Senior executives in construction are increasingly looking to safer job sectors for work, according to a finance recruiter.

David Colgrave, chief executive of Ardent Search & Selection, said that workers in the hard hit construction sector, where the credit crunch is causing jobs losses, are looking to move into less vulnerable environments.

Colgrave said: “The finance profession has many generic aspects, enabling finance directors to move out of ‘problem businesses’ such as building companies into similar roles with the likes of contract and utility organisations. Some of the sectors we are recruiting for at present are continuing to perform well, this includes the food retail sector in both Leeds and Manchester, and there are also some niche parts of financial services which are reasonably buoyant.”