More City jobs up for grabs as hiring appetite improves

THE DROUGHT of available jobs in London’s financial services sector eased in June with 20 per cent more new vacancies coming up for grabs compared to the previous month, according to recruitment giant Morgan McKinley.

The firm said new job numbers have hit their highest this year, although there were still 58 per cent fewer jobs available in June than the same month in 2008, before the recession took hold.

Morgan McKinley financial services division head Andrew Evans said: “In areas where there hasn’t been a rise in actual job numbers, there does seem to have been an improvement in the appetite amongst employers to recruit.”

He said the firm is finding as the wave of redundancy announcements slows and confidence in markets rises, more staff currently in work are starting to look around at what job opportunities are available.

“The financial services jobs market is still highly competitive for jobseekers and despite some positive signs of improvement, it is likely to get even more competitive over the summer months,” he said.

But the report said the number of new job candidates entering the market slowed in June, falling by nine per cent compared with the previous month and 26 per cent lower than the same month the year before.

Candidates who did manage to secure a job took an average of 55 days to do so in June, four days fewer than it took jobseekers to do so in the same month of 2008.