Premium placed on experienced fund accountants

Fund servicing - the success story of Irish financial services - looks set not only to avoid job cuts, but is tipped to continue to expand. However, the silly season might be over for job-hopping fund accountants, particularly those with little experience under their belt.

Gary Palmer, chief executive of the Irish Funds Industry, remains upbeat about recruitment prospects in the funds servicing space: "Employment in the industry has typically been growing at 12-15% per annum, and this is likely to continue in the medium term."

Citigroup, which this week announced further culls in its global investment banking division, says it will spare its Irish workforce - 95% of whom work in fund administration.

But while the sector might be viewed as a safe haven, Palmer admits that there's a "greater sense of realism" and the number of people changing jobs has fallen.

Emma Forrest, senior consultant at recruiters Career Compass, says the number of new roles has fallen since around February this year and that employers are less willing to take on inexperienced candidates.

"This time last year there were people with one or two years' experience demanding ridiculous sums of money. The reality is that at that stage they don't have a massive skill set under their belt, so instead of job-hopping they're looking to develop their careers within their current company."

Kieran O'Callarain, who focuses on the fund admin space at recruiters Brightwater, agrees: "There's still a huge demand for experience, but we're being over-subscribed with applications for the junior roles. Companies are being more cautious and are recruiting people on a temporary basis before offering them permanent contracts."