Social Skills Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Social Skills (Interpersonal, Communication)
North West > Cheshire

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Social Skills in contract job vacancies in Cheshire. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Social Skills over the 6 months leading up to 1 October 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 1 2 1
Rank change year-on-year +1 -1 0
Contract jobs citing Social Skills 207 138 125
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 30.58% 25.70% 31.97%
As % of the General category 46.10% 37.81% 45.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 122 77 63
10th Percentile £266 £360 £227
25th Percentile £330 £450 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £442 £520 £495
Median % change year-on-year -14.95% +5.05% +16.47%
75th Percentile £538 £585 £560
90th Percentile £644 £638 £587
North West median daily rate £492 £475 £463
% change year-on-year +3.58% +2.70% -2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 12 11
10th Percentile £12.79 £15.36 £15.00
25th Percentile £12.82 £15.84 £22.27
Median hourly rate £16.00 £23.14 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.84% -15.87% +127.27%
75th Percentile £18.87 £35.00 £35.38
90th Percentile £32.50 - £35.75
North West median hourly rate £17.44 £24.18 £27.50
% change year-on-year -27.87% -12.07% +37.50%

All General Skills
Cheshire

Social Skills falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring common skills in Cheshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 449 365 273
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 66.32% 67.97% 69.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 318 225 153
10th Percentile £305 £356 £265
25th Percentile £363 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £446 £510 £500
Median % change year-on-year -12.65% +2.00% +13.96%
75th Percentile £537 £576 £586
90th Percentile £688 £675 £625
North West median daily rate £455 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -7.14% -2.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 13 32
10th Percentile - £15.36 £16.11
25th Percentile £12.82 £16.00 £19.43
Median hourly rate £18.31 £24.18 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -24.28% -12.07% +71.13%
75th Percentile £36.86 £35.00 £35.00
90th Percentile £59.08 - £35.68
North West median hourly rate £23.57 £35.00 £21.68
% change year-on-year -32.67% +61.44% +7.70%

Social Skills
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Social Skills relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Social Skills job vacancy trend in Cheshire

Social Skills
Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Social Skills.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Social Skills

Social Skills
Daily Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Social Skills in Cheshire over the 6 months to 1 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Social Skills in Cheshire

Social Skills
Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Social Skills.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Social Skills

Social Skills
Hourly Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Social Skills in Cheshire over the 6 months to 1 October 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Social Skills in Cheshire

Social Skills
Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Social Skills within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 1 October 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Knutsford +3 60 £395 -19.08% 9
Chester +1 45 £575 -0.35% 30
Warrington 0 27 £475 +5.56% 33
Macclesfield -1 23 £500 -4.76% 3
Crewe +6 10 £210 -63.16% 21
Northwich +2 3 £400 - 1
Social Skills
North West

