Latest news: Financial services sector opportunities

Graduate recruitment into the financial services sector grew in certain areas in October, according to figures released last month.

Opportunities for those looking to get into investment banking, stockbroking and IT contracting all increased, with firms offering 33% more jobs in investment banking in October than September, says the survey by Powerchex.

Robust month-on-month growths of 20% in stockbroking and 17% in IT contracting show that positions are still available in the industry, despite a trend of falling recruitment across the sector.

Powerchex managing director Alexandra Kelly said that the figures showed things were better now than in 2009, despite the fact the overall drop in recruitment in the previous few months.

‘If we compare the October figures with the corresponding month last year, we see that recruitment activity is up 20% and that is despite the declines of the last three months,’ she said.

Overall recruitment figures in the financial services sector fell again in October, although figures were nowhere near the 10% drop seen in August.

Some industry commentators speculated that the government’s recently announced spending cuts could have a negative impact on recruitment in the industry, reversing the slow recovery seen recently.