Creatives are being increasingly cautious about the jobs they accept amid signs that demand for some of their services is being pinched as businesses tighten their belts.
Although contracts have not dried up in all major sectors, FreelanceUK has learnt that most creative candidates are trying harder to secure stable, longer-term roles.
Freelancers in advertising, design and marketing seem the least likely creatives to approach new roles with such caution, as demand for their services remains “strong.”
However even in marketing, where budget cuts have not hurt recruitment, it is candidates, not clients, who have become more risk-averse, according to creative recruiter Xchangeteam.
Its chief executive Emma Brierley said some full-time candidates had even rejected job offers because they felt it was too risky to move jobs in the current economic climate.
Meanwhile freelancers had increasingly asked after permanent placements, she said, seeming “concerned about whether the flow of freelance assignments is going to continue.”
The same question of whether freelance contracts are going to be sustainable has been asked by events and marketing specialists, as well as by professionals in the PR industry.
But according to the agency’s database, these creatives have much more reason to harbour doubts about non-permanent work: the three sectors have cut their freelance intake by 20%.
Maggie Maupin, head of PR, Marketing & Events recruitment at Xchangeteam, explained the slump in freelance hires was mostly a “calming down” from the “frantic” hiring of the boom days.
Like demand for creative freelancers offering design and advertising services, the agency said demand for PR, marketing and events freelancers should increase in the coming months.
In other words, all four creative sectors were seen as being at the penultimate stage of a ‘U-shaped’ model of demand that, as its name suggests, ends in an upward turn.
Ms Brierley explained: “Demand for freelancers in difficult economic climates is always a bit of a ‘U-Bend’. Initially freelancers are the first [staff] to be cut by clients because the flexibility of their contracts allows clients to do this relatively inexpensively.
“Then if the economy worsens, the client embarks on a redundancy programme among its permanent staff. Finally, the client realises that it still needs to complete projects but no longer has sufficient headcount, so demand for freelancers returns strongly before permanent hiring recommences”.
At the final stage of the model, hiring “confidence resumes,” but another creative recruitment site yesterday confirmed that businesses aren’t there yet, as cautious candidates seem to realise.
Lisette Howlett, chief executive of Hirescores.com, said freelancers were in a “noticeable struggle” at the moment, chiefly because their higher pay demands were deterring cost-conscious clients.
“HireScores.com has had more people looking for freelance work than normal. This is because quality freelancers generally cost more to take on board and so employers are either recruiting full-time staff or simply not recruiting”.
A survey conducted by the site found that, like cautious freelance marketers tracked by Xchangeteam, fewer creative candidates were now prepared to leave their jobs “through fear of not finding another.”
“The recruitment agencies have been quieter,” Ms Howlett explained. “People are nervous about contacting recruitment agencies and curious about which agencies they can rely on.”
Concerns about job security have also troubled digital freelancers, notably in the first quarter of this year, according to Sam Michel, chief executive of Chinwag, which tracks digital media workers’ confidence.
Not only are freelance digital jobs now harder to find than they were last year, but clients are also pressuring rates downward to be more competitive, prompting some freelancers to opt for permanent work instead.
“However the mood of agencies still seems to favour freelancers,” Mr Michel said last night, “probably for the flexibility that they bring to agencies working on short-term projects handling clients with post-credit crunch jitters.”
Yet these ‘jitters’ could end up unsettling creative freelancers whose work is non-critical, or could be scaled back, postponed or cancelled without harming the client’s business.
“External expertise in the creative area can be one of the ‘nice to haves’ that [general] companies do without during times of financial uncertainty – preferring to do it themselves,” Ms Howlett said.
“Whilst there is considerable evidence that a properly crafted and highly creative [staffing] solution can pay dividends, many employers either chose to take the shorter-term view, or simply cannot afford the option.”
Aug 20, 2008
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