4 reasons for job-hunters to be cheerful
Recruiters, often the first firms to catch wind of a pick-up in business activity, have been making much more upbeat noises in the last few months.
Hays chief executive Alistair Cox, whose firm focuses on white collar and specialist industry recruitment, has today delivered a fresh batch of positive news for job-hunters – even those in the banking industry – following several rough years.
1. The UK jobs market is bouncing back
“I’m quite confident in the recovery. I think we are set for the next six to nine months. All the trends that I’m seeing in the UK are going to continue. It’s very broad-based by region and industry, and areas like construction and property have seen growth of 19 per cent.”
2. Job-hunters with skills are in demand
“We are starting to see skills shortages in some areas. I think sentiment has changed and candidates are a lot more confident and it’s becoming more and more difficult for firms … We are seeing a number of counter-offers in a number of markets, in accountancy and finance. People are expecting to have a bit of a pay rise to move, five to ten per cent in some places.”
3. Even banking is starting to hire
“In the last six months we have seen the banking market pick up by about five per cent. It’s early signs and it’s more modest than the rest of the UK but it’s the first growth that we’ve seen for some time. Areas like compliance and risk management have been strong for a while, but we are starting to see a pick-up elsewhere, particularly in the front offices.”
4. And Hays itself is adding staff
“With the market starting to improve, it’s time to start investing in our own capacity. We could take 100 to 200 consultants in the UK along in the next year and around the world we would expect to grow headcount.”
FTSE 250-listed Hays today reported a two per cent rise in like-for-like fees to £363.4m for the last six months of 2013, and fees in the UK and Ireland increased nine per cent to £119.5m.
The firm had 2,020 consultants in the UK and Ireland at the end of the year, up by 171 on a year ago. Earnings in the two countries jumped from £0.5m a year ago to £9.9m.