The Recruiter’s Contract Staffing Blog

Q: Why is this a great time for contracting?

A: This is a great time for a recruiter to add contracting to their business model because both companies and candidates are attracted to it. While contracting is beneficial during a good economy, it’s even more attractive during a recession like the one we’re currently experiencing.

Companies have been slashing their payrolls since the beginning of 2008, but they’ve really stepped up their layoffs in recent weeks and months. Despite that, there’s still work that needs to be done and goals that need to be accomplished. Hiring managers, faced with these expectations, are looking for talent to help them meet their deadlines and finish their projects.

(Debbie’s Note: The following article appeared in the January/February 2009 issue of the Contracting Corner newsletter.)

During the month of November, a total of 533,000 jobs were slashed from companies’ payrolls nationwide. In December, it was even worse, with nearly 600,000 people losing their jobs. Clearly, this recession is different from the past few that the country has experienced. That’s a fact borne out by news reports that members of the Federal Reserve Board anticipate this recession could be longer and deeper than officials believed it would be just a few weeks before.