Market Overview - Permanent

Trends within the HR recruitment market have not changed significantly since the previous year. It has remained an extremely candidate driven market with strong demand for skilled individuals across the whole HR function including in-house recruitment, compensation and benefits, TUPE and employee relations as well as learning and development.

For the remainder of 2007, hiring volumes are expected to rise as organisations continue to realise that in order to attract and retain the highest calibre individuals for their business, they must have quality HR staff in place to create, develop and implement the strategies required to achieve this.

There has been no change in the qualification of choice with many HR professionals still choosing the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). However, investment banks are being more flexible and are prepared to look at candidates with MBA’s and MSc’s in psychology as well as other behavioural degrees. Individuals with legal backgrounds continue to be sought after for employee relations roles.

Compensation Overview

The demand for HR professionals has been consistently high over the past couple of years, with organisations hiring across both generalist and specialist HR functions. In general, 2006/2007 saw base salaries increase due to the continued shortage of HR professionals in the marketplace.

The contraction of the candidate market and growth in salaries is likely to continue throughout 2007/2008 as business confidence holds firm. However, as is the case for other functions within the financial services industry, organisations will be looking at various ways to secure much needed talent and not solely focus on monetary factors.

Market and Compensation Overview - Temporary & Contract

As was the case last year, temporary and contract HR professionals are just as in demand as their permanent counterparts and across the same areas (in-house recruitment, learning and development and employee relations). This is also the trend for interim positions as investment banks look to expand their HR departments without necessarily raising permanent headcount levels.

Once again, daily rates of pay for HR interims have increased alongside permanent pay levels as the high demand for skilled candidates continues.

Click here to read the full HR salary survey