I’ve just spoken to Steve Quinn, UK Group MD of recruitment firm SThree, who told me that they are now seeing a pick up in demand for IT staff beyond just the banking sector. Quinn said that the call is for programme managers, project managers and business analysts, particularly around SAP projects, and believes this is mostly for new investment rather than M&A and restructuring-driven projects.
SThree had just issued its H1 trading update (to 29 May) which continued to show overseas markets growing faster than the UK. Indeed, non-UK gross profit is now 63% of the total, up from 60% a year ago. Even so, UK placements were up 6% yoy and contractor placements up 5%. Fee rates and day rates are also on the rise. This is quite a different picture than that painted by the latest jobs survey from REC and KPMG which showed private sector job creation slowing in May.