26/01/2011

IT professionals operating in the UK have been told that the recent hiring pause in the financial services sector is not indicative of downsizing.

According to specialist recruitment agency McGregor Boyall, the pause is to do with firms 'right-sizing' their workforces.

Laurie Boyall, managing director of the organisation, commented: 'While the first half of 2010 showed a sharp increase in opportunities we have now seen organisations hitting the pause button.

'This right-sizing is not unexpected given that for the first two quarters of the year we had seen an overall jump of 255 per cent in permanent vacancy numbers compared with the beginning of 2010. Additionally many of the new contract vacancies were for long-term projects which are obviously still ongoing.'

Data from McGregor Boyall's report also showed that developers were the most in-demand IT professionals in the closing months of 201, accounting for 35 per cent of all vacancies.

However, the three most active hirers in the financial sector were identified as derivatives, risk and infrastructure.