Helpdesk Support Contracts

The table below looks at the demand for the Helpdesk Support role in IT contracts across the UK compared to all other Job Titles we currently track. Included is a guide to the contractor rates offered in IT jobs that have cited Helpdesk Support in their job title over the 3 months to 6 October 2008 with a comparison to the same period last year.

Help Desk Support
Location Aberdeen Abingdon Atherstone Basildon Basingstoke Bath Bedfordshire Bellshill Berkshire Birmingham Blackburn Blackpool Bolton Bournemouth Bracknell Bradford Brighton Bristol Bromsgrove Buckinghamshire Cambridge Cambridgeshire Canary Wharf Cardiff Chelmsford Cheshire Chesterfield Chippenham City of London Colchester Coventry Crawley Dartford Derby Derbyshire Devon Dorset Dover East Anglia East Midlands East of England East Sussex Eastleigh England Essex Exeter Farnham Feltham Fife Folkestone Gatwick Glasgow Guildford Halifax Hampshire Harrow Hastings Hertfordshire High Wycombe Highlands Hounslow Inverness Ipswich Kegworth Kent Lancashire Leeds Leicester Leicestershire Lincoln Lincolnshire Liverpool London Luton Lutterworth Maidenhead Manchester Merseyside Middlesex Midlands Milton Keynes Newbury Newcastle Newcastle Upon Tyne North East North Lanarkshire North West North Yorkshire Northampton Northamptonshire Nottingham Nottinghamshire Oxford Oxfordshire Peterborough Poole Portsmouth Preston Reading Redhill Reigate Rugby Sandwich Scotland Sheffield Shropshire Slough Somerset South East South Wales South West South Yorkshire Southampton Staffordshire Stockport Suffolk Sunderland Surrey Swindon Telford Tyne and Wear UK Uxbridge Wales Walsall Walton-on-Thames Warwick Warwickshire West Midlands West Sussex West Yorkshire Wiltshire Winchester Windsor Witham Woking Worcestershire York Yorkshire	3 months to 6 Oct 2008	Same period last year
Rank	196	223
Rank change on same period last year	+27
Matching contract IT job ads	556	690
As % of all UK contract IT job ads sampled	0.777 %	0.693 %
As % of the category below	0.876 %	0.758 %
Daily rates quoted	50	52
Average minimum daily rate	£124	£132
Average daily rate	£131	£139
% change on same period last year	-5.88 %
Average maximum daily rate	£138	£146
UK excluding London average daily rate	£95	£115
% change on same period last year	-16.95 %
Hourly rates quoted	250	259
Average minimum hourly rate	£13.31	£12.48
Average hourly rate	£14.18	£13.27
% change on same period last year	+6.82 %
Average maximum hourly rate	£15.04	£14.06
UK excluding London average hourly rate	£12.37	£12.07
% change on same period last year	+2.50 %
Job Titles UK
Matching contract IT job ads	63500	91029
As % of all UK contract IT job ads sampled	88.71 %	91.46 %
Daily rates quoted	20586	27389
Average minimum daily rate	£373	£388
Average daily rate	£398	£413
% change on same period last year	-3.46 %
Average maximum daily rate	£424	£437
UK excluding London average daily rate	£353	£353
% change on same period last year	+0.09 %
Hourly rates quoted	5664	7945
Average minimum hourly rate	£22.67	£23.82
Average hourly rate	£24.20	£25.38
% change on same period last year	-4.62 %
Average maximum hourly rate	£25.74	£26.94
UK excluding London average hourly rate	£23.74	£25.24
% change on same period last year	-5.93 %

We calculate average IT contractor rates directly from the figures quoted and do not attempt to derive hourly rates from daily rates or vice versa.

Helpdesk Support
Demand Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving total beginning in 2004 of IT contractor jobs citing Helpdesk Support within the UK as a proportion of the total demand within the Job Titles category.

Helpdesk Support
Daily Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in IT contract jobs citing Helpdesk Support within the UK.

Helpdesk Support
Daily Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of daily rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing Helpdesk Support within the UK over the 3 months to 6 October 2008.

Helpdesk Support
Hourly Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for hourly rates quoted in IT contractor jobs citing Helpdesk Support within the UK.

