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OnForce: Most independent IT contractors want to stay independent

More than half of independent IT workers wouldn’t consider working for someone else even if the salary and benefits were comparable, based on a new survey.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor

A new survey from OnForce argues that we are in the midst of a major shift away from requiring in-house IT expertise toward a growing IT contractor workforce.

Now, being that OnForce is a company that focuses on providing other businesses with outsourced but on-site IT talent, it's no surprise that they would promote this trend.

However, the Massachusetts-based business has some big numbers intended to back up these arguments.

After surveying more than 500 IT contractors, OnForce found that not only did 60 percent of them willingly join the independent workforce, but 56 percent of them also wouldn't consider working for someone else even if the salary and benefits were comparable.

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Thus, thanks to this rising trend, many IT workers have been able to avoid a lot of the pitfalls and risks of unemployment seen in other industries under the current economic climate.

Researchers found that unemployment for tech professionals dropped to a "staggeringly low" 3.3 percent during the third quarter of 2012.

OnForce concluded that, at this point, companies looking to hire in-house specialized talent are finding the search to be long and difficult -- and the traditional hiring process doesn’t meet the growing need to turn around tech projects quickly.

Thus, OnForce recommended that contractors allow companies fill immediate IT needs without having to settle for lesser talent, which would otherwise put them "behind the eight-ball for innovation."

Infographic via OnForce

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