Demand soars for professional skills, says report

Professional talent is in hot demand as businesses grow in confidence, APSCo finds.

The latest data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) shows that there is a growing demand for professional skills, with permanent vacancies on the books of professional recruitment companies rocketing by 41 per cent.

This reflects an increasing appetite for growth within firms, as well as the results of employees seeing improvements in the job market and looking for new opportunities.

Many key sectors are performing strongly as recruitment drive continues to develop.

Engineering demonstrated one of the biggest improvements with a 48 per cent leap, with finance and accounting rising by a very healthy 19 per cent. Demand is also strong in the IT sector, where vacancies rose by 25 per cent.

Though media and marketing vacancies rose by 20 per cent year on year, permanent roles in this sector have fallen by 6 per cent as firms struggle to find the right talent. However, APSCo suggests that providing better incentive would resolve this problem.

Salaries likely to rise in order to combat the skills shortage and attract the best candidates.

“With an already present skills shortage in the digital arena, which is set to exacerbate in the coming years, businesses risk stalling their own growth if they don’t reassess their attraction packages urgently,” says APSCo chief executive Ann Swain.

Salaries will have to rise in these key sectors, especially as professional talent becomes more and more sought after. As businesses begin to improve their offerings, UK professionals are likely to see many gains in the coming months.