IT contractors need to act like salespeople when going to a job interview, it is claimed.

According to Contractor Calculator, IT contractors are a "human product", offering a particular package of skills, designed to immediate fit a client's requirements and remedy their problems.

As such, the IT contractor needs to sell themselves like any other product, the website claims.

For those who find this difficult, Contractor Calculator recommends thinking about how what kind of salesman someone wants when buying a TV - informative but not pushy, talkative without bombarding the client with too much information.

"A professional sales person will use their skill to establish the client's requirements and match a product or service to their needs, before asking for a sale to close the deal," the website notes.

A report recently published by e-skills UK established that the number of vacancies for IT workers rose by eight per cent in the third quarter of 2010, with positions for IT contractors up by 11 per cent