GUEST COMMENT: Hiring hotspots for the fourth quarter and beyond

Don't get too excited by the title. I'm not about to suggest that there are areas within the City which are seeing a hiring boom. On the contrary, recruitment within the financial services sector is still very delicate, so the term 'hot spots' is used here very loosely. Confidence levels in the City are improving, and this is having a positive knock on effect on the jobs market, but we're still nowhere near the volumes experienced in 2006/07.

Our latest monthly Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor for August 09 saw the highest number of new City job openings recorded in any one month so far this year and suggests that things are at least moving in the right direction. However, volumes are still relatively suppressed; our records show new City vacancies are down 39% versus August 08. Visibility on the future remains poor and employers are cautiously optimistic about what's ahead; they're being careful not to make any hasty hiring decisions.

Bearing all of this in mind, it's difficult to predict with any real certainty what the key recruitment trends for next year will be. There are, however, several areas which stand out as faring comparatively well in terms of recruitment activity and it's expected hiring will continue at this level, if not improve, over the next three months. These are;

Projects/Change Management:

There have been several high profile mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector over the past year. Combined with businesses' focus on streamlining processes and ensuring they are operating efficiently, this has prompted a number of projects in the City. Many projects have already begun, but as these develop and others are implemented this will hopefully drive demand for all levels of project professionals.

Risk/Quantitative Finance:

There was an increase in risk-related hiring activity during 2008 but this slowed somewhat in the first half of 2009 as financial institutions paused for thought. However, demand has started to pick up again, albeit at reduced levels, particularly for credit risk managers with quantitative finance experience and for quantitative valuation professionals.

Accounting & Finance:

As confidence has improved, so has the demand for accounting and finance professionals, particularly high calibre product controllers with good product knowledge. Reflective of the types of trades that are occurring in the marketplace, those individuals who have experience working with vanilla products and commodities are the most sought after. Management accountants and financial controllers are also in demand.

M&A/Corporate Finance:

M&A activity remains close to record lows, but Thomson Reuters reports deal volume is up five per cent on a year ago. Over the past six to nine months, some banks and corporate finance houses have already been recruiting senior level professionals in anticipation of an upturn. Recent deals such as Orange's merger with T-Mobile and Kraft's bid for Cadbury suggests an improvement in M&A activity could be on the horizon and this will help drive hiring at the middle to junior levels within this area as well.