Demand for permanent IT staff in finance sector increases

Demand for permanent IT personnel within the finance sector increased between April and July 2005, according to online IT recruitment specialists CWJobs.co.uk.

The latest CWJobs/SSL quarterly IT skills index reveals that permanent vacancies increased by 2.5 per cent following a 2.6 per cent decrease during the first quarter of 2005. Meanwhile, the number of positions advertised for contract staff increased by 2.5 per cent, a small rise in comparison to the 11 per cent increase posted between January and April 2005.



Employers view SQL, OFFICE, C and Java as the most desirable skills for permanent staff in the sector while VMS, Loadrunner, DCOM and HP-UX proved to be the least popular. Meanwhile OFFICE, SQL, ORACLE and Unix are the most highly sought after skills from contractors with Python, Assembler, OOA and CAD the least desirable.

The largest salary increases for permanent staff between Q2 2004 and Q2 2005 were seen for the roles of MIS/IT Director, which saw a year on year increase of 28.1 per cent, followed by Office Systems/Helpdesk Manager ( 24.1 per cent), Software Engineer ( 23.8 per cent) and PC Help Desk Support ( 20.2 per cent).

Contractors experience the highest salaries working as Management/Systems Consultants, which saw a year on year rise up 130.4 per cent, followed by Project Leader/Senior Systems Analysts ( 111.1 per cent), PC Support ( 63.6 per cent) and Projects Manager ( 24.4 per cent).

Commenting on the statistics, Richard Nott, Sales Director at CW Jobs said:

Although many financial institutions have been moving the IT function offshore, the increase in permanent posts is an encouraging sign for the future. The IT jobs market is still buoyant and the financial sector remains one of the highest volume employers of staff, so those looking to change their job should find some comfort from the level of vacancies.