The number of professional job opportunities in Ireland grew by 3% in June 2016 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest Morgan McKinley Monthly Employment Monitor.

The monitor also shows that professional job opportunities fell by 3.5% when compared to May 2016 and the number of professionals seeking job opportunities fell by 4% when compared to the previous month.

In Financial Services, the monitor recorded a strong increase in demand for professionals within the Funds and Asset Management sector, particularly with risk and compliance expertise. This follows a period of hiring caution earlier in the year. There was a marked increase in enquiries from UK job seekers within this sector after the results of the UK’s referendum on membership of the EU were announced.

“Hiring activity in June was stable but cautious, reflecting both seasonal factors and the uncertainty generated in the run up to and immediately after the UK’s referendum on EU membership,” Karen O’Flaherty, Morgan McKinley Ireland, Chief Operations Officer, said. “The complexities arising from the UK’s decision to leave the EU are not yet fully understood and we anticipate this may impact company forecasting and resource planning activity in the short to medium term.

Within the financial services and banking sector generally it is expected that there will be changes but that it is still too early to determine when and where they will be. The expectation is however that there will be diversification,” O’Flaherty said.

“There is also positive sentiment. Within financial services Brexit may increase the flow of candidates and jobs from London back to the Irish market. The Funds sector witnessed a spike in activity in June and an increase in enquiries from UK job seekers. Regulatory and compliance roles are in particular focus.

According to the monitor, recently qualified accountants are increasingly likely to be targets for new positions in both financial accountant and internal audit positions.  Meanwhile, as the cost of operating in Dublin continues to rise, top 10 practice firms continue to move and build teams outside the capital – Cork, Limerick and Galway.

The monitor also showed that the IT sector remained upbeat in June and the continued under supply of quality talent remains an issue for employers. The most sought after professionals are those with big data, IT security and Java developer experience.

Supply chain and procurement professionals across Dublin and the regions were the most popular hiring targets. Meanwhile, German, Dutch and Nordic languages remain the most sought after in the multilingual sector. These roles were mostly mid-level sales and business to business support for international clients of Irish based firms.

“Within professional services, we anticipate an increase in hiring demands as international businesses assess the Irish market as a potential landing point within the EU, O’ Flaherty said.“Certain sectors such as IT, Procurement and Multilingual remained particularly buoyant in June. Within IT there was no evidence of hiring uncertainty, though we anticipate there may be a rise in project and contract opportunities over permanent roles as the year progresses.”

“In summary, the decision by the UK to leave the EU does present opportunities, however the full impact of Brexit on growth plans and therefore hiring activity is not yet clear,” O’Flaherty said.