My May article brought our first overview of the senior finance market across the East Midlands, looking at:

• The size of the population of FCs and Head of Finance.
• The split of qualifications.
• Levels of post qualification experience.
• Gender diversity
• Salary details

Over the past month, I have been looking at how many senior finance job opportunities there are in the East Midlands market (we have used a number of methods to get the numbers below – analysing a number of job board aggregators, other technology and information from our network).

My last article highlighted that there were about 1,100 Heads of Finance and Financial Controllers in the region, so if we just analyse our data to make some general statements:

• 5% of senior finance roles in the East Midlands are vacant or being recruited for at any one point in time.
• 14% of senior finance professionals in the East Midlands have been in post for less than a year.
• There is a fairly even split between commercial (56%) and technical (44%) manager roles.

In future months, I will be looking at how these trends continue and if there are any sectors performing ahead of others.

What are candidates looking for?

The vast majority of my time in May has been spent speaking to and meeting with candidates. Two of the most consistent observations:

Fatigue and indifference in looking at new jobs – Not only are there 108 live senior finance jobs in the East Midlands at the moment but so many of them are advertised in several places. Recruiters and robot technology are reaching out to candidates every week with “Fantastic new opportunities”! Everyone I have spoken to values a conversation with a human being and the chance to be listened to more highly than this approach.

Slightly more importance placed on security -  so many career moves over the past 3 years have been based on excitement, adventure and calculated risks. Changes to working patterns, emerging sectors like tech and M&A activity have created a flurry of attractive roles. There are some early signs that candidates are placing more importance now on employers with strong balance sheets, investment and working capital.

I am really delighted that we are investing in our relationships with the current and future senior finance market – next on our list is sponsoring a BBQ involving the Nottingham Chartered Accountants Student Society. Click here to book a place.