Recruiters have been boosted by a return to growth as both the German and French economies grew by 0.3% between April and June.

“There is a huge drive on the sales and marketing side. It is a great time for companies to tell people they are still in the market,” says Sam Hall, assistant manager at multi-sector recruiter Euro London Appointment’s Frankfurt office.

“The other divisions - banking, accountancy, IT and administraion are still very busy  and are not underchallenged but our sales and marketing team is seeing a huge drive.”

Mark Norris, chief executive at hospitality recruiter Profile which has a Paris office, told Recruiter: They are working a lot harder than in the UK. They have built reserves and infrastructure, whereas our government has been throwing money at America and all sorts of places and not preserving their resources.

“They are more conservative in building their resources and making their financial position much stronger than we are.”