Skilled sales specialists are still hot properties on the job market, despite the difficult economic conditions.

The latest Monster Employment Index reflects this fact, as online job availability in the sales sector increased by four index points in February, the first rise in opportunities for sales workers in seven months.

Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide, said: “The sales sector has experienced a slight seasonal upturn in line with the overall index in February. However, the longer-term trends remain negative, as indicated by the sharp drop in the number of jobs available compared to a year ago, which can be linked to a struggle in the retail industry across the UK.”

Although job availability in the sector has contracted 46% yearon- year, which is one of the most significant drops throughout all sectors, recruiters suggested that recent weeks had seen business improve, prompting increased confidence among staffing firms.

Justin Byrne, managing director at specialist sales recruiter Certus, backed up this point. He told Recruiter: “January and most of February were very slow months, but since the last week of February we’ve had a lot of new vacancies come in.”

However, a desire not to waste money had seen clients become very particular in their choice of candidate, with the time-to-hire duration increasing. Byrne added: “Clients are a lot more picky in who they are choosing; if there is any doubt about a candidate, they will not take them.

“We have more vacancies but we are not closing as many deals, and we are finding that turnaround time is longer; whereas in the past an
appointment might take a week and one interview, now it takes three to four weeks and maybe four or five interviews.”

Andrew Bailey, managing director of marketing and sales recruiter abrs, which has just opened an office in Harrogate, said that often clients were going beyond a traditional two-stage interview process and there was increased demand for candidate assessment tools such as
psychometric testing.

Staffing firms Recruiter spoke to said that senior level positions were more buoyant, as clients were looking for experienced staff to reduce the likelihood of poor hires.

Bailey said: “Clients can have confidence bringing in someone with experience, knowing they will come in and make an impact quicker.”

Sectors which had stayed strong despite the recession were continuing to do well in sales. Hannah Gregg, account manager with simplysalesjobs.co.uk, pointed out that medical and pharmaceutical sales clients were posting high numbers of vacancies, while construction and engineering were among sectors performing poorly.

Gregg said simplysales.co.uk reflected the trend nationally, with 3,000 jobs posted this year, compared to 5,458 jobs available for the same period last year. However, she was keen to look on the bright side when she said: “People are still needing sales people for their companies in
order to drive their business forward.”

Byrne said margins were still high and had not decreased significantly from last year. He told Recruiter: “Our margins are staying the same as this time last year — for roles up to £25k there is around 15-22% margin and about 25% for roles of £30k plus.” He added: “We’re very confident
about the future but if you’d spoken to me a month or so ago, I wouldn’t have been as confident.”

Overall the Monster Employment Index UK increased by six points in February following three consecutive months of decline. Year-on-year,
the index was down 75 points or 39% — the steepest annual downturn on record.

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Correction
Andrew Barton is managing director of Recruitment Zone, not Employment Zone, as incorrectly stated in our 18 March, Banking Sector analysis.