A new survey by Corps Business shows up a demographic shift in multimedia employment patterns in the UK. The survey shows that over the past four years companies have started to take on permanent multimedia specialists rather than bring in temporary staff for one-off projects. However, although the trend is increasingly towards permanent employment, the multimedia industry as a whole still has a higher percentage of staff in contract positions (59% for January to March of this year). Reasons employers gave for the shift towards permanent positions ranged from requiring on-site staff expertise all the time to the feeling that having in-house multimedia capabilities gave a competitive edge. The spiraling cost of multimedia contractors (in common with the rest of the UK IT industry) was another powerful incentive. The overwhelming reason given by multimedia specialists for the increasing shift to permanent work, was in- house training offered by employers; coupled with the pressing need to keep abreast of new applications and technology in the multimedia field. Many specialists also felt that UK companies were now more willing to be ‘adventurous’ in the multimedia arena. Job security was listed by many as a pressing issue, although a permanent position was felt to offer more in way the of career opportunities.