Helpdesk Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of hourly rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing Helpdesk Support within the UK over the 3 months to 6 October 2008.

Helpdesk Support
Top 30 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the average contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Helpdesk Support within the UK over the 3 months to 6 October 2008. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year. A positive number indicates a relative increase in demand.

Location	Rank Change on Same Period Last Last	Matching Contract IT Job Ads	Average Daily Rate Last 3 Months	Average Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year
England	+31	543	£132	-5.06 %
London	+49	210	£166	+0.71 %
South East	+5	130	£107	-19.52 %
East of England	-5	43	£76	-25.80 %
West Midlands	+23	37	-	-
North West	-1	37	-	-
City of London	-13	37	£162	-13.59 %
East Midlands	+26	36	£117	-13.42 %
Buckinghamshire	+13	31	£138	+37.50 %
Berkshire	+43	29	£75	-
Essex	-7	24	£76	-23.63 %
Milton Keynes	-1	24	£138	+37.50 %
Manchester	+2	23	-	-
Surrey	+15	23	£140	+13.13 %
Hampshire	+19	21	-	-
Warwickshire	+31	21	-	-
Yorkshire	+7	19	-	-
South West	+15	19	£110	-
Scotland	-9	12	£75	-
Cambridgeshire	+27	12	-	-
West Yorkshire	+1	12	-	-
Warwick	+10	11	-	-
Leicestershire	+21	11	£113	-
North East	+17	10	-	-
Derbyshire	+4	9	£100	-42.85 %
Reading	0	9	£85	-
Cambridge	+22	8	-	-
Lincolnshire	-	8	£128	-
Tyne and Wear	-	8	-	-
West Sussex	0	7	-	-

Helpdesk Support
Top 30 Related IT Skills

For the 6 months to 6 October 2008, IT contractor jobs within the UK that cited Helpdesk Support in their job title mentioned the following IT skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled with Helpdesk Support in their job title.

1 617 (55.44 %) Windows 2 447 (40.16 %) MS Office 3 361 (32.43 %) Windows XP 4 329 (29.56 %) Microsoft 5 301 (27.04 %) Active Directory 6 258 (23.18 %) MS Excel 7 199 (17.88 %) Windows 2000 8 135 (12.13 %) Windows Server 2003 9 110 (9.883 %) ITIL 10 104 (9.344 %) MS Exchange 11 100 (8.985 %) Finance 12 96 (8.625 %) Legal 13 83 (7.457 %) TCP/IP 14 76 (6.828 %) Microsoft Certification 15 68 (6.110 %) Law

16 67 (6.020 %) Citrix 17 55 (4.942 %) Windows Vista 18 52 (4.672 %) MCP 19 51 (4.582 %) Lotus Notes 19 51 (4.582 %) Lotus 20 47 (4.223 %) LAN 21 44 (3.953 %) Remedy 22 42 (3.774 %) Blackberry 22 42 (3.774 %) French Language 23 40 (3.594 %) SLA 24 39 (3.504 %) Exchange Server 2003 25 36 (3.235 %) MCSE 26 35 (3.145 %) WAN 27 33 (2.965 %) Security Cleared 28 31 (2.785 %) German Language

Helpdesk Support
Top Related IT Skills by Category

For the 6 months to 6 October 2008, IT contractor jobs within the UK that cited Helpdesk Support in their job title mentioned the following IT skills grouped by category. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled with Helpdesk Support in their job title. Up to 20 skills are shown per category.

