Demand soars for contract employees

Finance and accounting contractors are experiencing a rising demand for their talents as employers and local authorities kick-start projects postponed during the recession, according to a recruitment specialist.

Robert Half International's New Zealand division manager Ronil Singh said an increase in the hiring of contract workers was a sign that companies were gaining confidence and were focused on improving their profits through revenue growth as well as controlling costs.

This compares to last year when firms were concerned with cutting costs.

"Businesses are starting to increase their head count, especially in areas like sales teams who will drive revenue growth. And as sales are increasing the use of temps in back office functions is growing as businesses are still not certain of what permanent headcount needs will be," Singh said.

The company said job orders for temporary assignments for clerical accountants had increased by about 10 per cent on the last quarter of last year.

There was also healthy demand for project accountants and interim finance managers as businesses picked up on projects that were put on the backburner last year.

Companies were also increasingly looking to centralise back office services such as payroll, while the manufacturing and construction sector workers were also in demand.

The hiring of temporary staff boded well for the pace of full-time hiring throughout New Zealand, Singh said.

"As the confidence level in the permanent market has started to pick up, temporary and short-term requirements will probably rise as well," Singh said.

"What we're seeing in the finance and accounting contract market is likely to signal better times for New Zealand's employment situation as a whole in the months to come."