ICT AND FINANCE

The second half of 2010 was marked by growth of the number of vacancies
in the majority of industries to the pre-crisis level. In some industries this level was exceeded. According to the recruitment market analysts, 18% of employers plan to hire new employees till the end of 2010. The most significant increase is in the spheres of ICT and finance. 

ICT
The number of vacancies in ICT has grown and in some areas has exceeded the pre-crisis level. A lot of companies that had to cut expenses to survive the crisis have now returned to the idea of ??upgrading their ICT systems and implementing innovative technologies. The reasons for this growth are as follows: first, during this time technology developed and new ICT solutions give a competitive advantage to the companies using them. Second, a lot of companies return to the idea of ??IPO, and an effective ICT component is a prerequisite for this process. This has resulted in the growing demand for ICT consultants in all areas, in particular SAP consultants. The third growth factor is the increase of M&A transactions. They require ICT experts to integrate the infrastructure in this process. The compensation level in this sector has grown – even soared for some vacancies – as the number of professionals in the sector has not increased during the crisis. 

Finance and Banks
The economic growth influenced the financial sector recruitment significantly decreased in recent years. Specialists in different areas are in demand, including analysts, controllers, accountants, but, as a rule, with not very high salaries of around 80,000-100,000 roubles. It is expected that these people will be general financial specialists responsible for various functions. In the banking sector the number of vacancies in sales has increased. The trend for the growing prosperity of the population calls for further development of banking services. Therefore there has been an increase in the number of vacancies for relationship managers, cashiers and consultants. Another fact to confirm the end of the crisis in the banking sector recruitment is a lower demand for experts in risks and bad debts restructuring. 

Today, major players in the banking sector are actively expanding retail services. This results in a more vacancies for professionals of all related areas – from expansion of the branch network to top managers with experience in banking retail launch. Despite a pessimistic outlook and overall uncertainty the recruitment market demonstrates the general positive trend across industries. The ICT and finance sectors are a good example of this trend. 

Russian Industrialist Magazine, Vyacheslav Konovalov, Business Development Director, 4Astra/IMD International Executive Search