Application Development 1 4 (0.359 %) HTML 1 4 (0.359 %) .NET 2 2 (0.180 %) XML 2 2 (0.180 %) Application Packaging 3 1 (0.090 %) ASP 3 1 (0.090 %) CSS 3 1 (0.090 %) WebServices	Application Platforms 1 104 (9.344 %) MS Exchange 2 51 (4.582 %) Lotus Notes 3 39 (3.504 %) Exchange Server 2003 4 9 (0.809 %) Exchange Server 5.5 5 8 (0.719 %) Exchange Server 2000 6 7 (0.629 %) WorkSite 7 6 (0.539 %) Exchange Server 2007 8 5 (0.449 %) SharePoint 9 4 (0.359 %) CMS 10 3 (0.270 %) IIS 10 3 (0.270 %) GroupWise 11 2 (0.180 %) Documentum 12 1 (0.090 %) Blackberry Enterprise Server 12 1 (0.090 %) Tomcat
Applications 1 447 (40.16 %) MS Office 2 258 (23.18 %) MS Excel 3 25 (2.246 %) MS PowerPoint 4 4 (0.359 %) MS Visio 5 3 (0.270 %) Spreadsheet 5 3 (0.270 %) DeltaView 6 2 (0.180 %) AutoCAD 7 1 (0.090 %) MS Project	Business Applications 1 12 (1.078 %) assyst 2 5 (0.449 %) Summit 3 3 (0.270 %) GoldMine 4 2 (0.180 %) Hyperion Planning 4 2 (0.180 %) SAP HR 4 2 (0.180 %) SAP R/3 5 1 (0.090 %) SAP FI 5 1 (0.090 %) SAP MM 5 1 (0.090 %) Temenos Globus 5 1 (0.090 %) SAP Oil and Gas 5 1 (0.090 %) Academy Housing 5 1 (0.090 %) Line 50 5 1 (0.090 %) Dynamics NAV 5 1 (0.090 %) Dynamics GP
Communications & Networking 1 83 (7.457 %) TCP/IP 2 47 (4.223 %) LAN 3 35 (3.145 %) WAN 4 30 (2.695 %) Internet 5 23 (2.066 %) DNS 6 19 (1.707 %) VPN 7 10 (0.898 %) Ethernet 8 9 (0.809 %) SMS 9 8 (0.719 %) ADSL 9 8 (0.719 %) DHCP 10 6 (0.539 %) Intranet 11 5 (0.449 %) Wireless 12 3 (0.270 %) SMTP 12 3 (0.270 %) ATM 12 3 (0.270 %) Broadband 12 3 (0.270 %) PBX 12 3 (0.270 %) VoIP 13 2 (0.180 %) POP3 13 2 (0.180 %) HTTP 13 2 (0.180 %) Firewall	Database & Business Intelligence 1 18 (1.617 %) SQL Server 2 3 (0.270 %) Crystal Reports 3 2 (0.180 %) Oracle Reports 3 2 (0.180 %) SQL Server 2000 4 1 (0.090 %) SQL Server 2005 4 1 (0.090 %) MS Access 4 1 (0.090 %) BusinessObjects 4 1 (0.090 %) SAP BW 4 1 (0.090 %) SQL Server 7
General 1 100 (8.985 %) Finance 2 96 (8.625 %) Legal 3 68 (6.110 %) Law 4 28 (2.516 %) Banking 5 27 (2.426 %) Telecoms 6 25 (2.246 %) Government 7 14 (1.258 %) Back Office 8 13 (1.168 %) Investment Banking 9 12 (1.078 %) Retail 10 8 (0.719 %) Insurance 10 8 (0.719 %) Pharmaceutical 11 6 (0.539 %) Front Office 11 6 (0.539 %) Education 12 5 (0.449 %) Health 13 4 (0.359 %) Electronics 13 4 (0.359 %) Retail Banking 14 3 (0.270 %) Music 14 3 (0.270 %) Automotive 15 2 (0.180 %) Financial Institution 15 2 (0.180 %) Manufacturing	Miscellaneous 1 42 (3.774 %) Blackberry 1 42 (3.774 %) French Language 2 31 (2.785 %) German Language 3 29 (2.606 %) NHS 4 25 (2.246 %) Dutch Language 5 23 (2.066 %) Spanish Language 6 21 (1.887 %) Italian Language 7 13 (1.168 %) PDA 8 10 (0.898 %) Japanese Language 9 8 (0.719 %) Statistics 10 7 (0.629 %) AS400 11 6 (0.539 %) EPoS 11 6 (0.539 %) Mathematics 11 6 (0.539 %) Smartphone 12 5 (0.449 %) Swedish Language 13 4 (0.359 %) Video Conferencing 13 4 (0.359 %) Norwegian Language 13 4 (0.359 %) Computer Science 13 4 (0.359 %) Mainframe 14 3 (0.270 %) Physics
