It might be slightly ambitious to suggest that there’s any area of Irish financial services particularly keen on bolstering headcount at the moment, but it’s reassuring to see that there’s still some hiring going on.

A quarterly snapshot by recruiters Robert Walters paints a fairly bleak picture, not least because it seems even the hiring budgets for 2009 (usually signed off in November of the preceding year) have been largely postponed until the first quarter.

However, some sectors remain relative hives of hiring activity:

Insurance and re-insurance: Cited by Robert Walters as offering ‘significant’ levels of recruitment in the first quarter of this year, with finance, actuarial and underwriting roles all in demand.

Currency trading: Increased market volatility has been a friend to currency trading desks for some time now, and it seems Irish firms are attempting to take advantage of this by hiring quantitatively-driven research specialists.

Capital protected/guaranteed products: Firms specialising in structured products have been recruiting people with proven experience in capital protected/guaranteed products, in a bid to secure capital invested in the face of slumping assets over the last two years.

Compliance: Sadly, recruitment in the banking sector for compliance professionals has come to a standstill in Q1 of this year, largely due to the candidates themselves staying put. Instead, the focus has shifted towards insurance and re-insurance, which has remained relatively buoyant. Hiring of temporary compliance staff also surged as permanent headcount was harder to come by, but firms are increasingly picky and competition stiffer than ever.

Accountants in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors: These are niche markets and the roles being created are at the mid- to senior level, so it doesn’t offer much hope to the newly-qualified accountants being let go by Big Four firms in Ireland. But hiring here is expected to remain steady throughout 2009.

Contractors: With permanent headcount increases in Irish banks rarer than a herd of blue whales, 2009 is the time for temping. It might not be the securest option, but the demand for contractors within the banking sector has risen this year as firms find it near impossible to gain sign-off for full-time staff.