Now the recruiters are recruiting

In what's surely a leading indicator of future hiring, recruitment firms are now recruiting (for themselves).

Simon Hughes at High View Search, a specialist in recruiting recruiters, says it's all happened within the past few weeks.

"Every client I talk to is now actively looking. Once we hit August everyone started saying the same thing - they want to hire. The market is back in a big way."

Among those hiring is Cornell Partnership, an independent boutique working across financial services.

"We're immediately looking to hire across the business - both researchers and experienced consultants, and plan to double in size over the next 12 months," says director Logan Naidu.

"The credit crunch has been an opportunity as we've got a very healthy cash balance, are profitable and looking to capture market share," he says.

Hughes says the impetus for hiring is banks themselves: "Clients are coming to consultants and saying we need X, Y, Z, and they don't want to miss out. The moment a search firm starts taking calls from clients they try to up-skill or hire new talent."

Michael Page is now hiring. Rumour has it that various institutions (Goldman, Blackrock, RBS and Fidelity) are also looking to bolster their ranks of graduate recruiters.

Hays, however, is laden with pessmism.