An accountancy recruiter who has opened offices in Sao Paulo has revealed the burgeoning Brazilian market now pays its accountants the second highest rate in the world.

Accountancy recruiter Marks Sattin has also said there has been a 60 per cent surge in the number of accountancy jobs in Brazil over the past two years.

Sustained economic growth and business expansion, as well as the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the business world, is causing the increase.

The standards will require the majority of Brazil’s 5.9m small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to have an IFRS-trained accountant by the end of 2010. The government hopes the greater financial transparency that the standards encourage will boost Brazil’s competitiveness and influence on the world stage.

On an international comparison measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), accountants in Brazil are now the second highest paid in the world, with an average £3,671 monthly income.

Daniel Santiago Faria, country manager-Brazil, Marks Sattin said: “Brazil has the world’s eighth largest economy by nominal GDP] and was one of the first emerging markets to recover from the global recession. GDP returned to positive growth in the second quarter of 2009 – the Central Bank expects growth of 5% for 2010 – and consumer and investor confidence has revived.

“If annual growth continues at the current rate, and inflation remains under control, Brazil will be the fifth largest economy in the world within just a few years.

“The country has a stable democratic system, a wealth of natural resources, and its major companies are already expanding across the world. At the same time overseas companies are establishing themselves in Brazil. Between 1994 and 2009 Brazil received around $330bn in foreign direct investment. The implementation of IFRS is a message to the world that Brazil is committed to trade and that it intends its businesses to be active internationally.

“Accountants trained in IFRS will be in high demand as Brazilian companies seek to establish themselves internationally.”

Reed Job Index has shown the highest rise in the number of new jobs on offer across the country since it began. Job demand has risen seven per cent compared to 11 months ago.

Salaries for new jobs slipped further back compared to last month yet the number of applicants per job has risen at a faster rate.

While overall job demand rose across the board, job demand rose to its highest since the Index began in Manufacturing and Marketing, demonstrating a steady return to demand across the private sector.

Across the UK job demand was higher in every region and nation for the first time since the Index began eleven months ago. While demand in London remained below the highs which the capital experienced this Spring it rose to a London Job Index figure of 101 in October, while job demand in the West Midlands and the South East were both at their highest level since the Index started.

Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, said: “Job demand across the country is at the strongest level we have ever recorded, a full seven percent higher than when the Index began. The autumn has witnessed strong growth in the jobs market with demand up in such diverse sectors such as Banking, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Tourism and Marketing. Although salaries continue to slip downwards as applicant levels reach record highs, the threat of an imminent economic double-dip certainly seems to be receding which is great news for job-seekers.”

Amongst the 400 recruiters attending the late September annual APSCo conference (Association of Professional Staffing Companies), there appeared to be plenty of cautious optimism concerning the growth of recruitment in the months ahead. Obviously a great deal of talk was about the government’s impending Comprehensive Spending Review on the 20th October and how, and if, it would really impact public sector recruitment to the extent that the media commentators suggest.

Public sector recruitment, whilst down by 22,000 according to the September 2010 Labour Market Statistics report, is being offset by the steady growth in Private Sector recruitment, up 308,000 in the same period, April to June 2010. This only adds further fuel to the fire that suggests the private sector will be the engine of economic recovery in the UK.

Anthony Hilton, ex–editor, and now business and financial editor of the Evening Standard gave an enlightening talk at the conference, on how recruitment and the job search has now moved unequivocally online. He referenced long gone days, when the jobs supplement of the Evening Standard used to run to 50 pages, and today, where five pages of jobs is the norm. The newspaper industry has really suffered with the increasing dependence of consumers on access to online information and the growth of immediacy and control of their job search.

Recruiters also now understand that access to relevant candidates is almost exclusively about finding them online.

Here in the UK, 70% to 80% of jobs go through a recruiter, somewhat different to the US with only 20% of hires going through the staffing industry as recruitment there has evolved much more directly between the hiring manager and the candidate. In essence then, identifying the ‘right’ recruiter can, and will, make a huge difference to your morale, confidence and chances of successfully securing that next senior role.

So just a few basic tips to making the most of that ‘job seeker / recruiter’ relationship:

Find recruiters dealing with a vacancy exclusively
They will have a genuine deep insight into and strong relationship with the client company they are recruiting for.

Industry Membership
What industry association does the Recruiting organisation belong to — APSCo, REC, or The Recruitment Society. This will reflect positively on their code of ethics and generally infer credibility on them as a recruiter.

Network
I hear often about networking with colleagues and asking about job opportunities. I suggest it is just as advisable to find out from colleagues in your field, positive, constructive relationships they have had with recruiters.

Make sure that the recruiter that you invest your energy, hopes and dreams in, is one that is worthy of that attention