At Senitor we regularly immerse ourselves into data and industry insights to inform our hiring tech recruitment strategies. Recently, our Head of Ireland Division Margaret attended an event held by LinkedIn and Contracting PLUS, which was filled with interesting data insights into the Ireland Contracting Market, and we thought we would share our Top 10 Findings from the event with our followers.
10 Findings from the Contracting Market in Ireland:
Technology accounts for 16% of all Ireland contract positions
The biggest sector for contracting in Ireland is taken up by the pharma, life science and med device industry, accounting for 36% of all contracts in the Country. Technology wasn’t far behind though, with a staggering 15% of all contract jobs in the country being from this industry. It’s no surprise considering the number of global tech companies who have offices here!
78% of contract roles are in Dublin and Cork
The two top locations for Ireland tech jobs: Dublin and Cork – with over 3/4 jobs being in these locations! Dublin is home to global names in tech including Google, Meta and LinkedIn, and Cork is a leader in tech startups, so it’s no surprise to see these two cities take the top spots!
39% of Irish job posts are hybrid (August 2024 – LinkedIn)
We delved into the latest LinkedIn hiring trends in Ireland and found that 39% of Irish job postings were hybrid positions (Aug 24), and 7.7% were fully remote positions. The appetite for fully remote is growing YoY, so if you are a client who has the capacity to onboard tech talent in a fully remote capacity then you will be sure to increase your application rates!
Top motivators for contractors are job autonomy (Boomers & Gen X) and higher earnings (Millennials & Gen Z)
According to data from Contracting PLUS, there is a clear generational divide in job motivations for contractors in Ireland. For “Boomers” and “Gen X”, job autonomy was the top motivator, where as “Millennials” and “Gen Z” listed higher earnings as their top reason to move to contracting. Other motivations that cropped up in the top spots were: To gain new expertise, and to do more interesting work.
55% of contractors use a recruitment agency to find a new role
Over half of contractors are working with recruitment agencies to secure their next role, so if you are hiring and don’t want to miss out on essential talent then pick up the phone to a specialist recruiter like Margaret – her number is +353 1584 6866 if you are looking for help hiring contractors in Ireland or if you are a candidate looking to secure your next contract role!
€499 Average Daily Rate in Technology contracts
We recently shared specific salary bandings for various tech roles in Ireland in our Tech Talent Report, but as an average across all tech roles €499 is the going day rate for contractors. If you want to see our additional salary insights there’s still time to download out Ireland Tech Talent Insight for FREE right here.
9 days is the average time spent looking for a Contract Role
We know the contracts market moves fast when companies are using recruitment agencies, but it was interesting to hear that the average time spent looking for a contract role was only 9 days! You need to move quick if you want to secure the best candidates for your company!
Top 3 candidate concerns were – worried about getting a mortgage, job security worries, loss of employee benefits
Contract or permanent – that is a question we are often asked by our candidates at Senitor. According to Contracting PLUS, the main worries about contracting as a career were: securing a mortgage (87%), job security (74%) and losing permanent employee benefits (60%). We shared this same question to our LinkedIn followers and found that career progression was also another factor that steers candidates to permanent positions. Be mindful of these concerns when going to market to find contract candidates.
62% of respondents have no gap between Contracts
Considering the fact that job security was the #2 biggest concern for candidates choosing a contracting career, 62% of contractors surveyed by Contracting PLUS have zero gaps between their contracts! Reassuring statistics for candidates who may feel a break is inevitable between roles.
Companies choose recruitment agencies to find contract talent for many reasons, but the #1 it seems is to reduce payroll / direct hire costs
If you are a company looking to hire tech contractors and are still on the fence about whether to use a recruitment agency or not then these three reasons cited by Irish companies could sway you: #1 Reducing payroll / direct hire costs (45% agreed), improving quality of contract hires (37% agreed) and accessing recruitment expertise not available internally (32% agreed).
So, there you have it – 10 Top Takeaways from the Ireland Tech Contracting market. If you’d like to discuss an upcoming hiring requirement – contract OR permanent – please visit senitor.com or reach out to our Head of Ireland Division Margaret via margaret.parker-grimes@senitor.ie.