005 billings were inline
with expectations, and another 15 percent stated 2005 earnings were
above expectations.
Overall High Earnings when Compared to Full-time Professionals
Overall,
survey respondents reported relatively high earnings when compared
to full-time salaried professionals: 20 percent of respondents said
they billed $75,000 to $99,999 in 2005; 19 percent said they billed
$100,000 to $149,000 in 2005; and 26 percent said they billed under
$30,000 in 2005, which may reflect the part-time nature of contract
work for many self-employed IT consultants who continue to work
full-time jobs and supplement their income by “moonlighting."
One
factor influencing less-than expected 2005 earnings had to do with
a high tendency for contractors to engage short-term
IT contract jobs. Only 12 percent of respondents said they had
multi-year contracts, while 23 percent said their contracts lasted
between six months to one year, 21 percent said their contracts
lasted between three and six months, and 24 percent said their contracts
lasted less than three months.
The
length of contracts was a predictor of overall annual earnings.
Contractor-respondents earnings less than $30,000 a year in 2005
had a tendency to work contracts of three months or less in duration.
Contractor-respondents earnings between $75,000 and $149,000 in
2005 had a tendency to work contracts of 6 months to a year in duration—or
longer.
IT Contractors Do Not Market Themselves Agressively
IT
contractors responding to the survey tended not to market themselves
aggressively. Some 23 percent did not actively search for new contracts
in 2005, 27 percent actively searched for contracts two to five
times during the year, and 19 percent actively sought out contracts
an average of one time per month. Passive job searches dominate
contractors’ job search behavior.
When
contractors were asked how they typically found new contract opportunities,
they ranked referrals as first, client initiated contact as second,
and contractor resources, such as searching
for contract gigs on HotGigs.com, as third. Cold calling ranked
dead last in terms of preferred contract search methods.
"The
reluctance by many self-employed people to aggressively market themselves
has a negative impact on their ability to increase their earnings
throughout the year," said Doug Berg. "We created HotGigs.com
to simplify the process of finding new contractual engagements.
"HotGigs
has nearly $200 million in active contracts from small,
medium, and large employers listed on our Web site, making it easy
for independent contractors to find challenging, well paying contracts,"
said Berg. "We're an ideal marketing tool for the self-employed
IT worker who wants to ride into 2006 with new contracts."
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