Paying a premium for the perfect ‘fit’
Part qualified and newly qualified accountants are commanding premium salaries in the North West. Despite the latest economic storm, there seems to be high demand for talented accountants with key skills and experience.
Accountants with blue chip and Big 4 experience along with certain system skills such as SAP and Oracle benefit as it opens the door to increased earnings. Increasingly, many employers want to feel confident that a candidate’s experience, skills and cultural background are an ‘ideal fit’ and they are happy to pay a premium to secure them. Employers are less likely to take a risk on an individual who is not used to working with multi million pound projects or has experienced in a specific size of company.
Despite the latest economic storm, there seems to be high demand for talented accountants with key skills and experience.
The North West continues to attract investment from companies, large and small, relocating their finance functions to Manchester and the surrounding areas. As a result of the increased options open, making the right choice for a candidate is more important than ever. Matching the right role to complement their experience as well as picking the right type of company to help move their CV and career forward is high on most candidates’ agenda.
Employers hungry to attract and retain key skills
The choice of permanent jobs available means that many candidates are now receiving offers from one-to-three thousand pounds more than they may have received this time last year. From a temporary perspective, we are meeting more and more candidates who are on retention bonuses. This highlights how hungry employers are to retain certain skill sets and how happy they are to pay a premium to do it. That said, the outlook for the current economic climate suggests potential uncertainty. Although there is choice now, will that same choice be available over the next 12 months?
As a result of the economic uncertainty coverage daily in the press, candidates are now listing job stability as their primary concern. This may lead to fewer candidates making moves into new roles until the outlook becomes clearer. However, this may also lead to candidates seeking opportunities in sectors that are more resilient to the impact of the credit crunch, such as energy, oil, gas and utilities. Having said that, it is not a trend we are seeing yet – the market remains buoyant and no-one can say with any certainty what will come in the next few months, but it is certainly an area worth keeping an eye on.
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