Freelancers by nature rely on their smart phones and laptops to communicate with their clients, bid for contracts and undertake the tasks they have been hired to do so this three day outage is likely to have had a significant impact.

Robin Bienfait, chief information officer of RIM said: “You’ve depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we’re letting you down. We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation. We believe we understand why this happened an

On Twitter, computer entrepreneur Alan Sugar tweeted: “In all my years in IT biz, I have never seen such an outage as experienced by BlackBerry. I can’t understand why it’s taking so long to fix. All my companies use [BlackBerry phones], every one so reliant on getting email on the move, people don’t know if they are coming or going.”

Are you a freelancer or contractor that believes they have lost money due to the recent Blackberry problems?  How did it affect you? Leave a comment and let us know.

Linked In certainly appears to be one of the best social networking sites that has helped contractors not only source new roles but also build and develop their network. Some contractors have been approached by recruiters for roles via their Linked In page and some have even been contacted by the client directly.

Of 173 that voted on the PCG website, over half believe Linked In is a vital tool for the modern freelancer. You can cast your vote here.

Twitter also bears some relevance for contractors. It can help a contractor showcase their skills, show off their personality and also help them source available contracts as well as discuss the marketplace with other contractors.

Many recruitment companies and some clients will post their vacancies via their Twitter account. By simply searching a keyword such as ‘short term contract’, a contractor could see a list of Tweets with that keyword in it and see if they have any relevance to them.

A company may also use Twitter to ask a specific question which you may be able to answer and by interacting with companies, you may find yourself securing your next contract.

We would love to know your views and comments on social networking so please share your experiences using the comment box.

Whilst a number of recruiter agencies have looked favourably on social networking sites and how they can help match a contractor with a client, some are apprehensive and have reported this trend in a fairly down beat manner. Some recruitment agencies are also concerned that this trend may threaten recruitment industry profits.

Stephanie Lee, Sourcing Specialist for European Staffing for Intel Corp UK recently spoke at the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) conference and explained how her company had become an avid user of social networks to help source new candidates. Intel had a reputation for only employing ‘geeks’ and in order to rectify this image, they had developed a ‘social media vision’.

Although large companies may be focusing on using social media rather than using a recruitment agency, recruitment agencies are to using social media to source the right candidate for their client.

At the UK’s second Social Media In Recruitment conference to be held on 22nd April 2010 in London, both Google and LinkedIn have been confirmed as speakers. Mike Taylor from Web Based Recruitment, organisers of the conference is looking forward to another successful conference to help corporate recruiters, recruitment agencies, recruitment advertising agencies, job boards and recruitment industry suppliers get the most from using Social Media in Recruitment.

This latest update on the recruiting trend only confirms what ICS already thought about recruiters increasingly using social networking sites to source contractors, consultants and freelancers to match their clients brief.

Here at Independent Contractor Services (ICS), we firmly believe all contractors, freelancers and consultants should have a professional presence on social networking sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn thus making it easier for a company or a recruitment agency to find you and match your skills with a potential new contract.

TipTopJob, an online job board wants users including contractors to have the ability to search for work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Mike Dauncey, CEO of TipTopJob said: “We are tremendously excited by the new addition to our service. Through developing and implementing this cutting edge facility we are enabling jobseekers to be on the hunt for employment 24/7. We want our site to be accessible to those who may not be in front of a computer, whether they are travelling somewhere or unable to access traditional forms of internet.”

Past articles written by ICS have discussed how to find your next contract through job sites such as TipTopJob, but also social networking sites such as Linked In and Twitter. This move by TipTopJob however, clearly shows that those within the recruitment industry are continuing to utilise new technologies to make the search for permanent and temporary roles more accessible for the seekers.

Contractors using the new app will have full access to more than 80,000 job vacancies spanning 35 specific industry sectors, and will also be able to email or save their favourite listings. In addition to the listing facility the application also includes a helpful advice section featuring 50 detailed guides on all things recruitment.

It may be useful to read some articles by ICS which aim to help you find your next contract through a variety of methods;

A New Era Of Networking

A Helpful Guide To Sourcing New Contracts

Contractors Should Embrace The Internet

ICS Embraces Social Networking

Tweet To Find Your Next Contract

We would like to say a special thank you to all the contractors and agencies that we have worked with in 2009 and look forward to working with you in 2010.

In what has been a tough year for contractors trying to source a new contract, those within the marketplace are confident that in 2010 the market will begin to pick up. More contract reviews, limited company incorporations, signings to contractor umbrellas and contractor accountancy services all mean there are an increasing number of contractors winning an increasing amount of contracts.

Client-side, Dave Chaplin of Contractor Calculator has met with some of the top IT contractor clients recently, most of who are very bullish about the New Year and themselves talking about ramping up their IT contracting needs. He went on to say that, those who did not have positions to fill because recruitment had been frozen still had budgets to take on IT contractors. Others had new budgets starting in January 2010, allowing them to plan for growth and to bring in IT contractors to meet short-term demand.

