After budget slashing and widespread redundancies, the outlook for IT recruitment is improving. A return to the booming IT job market of three years ago is unlikely but recruiters report an upturn in demand.

John Nicholson, head of IT recruitment at Astbury Marsden, a recruitment firm, said appetite for new hires had increased. "Cost cutting has taken IT down to the bone; a lot of teams are pretty threadbare. As the outlook for investment banks picks up, hiring managers' demands for new IT resources are being listened to," he said.