I was one of about 25 ex-pats all working for the same company. We were transferred over there for a special project and when it was finished we all returned to our regular jobs in the UK' she said. A contracting market does exist however and according to some specialist agencies it has matured significantly over the past year. Johannesburg is the country's main banking and commercial centre, but there are also plenty of large organisations in Cape Town which is home to some of the country's major insurance companies and financial institutions like Merrill Lynch, Fedsure and petroleum multinationals like BP and Shell. Jonathan Jones, Business Development Manager from M3 International has been placing UK contractors into South African jobs for three years.
Most contracts are short term and require highly specialist skill sets.
We deal mostly with SAP and other ERP placements' he said. As far as rates are concerned expect to be paid considerably lower than in Europe. A quick browse of salaries for permanent IT jobs will give you an idea of the standards of pay. We only deal with multinational organisations in South Africa, and we've seen a definite rise in rates over the past year although demand is still slow' he said. Once out there however, your money will go much further than it would in Europe as Fergusson commented 'You'd be amazed at the quality of life you can get for the money.