THE NUMBER OF professional job vacancies in January 2015 was up by 24% compared to the same month last year – yet there was an 18% decrease in the number of professionals seeking the positions.

That’s according to the January 2015 Morgan McKinley Ireland Employment Monitor.

The statistics are derived using the firms own market share of new permanent job vacancies and new candidates registering with the firm for permanent employment.

The Monitor recorded a 31% increase in job availability (13,232) in January 2015 compared to (10,130) December 2014.

Source: Morgan McKinley Monthly Employment Monitor Infographic

While more people are now seeking roles since December – that number is still down at 6,980 for last month compared to 8,430 for January 2014.

Only 5,395 people were seeking new roles in December 2014 when 10,130 roles were available.

Where are the jobs?

The recruitment firm said the increase in corporate activity in financial services is leading to a growing demand for specialists across M&A, corporate treasury and structured finance who are ACA, ACCA or CFA qualified.

Morgan McKinley said, “A potential skills gap is emerging due to lack of activity in this area over recent years where focus has been on risk, compliance and recovery.”

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While in retail banking commercial lending, insurance, sales and operations are all growth areas.

The Monitor found that the ICT sector remains buoyant particularly in the area of business intelligence, data analysis and development and that there’s a high demand for client facing IT people

It also found an increased requirement for HR specialists in the areas of learning and development, employee engagement and performance management,

However, the recovery is cautious in the construction sector – particularly within commercial and industrial expansion and development projects.

Hiring is primarily in the commercial and industrial sector which are offering temporary and fixed-term contract positions.