Starting Salaries As High As £150,000 Are Being Offered As Firms Fight For Staff

A recruitment company has revealed that fierce competition for employee vacancies has seen a huge rise in starting salaries offered.

Recruitment firm Robert Walters has celebrated a record December performance as it said job markets in the UK and worldwide continue to suffer a shortage of candidates.

The company explained that the legal, commerce finance and technology disciplines were among the hottest sectors in the hiring market as firms battle it out to secure workers.

To reflect this, many employers have been increasing the starting salaries with some roles offering as much as £147,000 ($200,000) for newly qualified lawyers, according to the BBC.

Founder and chief executive Robert Walters said: “We are seeing candidate shortages across all locations and disciplines, a fierce competition for talent and wage inflation kicking in, which together create huge opportunities across the recruitment market.”

Speaking about the rises in salaries, Alan Bannatyne, chief financial officer at Robert Walters, told the BBC: "15 percent is the minimum pay rise we're seeing, but some are increasing their salaries by up to 50 percent.

"Unless something significant happens, 2022 should be even better for staff."

Despite certain sectors thriving during lockdown, Mr Bannatyne did acknowledge that there have been 'winners and losers' with not every sector being in a position to boost wages.

He explained: "Bricks-and-mortar retailers and airlines have really struggled so will probably not be paying bonuses or giving pay rises.

"So they become a hunting ground for other high growth businesses, such as online retailers, anything to do with technology and digital, and manufacturers of household goods."

The group said in July last year that salary hikes of up to 30 percent were 'commonplace' for some hard-to-source roles across the UK as the hiring crisis took hold.

The recruitment sector has been boosted worldwide as economies have reopened since the early lockdowns in the pandemic, with Robert Walters seeing strong trading across all its international operations.

It notched up the strongest growth in the Asia-Pacific region over the fourth quarter, with a 56 percent rise in net fee income, with Europe ahead by 36 percent, the UK up by seven percent, and a 48 percent jump across its other overseas markets division.