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The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) have revealed that there has been a rise on contract opportunities year and year, with an increase of 3% across the board. With contract and temporary vacancies on the rise, this give hope to contractors looking for their next project. The interim Management Association has reported there has been a significant increase in organisations using interim workers to help them with their staffing requirements, claiming there has been a rise of 93% since 2006, and state there are 16,000 senior level workers operating as a self-employed contractor or on a freelance basis. With the continued use expected to rise, the market for contract workers could be worth £2 billion by the end of 2015. Contractors offer organisations a flexible workforce, being able to call upon none critical or specialist skills for individual projects. This avoids the need to hire and fire which is a timely and costly process. By bringing in specialists only for the time they require the opportunity to harness the best brains in the industry giving them a better output for a similar overall cost. Bernard Brown of KPGM has also reported that there is a skills shortage, resulting in few applications for roles available. This may be another reason for organisations out sourcing skills to contractors as they are unable to secure the skills in house. In a report prepared by International Research and Analysis for Staffing industries key findings were presented - • 16% increase year on year for Permanent vacancies • Finance & accounting sectors indicate growth opportunities • Marketing opportunities lead the growth of the market • Contract vacancies have risen 3% year-on-year • Average salaries increased by 2.9% Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo has commented stating “Temporary and contract vacancies remain strong across the professional staffing market with opportunities up by 3% across the board year-on-year. Vacancies in media & marketing are particularly strong, increasing by 9%. This ongoing trend towards the use of contract professionals is reflected in new research from the Interim Management Association (IMA), which found that the use of interims has grown by 93% since the pre-recession levels of 2006, with 16,000 senior interims currently working in the UK.” Return