Newly-qualifieds drive recruitment market

A snapshot of the City of London market by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley
shows that the number of jobs becoming available from January to June increased
by nearly 50% on the same period last year.

Junior staff, including newly-qualified accountants and middle managers, were
in particular demand as firms sought to increase their headcounts to cope with
more business.

The trend may be replicated across the rest of the UK with the large firms
also reporting a very competitive market around newly-qualifieds.

Keith Dugdale, KPMG’s director of recruitment said demand was ‘huge’ but
supply was scarce. But he added

that the ‘heat had gone out of the market’ in the previous three months and
it had started to become much easier to recruit staff. He credited in part
activity by the Big Four, which have launched major international recruitment
drives this year.

‘The Big Four have brought new talent into the UK domestic market and this
could have taken the heat out of it. We have just finished a recruitment drive
in Singapore and Malaysia.’

Morgan McKinley reported a slight decrease in the number of new jobs on the
market in June. The increased buoyancy in the employment market is also leading
to upward pressure on salaries, with average wages across the sector expected to
rise 8%.