Can we expect a return of the investment operations job-hoppers?

After a period of retraction over the last 18 months, recruitment in the investment operations sector in Scotland is back with aplomb. Is there a danger of returning to the job-hopping days of 2007?

It's hard to cast your mind back to the halcyon days of 2007 when Scotland's investment operations sector was 7,500-strong and experienced candidates were juggling multiple job offers. Particularly as most firms have since been forced to cut their cloth.

But the sector has been heating up recently. Barclays Capital's decision to create hundreds of back office jobs in Glasgow occurs at a time when some - such as BlackRock - are also hiring extensively and others like Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street and BNP Paribas are adding to their ranks again.

"Certainly there's a lot of recruitment activity and we're moving from a very tight marketplace to one where people are more open to moving," says Alan Thornburrow, chief executive of Scottish Investment Operations. "But there's some way to go before we're back to silly season again."

There are a number of reasons for this, he says. Firstly, SIO has been encouraging more people to the industry through its diploma and investment ops course. Secondly, while job volumes are healthy now, hundreds were being created by multiple firms in 2006-07. And thirdly, costs are an issue.

"While there's a need for healthy competition among firms, which will inevitably mean pay rises for some, if salaries increase too much it becomes too expensive to do business here," says Thornburrow.

Similarly, while recruiters are cheering the increased levels of work coming out of the investment operations sector, it still remains a challenge to hire for these roles.

"People are moving for the career opportunity, rather than a significant pay rise," says Mike Leeman, senior consultant, financial services at recruiters Bright Purple. "We're also having to consider people from other sectors - such as retail banking - or convince people to make the move to Scotland."