Staff at Standard Life in Edinburgh waiting for the axe to fall, take heart - recruiters are positive about your job prospects.
Of the 139 redundancies already trailed, almost all will come from its office in Edinburgh. About 100 will be in the IT and change management division and the rest from the customer and marketing division.
The company is in a 90 day consultation period at present so staff will not find out who is to be made redundant until February next year.
The cuts, part of bigger structural changes to the UK and Europe business, will not eliminate particular roles but will be about a general reduction in headcount in IT and marketing.
Recruiters say that for IT and change specialists in particular, prospects are good.
Jon Goss, IT specialist at recruiter Bright Purple in Edinburgh, says: 'There's a good chance that people will be able to find either contract or permanent roles fairly quickly.
'Financial services is a busy market here with projects starting and ending all the time so there will be opportunities for those with a good skillset who look in the right places.'
Mike Stirton, divisional director at Core Asset Consultancy, who specialises in senior contract vacancies in investment and financial services in Edinburgh says: 'We don't envisage the Standard Life leavers finding it too difficult to find work in contract or permanent positions.
'IT or change management staff with niche skills or specialisms will find it easier than generalists, and there will be a bottleneck effect when they come on to the market next year, but ultimately we think all of them stand a good chance of finding new roles.'
As for marketing staff, Andrew Welsh, head of financial services at Change Recruitment Group in Edinburgh says: 'There is no massive up-tick predicted for financial services marketing vacancies here next year but there is steady demand for marketing contractors. The Standard Life leavers might find it easier to get contract work from employers operating a "try before you buy" policy.'
Standard Life is also creating 42 new posts in for marketing analysts and managers, as product development and marketing activities become more closely linked but most of the new jobs will be filled internally.
Paul Matthews, chief executive officer at Standard Life, said when headcount reduction was announced: 'Our current model and structure has to change to meet the changing demands of this new world where customers will want to interact in different ways with different products.'