2009 has also been a year in which ICS have embraced the internet and social media. We now have a newly designed website with the news page which is updated with relevant content regularly. We also have visibility on Linked In and Twitter (www.twitter.com/icscontractor), all in an aim to communicate with the contractor marketplace. In 2010, we aim to interact with even more contractors over the internet, enhancing our services from your feedback.

ICS will be operating normal working hours between the 29^th and 31^st December, closing on Christmas Eve at Midday and re-opening on 29th December.

Once again, may we take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

She suggested that self-employed people should get a professional email address, as those who use heavily personalised alternatives may find that “most clients aren’t likely to take you seriously”. When emailing recruiters or clients, contractors should also ensure their emails to clients are carefully proofread – with no spelling mistakes, abbreviations or unprofessional language. It may also be careless for contractors to express negative opinions about clients on social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Dawn also thought it was important for contractors to have their own website to enhance their online presence. By having a simple, professional website it can lend creditability to your services. If your website is well optimised, recruiters or potential clients may be able to find you in the search engines and perhaps approach you with a specific project or task.

Ensuring you have an online version of your CV and a Linked In profile will also enhance your online credibility. So what are you waiting for?

John Lyon, Managing Director of Independent Contractor Services was unfamiliar to the social networking phenomenon a few months ago but now has his own Linked In profile as well as his own newly created Twitter page. He finds social networking a great way to communicate with contractors, colleagues and also potential clients.

The readership figures for our blog have continued to increase and we have been pleased to see people engaging in our blog by commenting on our articles. Our Twitter page is updated regularly and we have engaged in relevant groups on Linked In.

The internet is a tool which everyone uses daily, hence to have an online presence and communicate with contractors via this is vital.

To find out more about ICS, visit our website, www.ics.me.uk.

You need to do your research and find out what is out there in the contractor marketplace. Job boards have become very popular over the last few years and should definitely be the first place to look for a contract. By looking through the job boards, it will help you give a sense of the current marketplace and what is out there for contractors like yourself.

Also make use of social networking sites, such as Twitter, where you can ask other contractors how they are finding the current marketplace and also if they know of any contracts or good recruitment agencies. Forums dedicated to contractors will also help you find out what the ‘hot topic’ is in the marketplace and what you should be concerned about.

There will often be a lot of advice from other contractors on there that you may find helpful. However, when it comes to legal and accounting advice, make sure you get expert advice from qualified people. Independent Contractor Services Ltd (ICS) provides accountancy and administration services to the contractor marketplace and can offer expert advice.

When you choose to become a contractor, you also need to research how much other contractors in your field of work are charging their client. This is so you can decide what you will charge clients, whether it is an hourly or daily rate. By using the Permanent to Contract Calculator and Contractor Calculator can also help you to determine your rate.

The contracting market has different cycles that you should be aware of. There are also two annual cycles, which are driven by the financial year and holiday seasons. It is important you get the timing right for your transition into contracting. When you choose to leave your permanent role, you should always try and keep a good relationship with that employer.

It is now time to start searching for your new contract. There are articles on here which offer advice on networking and agencies but also use those job boards you looked at to research the marketplace. Whether you decide to find your new contract yourself or through the help of an agency, ICS can offer accountancy advice once you have secured that new contract. For more information, visit the website or alternatively telephone 0800 195 3750.

But how can a contractor use social networking to their advantage?

Recruitment companies and businesses are increasingly using social media to advertise both contract and permanent roles but a contractor can also use social media to their advantage by regularly using it to list their skills, what contract they are looking for, expected rate and much more.

Twitter enables contractors to effectively communicate with companies and vice versa. Bruce Stander, group chief executive of Optimal Internet says ‘Twitter-style job aggregation is very much alive and job boards are already ahead n the curve of this’.

Blogging can give a contractor the opportunity to detail all their skills, a description of the current contract, the contract length and what they are looking for next. It gives a contractor an online presence which can help to secure a new contract.

A contractor should also regularly visit message boards and forums to detail what they are looking for but also to look and see if there are any suitable contracts available. Forums and Message boards also enable contractors to communicate with companies but also other contractors who may be able to recommend agencies or know of contracts available.

Scott Burns-Smith, head of marketing development at The Orion Group says that they automatically feed vacancies to Twitter and messages to Facebook from its website. He goes on to say to say, “This is great as it’s getting the information out there as quickly as possible and it’s targeting a very new audience. Everyone is networking a lot more, they’re talking to people about where the vacancies are and the way people look for jobs is changing.”

According to Ofcom’s Communications Marketing Report, 2009, the number of people using Twitter between the first quarter of 2008 and the same quarter in 2009 has rose by a enormous 1,679%.