With the FTSE hitting a 13-year high last week, markets and assets recruiters - and across the City more generally - will be hoping, albeit not holding their breath, for a pick-up in hiring demand.

Two assets and investment firms tell Recruiter that volumes of hiring do not change with the market. A spokesperson for Schroders tells Recruiter that it “takes a long-term view to growing its business and market levels do not influence our recruitment plans”. The spokesperson also points out that the firm increased headcount by over 10% during 2011 and 2012, when markets were lower than today.

The same is true at Killik, where a spokesperson, asked whether market levels correlate to recruitment demand, tells Recruiter: “It doesn’t. We don’t fire people if markets go down or hire them if they go up, we’re a tight ship.”

While the employers are cautious, Tara Ricks, managing director of specialist recruiter Randstad Financial & Professional tells Recruiter: “A strong stock market has a more pronounced effect on businesses operating within asset management and private wealth. These firms see the value of the assets under management rise, and this directly improves their fee income, which in turn makes them more likely to hire.”

Ricks additionally notes that the weak performances of asset classes such as gold “have encouraged more investors to switch their portfolios to equities… This increase in business volumes has encouraged firms to hire more staff.”

Two further recruiters suggest more of a middle ground – that across City roles, some growth is likely, but nothing instant.

Andrew Breach, the head of global banking and asset management at Page Executive, says that when markets rise, “there’s always a bit of a delay” in terms of a positive effect on recruitment.

“People look at it and say is there a direct correlation to how many staff I should have, and the answer is no,”  Breach continues, “but everyone looks at it and asks is there an improved playing field for our business, and the answer is yes”.

Breach also notes that several banks and buy-side institutions have been “looking to expand in a cautious way over the last few months, and that’s even more so in the last few weeks”, which  Breach’s team have themselves been looking to expand as they were “already a bit too busy”.

Hakan Enver, the London operations director at recruiter Morgan McKinley, suggests that it wouldn’t be until the second half of the year that “noticeable volumes” of new recruitment are seen, especially because “with regards to the FTSE at the minute, I don’t think there’s total faith that the current upward trend will last”.

He also tells Recruiter that in his experience, “typically the asset management industry always lags behind the banking industry by three to six months”.

• Another hiring hot spot may start to heat up in the City: According to a survey by procurement and supply chain recruiter Langley Interim Management, financial services is, alongside technology, the industry that procurement specialists expect to see the most new roles created this year.

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