Dona Battat, Digby Morgan’s director responsible for leading the company’s City division, takes a look at the latest happenings in the Square Mile at the beginning of 2010.

Building on the encouraging signs we reported at the end of last year, the momentum in recruitment across the City sector has continued to increase month on month to the point where opportunities at the mid to senior level now mirror activity levels of two years ago! However, this marked increase in demand is likely driven by the natural cycle of post bonus movement and the general feeling at the moment is that these recruitment levels are unlikely continue past the second quarter of the year.

The breadth of HR roles currently on offer, however, has now grown significantly to include a more diverse portfolio of SMEs across the City as well as a marked increase in opportunities overseas with some of our global clients both across EMEA and AsiaPac.

In the UK generally we are seeing basic salaries on the increase – especially in a number of financial services firms. This is both a response to the spotlight on City bonuses but has also been created to encourage the loyalty of talented employees within these firms. Interestingly, in response to this we have now seen a shift towards ‘sign on bonuses’ being paid for key HR hires to tempt them away from their current employers and bring the most desirable candidates on board.

Whereas last year there was a critical need for strong HR professionals to implement large scale organisational change, a lot of this restructuring activity has now taken place. Companies now have a real appetite for strategic HR professionals to act as real influencers in moving the current people agenda forward. True Business Partners are, therefore, very much in demand by many organisations and we have a constant remit for candidates with evidence of a strong track record in meaningful partnering roles.

In professional services especially, we are finding that some of our clients are now moving to more of a Business Partner model which, in turn, is leading to more candidate movement from financial services firms into the professional services sector. Certainly, there is an ongoing trend and desire across this sector to continue to up-skill HR teams so that they become increasingly commercial and move away from a more operational remit. Across all sectors, Talent, Learning & Development and even Recruitment are all very much on the rise again.

In addition, many companies are now seeking HR candidates with a broader skill set who can offer a more flexible resource as well as those that can focus on upcoming HR projects for 2010 such as, for example, building shared services functions. Some banking clients in particular are increasingly open to attracting individuals from outside of the financial services sector and candidates from strong blue chip brands across an array of sectors are now receiving high levels of interest from potential employers.

Whilst some candidates have already made the decision to move on and are actively seeking opportunities, others are very much waiting for the February/March bonus rounds before determining next steps. After static compensation for many over the last two years, this is a critical time for companies to promote their total reward as well as offering their most talented employees more attractive base salaries and bonuses. Furthermore, those companies that also have strong talent management programmes in place are likely to fare far better in keeping their high fliers on board during 2010.


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