Financial job seekers have never had it so good (except in 2000)

A new study suggests the financial services job market is back at the giddy heights it reached at the turn of the millennium.

Measured in terms of the speed with which new jobs are filled, the finance market is now more active than at any time since 2000, according to a study by financial services recruitment company The Blomfield Group.

It now takes just 8.6 weeks to fill a vacancy, compared to 10.0 weeks last year and 15.6 weeks in early 2004. The study calculates that the number of new financial services vacancies rose 11% in March, to 25,000.

Keith Robinson, managing director of Origin HR, a subsidiary of The Blomfield Group, says candidates are seeing the value of their skillset rise substantially. "There are considerable shortages in areas like finance, credit and tax risk," he says. "People in those areas can expect to get two or three competitive offers."