BD&M Accountancy, Consultancy & Property Market Insights Q3 2018

Published on 13^th July 2018

The accountancy sector has been recruiting in abundance with little sign of it slowing any time soon. Although several firms have a headcount freeze until their new financial year, this has not stopped movement from within the sector.

Continuing with the Marketing Manager theme of last quarter, we are seeing a number of Financial Services based roles with clients looking for candidates to have knowledge or experience in this area. Whilst there have been more marketing/creative, brand and events led positions, these are popular roles and are generally quickly recruited, meaning that candidates need to act fast to secure these positions. More niche skill sets continue to prove difficult to find with CRM system experience and bids being two of the highest demand areas.

The consultancy market has been buoyant through Q1, particularly at Marketing/Communications Manager level. We’re seeing a rise in the numbers of 6-12 month contract roles, with the majority having a good chance of ending up permanent. A number of the leading consultancies have been restructuring their marketing functions, becoming more ‘sector focussed’ as opposed to a more traditional ‘centralised’ marketing team. We’re also seeing steady job flow across other disciplines such as; Graphic Design, Digital and External Communications.

Real Estate tends to be following the trends of both the Accountancy and Consultancy sector, with a need and want to hire broad Marketing Managers within both residential and commercial. One change we have seen is the rise of client relationship management roles, where the BD teams are looking to introduce or grow these teams. The roles tend to focus on developing relationships with a select number of the firm's key clients. As always, the larger firms are still very much on the lookout for strong Bid candidates, especially at the more Junior end of the market. As with all of professional services, these candidates are in short supply. 

Predictions for the coming quarter

The early signs show little change from Q2. Q3 tends to quieten towards the end due to the summer months and holiday season, however, we are hearing positive signs from a number of firms kicking on over the summer, including some roles at the more senior end of the market. 

We are expecting the trend of increased FTC’s to continue over the coming months. We are also expecting a real push at the junior end of the market, with more firms looking at recent grads with little to no experience. There seems to be little respite from the “job-rich, candidate shy” market, with the best talent being snapped up quickly, with firms merging interview stages to speed up the process.

BD, Marketing & Communications Salaries Q3 2018*