Set fair – jobs and prospects

Keir Macintosh may be contacted on tel: + 44 (0) 20 7269 1819; email: keirmacintosh@michaelpage.com; www.michaelpage.com. Alternatively, his colleague Lindsay Reid can be reached on tel: +44 (0) 7269 1848; email: lindsayreid@michaelpage.com

“Yes, the market’s still flourishing,” Keir Macintosh, Director with responsibility for Compliance recruitment at Michael Page, confirmed when we met near Oxford Circus in mid September, “and that’s right across the board." At the same time, Macintosh acknowledged that there were wisps of cloud on the horizon, with the first hints of possible economic slowdown and less favourable conditions for job seekers. “One has to pause when fairly punchy US Investment firms are investing most of their assets in US treasury bonds, an early indicator of a Bear market, but at the moment the roles are still coming in and it’s business as usual,” he commented. Macintosh said he was aware of three banks that had currently slowed their recruitment. “We think it’s just a pause while they review costs across the organisation. Once they’re satisfied these are under control we expect them to be back in the market." In the meantime the shortage of available resource has become more acute as 2006 has progressed, he said, “We’re seeing more transaction lawyers brought into Compliance as well as accountants and new graduates."