The Civil & Structural recruitment market has been as it’s strongest over the past 6-12 months with the demand for candidates across all levels and disciplines increasing all of the time. As 2007 begins this trend looks set to continue with particular demand for contract engineers and technicians.
A large percentage of the recruitment will come from consultancies and public sector clients who look set to increase the number of commercial and residential projects that they are handling. This has also been helped by the governments backing in building new schools and hospitals. This reiterates December’s UK labour market report which states that engineering and construction staff was the most sought-after type of temp worker.
In particularly high demand will be structural engineers, as well as highways, infrastructure and traffic engineers to support the rise in development in and around London.
For London based candidates 2007 should be a fruitful time. The number of urban re-generation projects on the books is booming, but perhaps more importantly the jobs created by the UK hosting the 2012 Olympics will bring the biggest rise in demand. The need for improvements to transport links into and across London to provide the capacity to handle the games is in full flow. This in itself puts pressure on consultancies to take on additional resource and gives candidates a glimpse of the importance that the Olympics will make to their industry as the years pass.
The forecasted boom for the Civil Engineering market in 2007 will in essence allow candidates to have their pick of jobs. With so much work, smaller consultancies are getting a bigger bite of the pie on larger projects, which probably wouldn’t have happened traditionally. This means that opportunities will exist across a range of different sized consultancies, making the market truly candidate driven. For overseas candidates looking to work in London who have the ability to fit into UK practices, it is a great opportunity.
Dave Hutchinson, Manager of Faststream Recruitment’s Civil & Structural division commented: “The number of vacancies we have for positions in or around London is growing daily. For overseas candidates with the right skill sets, it’s a really exciting time to come to the UK and make your mark. A comprehensive choice of jobs is readily available and the candidate short marketplace means that you really will have plenty of choice”.