DENVER (KDVR) — The demand for seasonal contract workers in Denver has reached an all-time high.
It comes as companies across the metro-area continue to lose skilled and talented employees in droves.
While this is good news for employees, analysts say it’s bad news for employers.
Quite frankly, there’s never been a better time to be a candidate in the Denver job market, especially if you’re skilled.
Brand new research from the global talent solutions firm ‘Robert Half’ shows 60% of Denver companies are looking to hire contract professionals for seasonal and year-end needs.
These are temporary gigs that will likely stretch until the new year.
As companies continue their uphill struggle to fill open roles and as workers continue to resign at record rates, experts in the Denver jobs market say employers are offering seasonal workers more money than they have in past years.
“Seasonal work is going to have to pay up to get talent. There’s quite a shortage of talented workers. So I would think many candidates right now could probably look for anywhere from a 7% to 15% increase in their hourly wage from last year,” said Eric Olson, District President for Global Talent Solutions Firm Robert Half.
In terms of which sort of gigs and industries are looking to hire seasonal contract professionals right now — talent scouts at Robert Half say hospitality, outdoor recreation (like ski resorts), as well as E-Commerce companies are the ones to keep an eye on in Colorado.
This type of work could include: the ability to help businesses with holiday parties or perhaps something more complex like working in database management.
Talent scouts say if you’ve been wanting to try something new, this very well could be the best time to give a different career a shot.
“Maybe there’s an opportunity for you to learn new software, a new industry or perhaps a new position? Many companies are willing to take an opportunity to bring somebody up quicker and faster than before because of the shortage of leaders,” Olson said.
The research from Robert Half goes on to show Denver employers plan to outsource HR support to help with the following: Temporary staffing (53%), recruiting (47%), benefits administration (40%), performance management (33%).