Special Report
| City job vacancies rise on the month |
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| Written by Adrie van der Luijt | |
| Friday, 16 May 2008 | |
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Hiring within the City gained some momentum during April, up 10 per cent rise on March.
While several financial institutions have recently made redundancies, others have taken the increase in candidate movement as an opportunity to secure the quality talent now available in the marketplace. Job vacancy volumes remained down on the same month the previous year, however, registering a drop of 5 per cent, which continues the pattern of the first quarter of 2008. Rise in candidate numbers Likewise, the number of individuals looking for new roles outweighed the number of new jobs within the market for the fourth consecutive month this year. Furthermore, there was a 20 per cent rise in candidate numbers compared with the previous month (March 2008) and an increase of 35 per cent on April 2007 figures. Some redundancy announcements plus a level of uncertainty towards job security amongst individuals has contributed to an increase in the number of candidates looking for job opportunities within London’s financial services industry. With the increased availability of talent, organisations who are hiring are taking longer to do so. The average number of days taken to secure a new role increased to 56.9 days versus 49.7 days in April 2007. Increase in available talent Robert Thesiger, CEO of Morgan McKinley’s parent company, Imprint Plc, called it encouraging to see a rise in the number of job opportunities available within the City and said this demonstrated that there was still a level of active hiring within London’s financial institutions. He pointed out that while some organisations - and those hardest hit by the credit crunch - would maintain their cautious approach, others were pushing on with their expansion plans and were benefiting from the current increase in available talent. "As we have said previously, however, market sentiment and confidence is of paramount importance within the City and there will need to be continued improvements before robust levels of hiring are restored across the industry,” Thesiger warned. Senior level salaries affected by slowdown The average City salary registered £48,807 during April 2008, a 2 per cent drop on the previous month (March 2008) and 5 per cent compared with April 2007. Despite both support/admin and mid-level average salaries increasing on March 2008 numbers, a slowing of senior hiring has meant basic salaries at this level have not been consistent over the past several months, prompting the drop in the average City salary during April 2008. Thesiger said that while the average City salary had fallen during April 2008, it had been influenced by a slowdown in senior level hiring which was reducing overall demand and was therefore impacting the average salaries being awarded to individuals. "It is important to note that at the junior and mid-level, where the bulk of hiring is being done at present, there have been increases in salaries and this demonstrates that there is still demand for quality candidates within the market,” he concluded. Related articles
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