Social Skills
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 16 (7.73%) Skype for Business
2 15 (7.25%) Confluence
2 15 (7.25%) SharePoint
3 13 (6.28%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (3.86%) Mattermost
5 7 (3.38%) Exchange Server 2013
6 6 (2.90%) JBoss
7 5 (2.42%) Exchange Server 2010
7 5 (2.42%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.97%) Mule
8 2 (0.97%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.48%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.48%) Apache
9 1 (0.48%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.48%) WebLogic
Applications
1 25 (12.08%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (5.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (5.31%) MS Visio
4 9 (4.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (1.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.48%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.48%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.48%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 21 (10.14%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (2.42%) assyst
3 3 (1.45%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.48%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 1 (0.48%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.48%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 26 (12.56%) Microsoft 365
2 25 (12.08%) Azure
3 16 (7.73%) AWS
4 12 (5.80%) OneDrive
5 10 (4.83%) OpenShift
6 9 (4.35%) SaaS
7 6 (2.90%) Power Platform
8 4 (1.93%) GCP
9 3 (1.45%) Serverless
9 3 (1.45%) Smartsheet
10 2 (0.97%) AWS Lambda
10 2 (0.97%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (0.97%) BrowserStack
10 2 (0.97%) Microsoft Purview
10 2 (0.97%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 1 (0.48%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 1 (0.48%) Amazon Glacier
11 1 (0.48%) Amazon Kinesis
11 1 (0.48%) AWS CloudFormation
11 1 (0.48%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 16 (7.73%) Skype
2 12 (5.80%) DNS
2 12 (5.80%) Unified Communications
3 11 (5.31%) Network Security
4 9 (4.35%) Firewall
4 9 (4.35%) WebEx
5 8 (3.86%) DMZ
5 8 (3.86%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
5 8 (3.86%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 8 (3.86%) Softphone
6 7 (3.38%) Internet
7 6 (2.90%) SSH
8 4 (1.93%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (1.45%) Intrusion Detection
9 3 (1.45%) LAN
9 3 (1.45%) NetScaler
9 3 (1.45%) VPN
10 2 (0.97%) Wireless
11 1 (0.48%) SD-WAN
11 1 (0.48%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.48%) Apache Hive
1 1 (0.48%) Big Data
1 1 (0.48%) DynamoDB
1 1 (0.48%) Hadoop
1 1 (0.48%) MySQL
1 1 (0.48%) Power BI
1 1 (0.48%) Power Query
1 1 (0.48%) RDBMS
1 1 (0.48%) Relational Database
1 1 (0.48%) SAP Data Services
1 1 (0.48%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 28 (13.53%) JIRA
2 10 (4.83%) Jenkins
3 8 (3.86%) Git
4 5 (2.42%) JUnit
4 5 (2.42%) Selenium
4 5 (2.42%) Sonatype Nexus
5 4 (1.93%) Gradle
5 4 (1.93%) Maven
6 3 (1.45%) GitLab
6 3 (1.45%) Hudson
6 3 (1.45%) SonarQube
6 3 (1.45%) TestRail
7 2 (0.97%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.97%) Zephyr
8 1 (0.48%) Appium
8 1 (0.48%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.48%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.48%) JMeter
8 1 (0.48%) LSMW
8 1 (0.48%) TeamCity
General
1 67 (32.37%) Analytical Skills
2 55 (26.57%) Finance
3 26 (12.56%) Banking
4 18 (8.70%) Organisational Skills
4 18 (8.70%) Pharmaceutical
5 15 (7.25%) Manufacturing
6 14 (6.76%) Legal
7 9 (4.35%) Public Sector
8 7 (3.38%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (2.90%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (2.42%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.93%) Investment Banking
11 4 (1.93%) Publishing
12 3 (1.45%) Automotive
13 2 (0.97%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (0.97%) Electronics
13 2 (0.97%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.97%) Marketing
14 1 (0.48%) Dutch Language
Job Titles
1 48 (23.19%) Analyst
2 16 (7.73%) Support Analyst
3 15 (7.25%) Architect
3 15 (7.25%) Consultant
4 14 (6.76%) Business Analyst
4 14 (6.76%) Operational Support Analyst
4 14 (6.76%) Operations Analyst
4 14 (6.76%) Operations Support Analyst
5 11 (5.31%) IT Support
5 11 (5.31%) Lead
5 11 (5.31%) Support Engineer
6 10 (4.83%) Developer
6 10 (4.83%) Support Technician
7 8 (3.86%) Messaging Engineer
7 8 (3.86%) Messaging Support
7 8 (3.86%) Messaging Support Engineer
7 8 (3.86%) Network Engineer
7 8 (3.86%) Operations Engineer
7 8 (3.86%) Operations Support Engineer
8 7 (3.38%) Messaging Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (5.31%) REST
2 8 (3.86%) XMPP
3 7 (3.38%) SOAP
3 7 (3.38%) Spring Boot
4 6 (2.90%) JSON
4 6 (2.90%) Spring
4 6 (2.90%) XML
5 5 (2.42%) Web Services
