Market Insights 2019 | North West

Commerce & Industry

2019 began with some trepidation, however encouragingly the market has been active. Candidates have multiple opportunities to consider and clients are proactively hiring. There are pockets of concern and challenging conditions; the sectors that are experiencing difficult times are well documented in the press, however, in the North West even niche organisations in these sectors are bucking the trend.

Executive & Interim

Executive level recruitment moved at a steady pace throughout last year. The North West technology and scientific hub expanded creating opportunities for the region, thanks to further investment in this growth area. The expansion of Media City demonstrates the region’s commitment to this growing sector, and construction work is ongoing across Greater Manchester.

Specialist Markets

The audit & assurance market is just as busy this year as it was in 2018. It is still very candidate driven, and the Top 20 firms continue to lose a lot of professionals to industry opportunities. There is a shortage of talent, particularly at the qualified senior level, and candidates are receiving multiple offers. Brexit uncertainty has also deterred some candidates from moving, so we expect the number of vacancies to rise as the talent pool gets smaller. We have seen firms struggle to secure their preferred candidate due to lengthy and drawn out recruitment processes, so we would advise them to try to move faster and do more to sell their opportunity

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