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bjbj The North What s the jobs market like right now? The jobs market in the north of
England is definitely more positive this year and there are some excellent opportunities
for professionals across the market. Accountancy and Finance While we have seen more accountancy
jobs available in commerce and industry, more people are also looking to move so competition
for the best roles is tough. In the current market, firms are keen to retain their best
people and some who secure job offers are getting better offers by their current employerto
tempt them to stay. Encouragingly, sectors hit the hardest during the downturn are hiring
accountants in the greatest volumes at the moment. For example, the retail, consumer
and FMCG industries are all recruiting in significant numbers. This is really good news
if you are thinking about making a career move in the next few months as it shows how
the market is improving. Banking and Financial Services While the jobs market has been promising
across commercial firms, they have also been encouraging in financial services too. Many
firms across the sector are looking to implement strategic growth plans after deferring them
to the start of 2011. Professionals capable of driving revenue particularly in client
facing roles are in high demand at the moment. Interim Management Due to continued business
restructuring and large scale system improvements, there has been increased demand for interim
management specialists lately. Although general pay has fallen slightly, business analysts
are so sought-after at the moment that some are actually receiving day rate increases
of up to 30 per cent. We have also seen a notable increase in recruiting at the senior
level, with interim financial directors, financial controllers and project specialists continuing
to be hired. Human Resources Although there remains some caution in the market, opportunities
for HR people are currently on the increase. With many businesses focusing on retaining
staff, learning and development specialists are sought-after at. At the same time, there
is a lot of competition for the best HR jobs so to be successful you ll need to focus on
your key strengths and really sell yourself at interview. Transactional Services Recruitment
levels across transactional services remained relatively stable. However, we are seeing
an increase in recruitment at the senior level and there are some good opportunities for
credit managers at the moment. Again, competition across transactional services for the best
talent was fierce. Although few employers had the budget capacity to offer salary increases,
many were more open to offering flexible benefit packages as an incentive to attract talented
people. IT recruitment levels increased significantly at the start of the year as companies invested
in business-critical projects and large scale system upgrades. As a result, project managers,
business analysts, developers, architects and testers were all in very high demand.
Architects and developers, in particular, are so highly sought-after, they can be selective
about the roles they accept. With many of these IT projects scheduled to take up to
two years to complete, we expect sustained demand throughout the rest of 2011. |n]N