THE NUMBER OF jobs advertised in Ireland in the last quarter of 2014 increased 26% compared to the previous year.

The jump in ad sales is being put down to increased job activity across all sectors, according to Robert Walters Ireland.

Its European Job Index said the 26% increase here represents the largest year-on-year increase in advertising volumes across Europe.

Germany, Switzerland and France also saw job adverts increase – by 23%, 12% and 11% respectively.

Why the jump?

Robert Walters Ireland said that the figures reflect the increased levels of job activity across all sectors, following a year of strong economic growth here.

There was a 33% year-on-year increase in senior management and strategic roles, as well as a 30% rise in secretarial and support roles advertised.

Louise Campbell, Managing Director of Robert Walters Ireland, said: “We are now seeing an increase in candidate scarcity amongst skilled professionals, to the point where we are looking abroad as well as domestically to meet demand.”

Campbell said they expect continued recruitment growth in 2015.

“Particularly encouraging was the dramatic year-on-year growth of job adverts outside of Dublin in areas such as Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, and Limerick,” she commented.

Robert Walters Robert Walters

Robert Walters found that the number of banking and financial services roles increased 41% year-on-year, and 8% on the previous quarter both in Dublin and regionally.

In 2014, job adverts revealed:

• Financial services companies started to invest in revenue-generating front office roles
• The IT sector grew by 21% year-on-year.
• The compliance industry remained busy in the last quarter, up 15% on Q3 2014.
• Accounting and finance roles increased 3% on the quarter and 22% year-on-year,

Read: Unemployment rate falls for 38th month in a row but we still ‘have a long way to go’>