The global snapshot is a quarterly global survey of hiring and firing trends covering 6151 organisations in 30 countries, in which companies are asked whether they are currently hiring and firing and whether they intend to do so over the next three months. The latest survey has found job prospects for professionals and managers continuing to improve as we begin a new year and confidence slowly returns.

Current hiring across the globe was up from 50% of respondents in the autumn to 53% now. The percentage of organisations intending to hire in the coming quarter was also up; from 48% to 55%. On the downside the percentage of organisations intending to shed staff had also risen slightly from 25% in the autumn to 28% now. However the general consensus was that the figure would drop to 22% over the coming quarter.

Recruitment rates varied significantly across different sectors in the UK, although most showed signs of continued improvement.

IT probably painted the most positive picture – 67% of firms said they were hiring professional IT staff, 73% intend to do so next quarter and as recruitment is set to rise, firing is set to drop to 33%.

Energy is also doing well with 80% of organisations hiring, and an extra 2% expecting to over the next three months. The number of companies letting people go is low although this is set to jump to just over 40% during the next quarter.

Manufacturing and banking and finance are both sectors that are showing definite signs of recovery since they were badly hit by the recession. Hiring rates are 67% and 50% respectively and both look set to rise to around the 70% mark, although firing levels are also expected to rise slightly.

Telecoms is currently showing a healthy recruitment level with almost three quarters of firms hiring, but it’s predicted that this will drop by about 30% over the next quarter.

Despite the well-publicised economic pains of Dubai, the region as a whole seems to be holding up well with hiring levels rising from 46% in September to 51% now. Confidence in the future is also gathering strength with 62% of businesses expecting to hire in the coming quarter. Over in Africa, Nigeria registers the highest level of recruitment across the 30 countries – 79%.

China and India both have strong hiring levels of 71%, combined with low firing rates; a great improvement for India in particular, which started 2009 with just 29% of organisations hiring. The percentage of organisations shedding staff at professional and managerial level looks set to drop further over the next three months, whilst even more are expecting to recruit, signaling a bright 2010 for this part of Asia.

The economic picture in the USA remains mixed but the latest Snapshot suggests that the professional and managerial jobs market has remained static since September. However the percentage of organisations shedding staff has declined from 34% to 29% with employers expecting a further drop over the next three months.

Across the globe the sector with the highest levels of recruitment at professional and managerial level was pharmaceuticals, followed by manufacturing, engineering, IT software and banking. The lowest were education and shipbuilding.

Although a few countries are still seeing a decline in the employment market, the global picture has definitely improved once again. We are most certainly not ‘out of the woods’ as yet and there may be more unpleasant economic surprises to come but it does seem as if organisations of all sizes are approaching 2010 with more confidence than would have seemed possible in the very dark days of January 2009. As a result we are already seeing the first clear signs of organisations thinking in terms of the ‘war for talent’ once more with more robust businesses making early moves to snap up the best people in their markets before general recovery becomes too apparent.