“Salaries for professionals in the sector are stabilising and as business confidence returns more vacancies are appearing. Now that more vacancies are appearing, the number of people willing to move jobs is also increasing and will certainly continue to do so over the course of the year. However this also applies to those people who did take a new position during the downturn but took a drop in salary. Companies who took advantage of the candidate rich market by offering jobs with poor pay are beginning to come unstuck as these people now begin to look for better positions.
With industries like telecoms leading the way in the field of technology thanks to the success of devices like the iPhone, specialists like developers are now in great demand. Many technology professionals who may have previously worked, or considered working, in the City are now beginning to see telecoms as a tempting alternative to finance for their next career move.
2009 also saw an influx of telecoms professionals into the contracting field, as employers cut back on permanent headcounts and as contracting offered attractive rates of pay.
As new budgets are getting signed off and as business confidence increases, we are seeing more contractors being offered permanent positions by companies requiring their high level of expertise. Some will return to a secure permanent job, but many organisations will struggle to lure contractors back as opportunities are still rife and pay remains very competitive.”