Operating Systems 1 617 (55.44 %) Windows 2 361 (32.43 %) Windows XP 3 199 (17.88 %) Windows 2000 4 135 (12.13 %) Windows Server 2003 5 55 (4.942 %) Windows Vista 6 27 (2.426 %) Windows 2000 Server 7 20 (1.797 %) Windows NT 8 18 (1.617 %) UNIX 9 14 (1.258 %) Mac OS X 10 4 (0.359 %) Windows Mobile 10 4 (0.359 %) Linux 11 3 (0.270 %) NetWare 12 1 (0.090 %) VME 12 1 (0.090 %) Windows Server 2008 12 1 (0.090 %) AIX 12 1 (0.090 %) HPUX 12 1 (0.090 %) Solaris	Processes & Methodologies 1 110 (9.883 %) ITIL 2 33 (2.965 %) Security Cleared 3 28 (2.516 %) SC Cleared 4 19 (1.707 %) Incident Management 5 18 (1.617 %) Document Management 6 16 (1.438 %) Business Intelligence 7 13 (1.168 %) Asset Management 7 13 (1.168 %) Service Delivery 8 8 (0.719 %) Service Management 9 5 (0.449 %) CRM 9 5 (0.449 %) Knowledge Management 9 5 (0.449 %) Problem Management 9 5 (0.449 %) Time Management 10 4 (0.359 %) Content Management 10 4 (0.359 %) Migration 11 3 (0.270 %) Workflow 11 3 (0.270 %) Data Protection 11 3 (0.270 %) Fund Management 12 2 (0.180 %) DV Cleared 12 2 (0.180 %) ERP
Programming Languages 1 20 (1.797 %) SQL 2 6 (0.539 %) C 3 4 (0.359 %) VB 4 2 (0.180 %) Shell Script 5 1 (0.090 %) VB.NET 5 1 (0.090 %) Java	Qualifications 1 76 (6.828 %) Microsoft Certification 2 52 (4.672 %) MCP 3 36 (3.235 %) MCSE 4 31 (2.785 %) Degree 5 8 (0.719 %) MOS 6 6 (0.539 %) ECDL 6 6 (0.539 %) HNC 6 6 (0.539 %) A+ Certification 7 5 (0.449 %) ITIL Certification 8 4 (0.359 %) MCSA 9 3 (0.270 %) HND 9 3 (0.270 %) MCDST 10 2 (0.180 %) Cisco Certification 10 2 (0.180 %) CCNA 11 1 (0.090 %) CCA 11 1 (0.090 %) Citrix Certification 11 1 (0.090 %) CNA 11 1 (0.090 %) CNE 11 1 (0.090 %) Novell Certification 11 1 (0.090 %) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance 1 40 (3.594 %) SLA 2 4 (0.359 %) Sarbanes-Oxley 3 3 (0.270 %) ISO9001	System Software 1 301 (27.04 %) Active Directory 2 12 (1.078 %) Backup Exec 3 4 (0.359 %) Terminal Services 4 1 (0.090 %) NetMail 4 1 (0.090 %) Citrix Presentation Server 4 1 (0.090 %) NDS
Systems Management 1 10 (0.898 %) Systems Management Server (SMS) 2 3 (0.270 %) Norton AntiVirus 3 2 (0.180 %) MAILsweeper 3 2 (0.180 %) ARCserve 3 2 (0.180 %) OpenView 4 1 (0.090 %) MOM 4 1 (0.090 %) DameWare	Vendors 1 329 (29.56 %) Microsoft 2 67 (6.020 %) Citrix 3 51 (4.582 %) Lotus 4 44 (3.953 %) Remedy 5 24 (2.156 %) Novell 6 23 (2.066 %) HP 7 18 (1.617 %) Cisco 8 15 (1.348 %) Interwoven 8 15 (1.348 %) Oracle 9 11 (0.988 %) Compaq 9 11 (0.988 %) Apple 10 10 (0.898 %) VERITAS 10 10 (0.898 %) SAP 11 9 (0.809 %) Hummingbird 12 8 (0.719 %) Dell 12 8 (0.719 %) Reuters 13 7 (0.629 %) Bloomberg 13 7 (0.629 %) JD Edwards 14 5 (0.449 %) Avaya 15 4 (0.359 %) Intel