We recently published our market update for the first quarter of 2011 and this revealed that HR recruitment experienced a steady start to the year and vacancy levels were higher than in quarter four 2010. Hiring activity increased progressively throughout the quarter as more HR professionals began looking for new roles after their compensation and benefits reviews were finalised.

Overall, there has been a sense of continuing steady improvement in the market and companies are definitely looking at growth-based strategies after focusing more on managing their bottom line in 2008 and 2009.

Buoyed by continuing stability in the market, there has been a particularly noticeable increase in recruitment levels among small and medium-sized financial services firms.

Within industry, some sectors have showed noticeable signs of improvement – professional services firms, for example, hired in increasing volumes throughout quarter one. Similarly, the retail, oil & gas and media industries recruited in significantly larger quantities than they did last year.

It has been encouraging to see growth in these areas as the performance of these sectors is generally an accurate indicator of broader economic conditions.

Many of the roles being recruited for remained similar to last year. Specifically, we have seen continued demand for generalists as firms looked for HR professionals capable of performing multiple duties, compensation and benefits specialists as organisations respond to FSA regulations around reward packages and management information specialists. These people have also been sought-after because companies are looking to be as competitive as possible by offering the best reward packages in the market at the lowest cost to the business.

However, we have seen an increase in organisational development and change roles. This was a result of more security in the market and firms feeling increasingly confident in developing their workforces compared to 2010. Experienced HR systems professionals are in demand as companies focus on establishing solid metrics to explore ways of driving the business forward.

Interestingly, we also witnessed a significant increase in demand for graduate recruitment specialists in quarter one. Again, this is further evidence of organisations looking to grow their workforces and investing in training staff at a junior level on a long-term basis – something that would not have been a priority a couple of years ago. Demand has been so high for these people that they have been in short supply and, because of this, salaries for some graduate recruitment specialists moving from one role to another have increased by up to 30-40%.

In addition to increases in the specific isolated areas already talked about, we have also noticed some increases in compensation and benefits packages at firms where pay had remained static for the previous two years. This is a further indicator of an improving market and is generally encouraging. It also shows how organisations are recognising that there are more opportunities for HR people now and are taking the necessary action to retain those who may be thinking about moving on.

Competition for the most talented people remains intense and high-calibre HR professionals looking for new roles often received multiple job offers and/or aggressive ‘buy-backs’ from their existing employers.

Speed and ease of the recruitment procedure became an increasingly important part of the candidate decision-making process, with employers capable of making decisions swiftly nearly always securing their first choice people. I would urge hiring managers to take this into consideration when recruiting.

Following an encouraging start to 2011, we expect recruitment volumes to continue to increase in quarter two. We expect reward professionals and, particularly, graduate recruitment specialists to be especially in demand.

HR generalists with specific financial services experience (in, for example, a hedge fund or investment bank) will also be highly sought-after. The variety of roles available is likely to remain broad, with HR generalists and learning and development, reward and graduate recruitment specialists all likely to be sought-after.

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