Have been chatting to a couple of PR agencies this week and the general consensus is that the recruitment market is showing signs of life. Certainly the likes of APCO have made a couple of high profile appointments. In days gone by, the thickness (and number of recruitment ads) of a trade magazine was a decent barometer of how well a sector was doing. Presumably, the trend of recruitment advertising going online will mean that this measure is no longer be relevant, but none the less the recruitment market seems a lot more buoyant than it has been. The recruitment consultants back this up. Most of them will admit that it has been the toughest year on record, and while no one is ordering the new BMW just yet, compared to the nightmare scenario of the last 12 months, there now seems to be progressively more jobs coming onto the market on a month by month basis. Presumably Christmas will affect this in the short term, but the long term trend will hopefully remain positive. (Quick – touch some wood!)