6 4 (1.93%) AngularJS
6 4 (1.93%) CSS
6 4 (1.93%) HTML
6 4 (1.93%) LDAP
6 4 (1.93%) Lightning Web Components
6 4 (1.93%) Spring Cloud
7 2 (0.97%) .NET
7 2 (0.97%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.97%) J2EE
7 2 (0.97%) Kafka
7 2 (0.97%) SailPoint
8 1 (0.48%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 20 (9.66%) Management Information System
2 11 (5.31%) Enterprise Software
3 10 (4.83%) Driving Licence
4 7 (3.38%) Product Ownership
5 6 (2.90%) Tandem
6 4 (1.93%) Low-Code
6 4 (1.93%) Onboarding
6 4 (1.93%) PMI
6 4 (1.93%) Video Conferencing
6 4 (1.93%) Virtual Team
7 3 (1.45%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.45%) Mobile App
8 2 (0.97%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.97%) Cloud Native
8 2 (0.97%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.48%) Distributed Systems
9 1 (0.48%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.48%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.48%) Operational Technology
9 1 (0.48%) Smart Meter
Operating Systems
1 25 (12.08%) Windows
2 13 (6.28%) Linux
3 10 (4.83%) Apple iOS
3 10 (4.83%) Unix
4 7 (3.38%) Android
5 4 (1.93%) Windows 10
6 3 (1.45%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.48%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.48%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (39.13%) Problem-Solving
2 47 (22.71%) Stakeholder Management
3 43 (20.77%) ITIL
4 36 (17.39%) Agile
4 36 (17.39%) Project Management
5 32 (15.46%) Migration
6 29 (14.01%) Customer Service
7 25 (12.08%) Change Management
8 23 (11.11%) Continuous Improvement
9 22 (10.63%) Problem Management
9 22 (10.63%) Test Automation
10 20 (9.66%) DevOps
10 20 (9.66%) Service Management
10 20 (9.66%) Six Sigma
11 19 (9.18%) CI/CD
11 19 (9.18%) Service Delivery
12 18 (8.70%) Computer Science
13 16 (7.73%) Incident Response
13 16 (7.73%) Process Improvement
14 15 (7.25%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 17 (8.21%) SQL
2 16 (7.73%) PowerShell
3 14 (6.76%) Java
4 11 (5.31%) Python
5 6 (2.90%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.93%) Shell Script
7 3 (1.45%) Bash
8 2 (0.97%) Apex Code
8 2 (0.97%) C#
8 2 (0.97%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.48%) ABAP
9 1 (0.48%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.48%) Perl
9 1 (0.48%) Ruby
9 1 (0.48%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 43 (20.77%) Degree
2 16 (7.73%) Security Cleared
3 13 (6.28%) Computer Science Degree
3 13 (6.28%) ITIL Certification
4 8 (3.86%) Six Sigma Green Belt
5 7 (3.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 6 (2.90%) CISSP
6 6 (2.90%) SC Cleared
7 4 (1.93%) CBAP
7 4 (1.93%) CCNP
7 4 (1.93%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (1.93%) CISM
7 4 (1.93%) PMI Certification
8 3 (1.45%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (1.45%) PMP
9 2 (0.97%) A+ Certification
9 2 (0.97%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.97%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.97%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.97%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (2.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 6 (2.90%) SEPA
2 4 (1.93%) Data Quality
2 4 (1.93%) NIST
2 4 (1.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
3 3 (1.45%) GDPR
3 3 (1.45%) P3O
3 3 (1.45%) PMO
3 3 (1.45%) QA
3 3 (1.45%) SLA
4 2 (0.97%) COBIT
4 2 (0.97%) GxP
4 2 (0.97%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.48%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.48%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.48%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 1 (0.48%) NCSC
5 1 (0.48%) WCAG
System Software
1 35 (16.91%) Active Directory
2 6 (2.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.93%) Docker
4 3 (1.45%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.97%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 19 (9.18%) SCCM
2 13 (6.28%) Microsoft Intune
3 8 (3.86%) Kubernetes
3 8 (3.86%) SCOM
4 3 (1.45%) HP ALM
4 3 (1.45%) Jamf Pro
4 3 (1.45%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (1.45%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 2 (0.97%) Ansible
5 2 (0.97%) Fluentd
5 2 (0.97%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.48%) Docker Swarm
6 1 (0.48%) Grafana
6 1 (0.48%) Kibana
6 1 (0.48%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.48%) QRadar
6 1 (0.48%) Terraform
Vendors
1 64 (30.92%) Microsoft
2 35 (16.91%) ServiceNow
3 30 (14.49%) SAP
4 14 (6.76%) Splunk
5 13 (6.28%) Cisco
6 9 (4.35%) F5
6 9 (4.35%) Red Hat
7 8 (3.86%) VMware
8 7 (3.38%) Oracle
9 6 (2.90%) IBM
10 5 (2.42%) Salesforce
11 4 (1.93%) Gemalto
11 4 (1.93%) Thales
12 3 (1.45%) AppDynamics
12 3 (1.45%) Apple
12 3 (1.45%) Citrix
12 3 (1.45%) HP
12 3 (1.45%) Palo Alto
12 3 (1.45%) Remedy
12 3 (1.45%) Zscaler