The managing director of a firm that claims to get notified of half of vacancies that UK headhunters are trying to fill is predicting a major upturn in the market.

Kit Scott-Brown, managing director of InterExec, which advises, supports and puts forward candidates for vacancies in the £150k plus salary bracket, told Recruiter that he expected a sharp improvement in senior executives taking up positions in the New Year.

There are normally 18,000 UK headhunter vacancies a year, but last year this fell to only 12,000, said Scott-Brown. However, based on the 560 vacancies notified to InterExec by headhunters during November (38% up on November 2009), Scott-Brown said he was “absolutely certain” that next year would see a higher level of vacancies.

Oil & gas was up 124% and financial services 65%, he said. Within professional disciplines, vacancies for bankers rose 147% and sales directors 88%.

Phil Sharp, managing director of Executive Headhunters, told Recruiter that activity was now back to pre-recessionary levels. “We have seen more than a doubling in turnover in 2010 compared with 2009,” he said. “There is a degree of certainty in the market,” he added, with engineering, manufacturing, sales and renewable energy particularly strong.

Scott-Brown added: “I am seeing a huge increase in executives coming to me and saying ’I have been out of the market for two or three years, it’s time to put my head above the parapet.’ There has been a transformation of our clientele.”