eFinancialCareers

Margaret Dyer, director of Joslin Rowe Scotland on why claims that Scotland’s finance industry is under threat from Eastern Europe are grossly exaggerated.

Every day some new report seems to suggest that the latest and greatest natural home for financial services firms has been found and that Scotland had better prepare itself for a nasty shock. A couple of years ago the country of choice was India, then it was the North West of England, now it's Poland.

I find this both ludicrous and scaremongering. Financial services companies employ more than 108,000 people in Scotland and they are not suddenly going to disappear overnight to Mumbai, Leeds or Warsaw. In fact quite the contrary. I've worked in financial services recruitment for many years and seen its growth rocket.

New businesses have opened, existing ones have increased in size, the number of skilled professionals in on the rise and for the first time ever Scottish graduates are taking advantage of career opportunities on their doorstep rather than escaping to London.

There are other hard facts too to support the picture of a country which is booming rather than threatened. Since the millennium Joslin Rowe Scotland has surveyed financial services companies on their recruitment, remuneration and retention trends.

These Scottish reviews show that confidence is the highest it has ever been amongst hiring companies, that headcount both temporary and permanent is forecast to increase by as much as 30%, salaries have risen 20% and that outsourcing or relocating isn't on the agenda.

Rather than looking over its shoulder, Scotland is forging ahead.