Welcome to the IT Contractors Poll.  The subject we are looking at today is how often you invest in new skills and accreditations:

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Our New Media clientbase in London seem to all want the same skills right now – Flash Actionscript. Just over the last week we have received about 10 different enquiries, all asking for Senior Flash Developers, both for contracts and for permanent jobs, with Actionscript programming skills. (more…)

It’s becoming an increasingly common storyline: job candidate loses job opportunity because prospective boss finds unflattering information online.

If you think you might be in the job market any time soon, or ever really, be sure that you think twice before you post anything online.

This applies to photos, comments on blogs, tweets — anything that can be linked back to you. (more…)

From One Click magazine:

Have you tried ‘Googling’ yourself lately? Or for that matter the members of your board of directors? Go on, try it, you may find it enlightening, but not necessarily in a good way!

Type your name into Google and see what appears. And once you’ve found yourself, try the image results. It could be right about now that you regret uploading those holiday snaps to Facebook, because that shot of you in your swimwear is potentially the first impression of you that future customers will have. And this can be a real headache for marketing and communications professionals charged with managing the corporate image. (more…)

The leading IT job sites are all reporting a marked increase in the numbers of contract roles being advertised.

One job board has seen a 54% increase in the number of contract roles advertised during the first quarter of 2010, suggesting that we are entering into a full recovery for the contract market. (more…)

Jenrick IT has just been featured on the Contractor UK website after being contacted to contribute to one of their latest articles.

Aimed at IT Contractors, the article was titled “Contractors’ Questions: How to get my CV noticed.” (more…)

The Evening Standard Newspaper recently interviewed a candidate of Jenrick Commercial, Joanne Streatfield, regarding her experience of using recruitment agencies to assist with job hunting.

Here is the full article, which is very complimentary of the service provided by Jenrick Commercial:

CV or not CV?

If they haven’t read yours, rule them out says Joanne Streatfield, 27, from Surrey Surrey, who has used the services of recruitment agencies several times since she left college. (more…)

New job vacancies in the City rose by 15 per cent last month to the highest level this year, according to a financial recruitment specialist, Morgan McKinley. (more…)

The following market update has been kindly provided by Lindsay Hill, an IT Clinical Statistician recruitment expert.

Lindsay is very pleased to feedback to everyone concerned, that the Clinical Statistician Jobs Market has continued to thrive, in contrary to much of the macro economic jobs market, following on from her previous market reviews on the Clinical IT Job Market. (more…)

The economic climate, although bottoming out, is still tough for contractors. With this in mind, our friends at SJD Accountacy have put together some recession-busting tax tips to help contractors maximize on their earnings! (more…)