We are nearly, if not already, in that difficult season when the recruiter who’s been dealing with you suddenly disappears to an unspecified location which isn’t the office, or the person who needs to sign-off your placement unexpectedly takes an extended break in the Aegean.

Fortunately, however, there are still some areas of investment banks which are so desperate to recruit people that they will be signing-off new recruits over the summer.

They’re all in the middle (and back) office, and are as follows:

1) Product control

Product controllers are still having a very good year.

“Anyone with experience in product control can pretty much walk into a job right now,” says Andrew Hanson, head of financial services permanent hiring at Robert Walters. “There’s huge demand, both for newly qualified accountants, and accountants with product control experience, even up to VP level.”

2) Risk and reporting

”Improved risk reporting, and new risk systems are leading to large risk change management programmes,” says Adrian Marples at recruitment firm Kinsey Allen International. “Senior management want improved risk management across the board, so many banks are trying to expand and upgrade, particularly with ex-front office types.”

There’s also considerable demand for people with expertise in technical financial reporting according to Sheldon Paul, managing director of recruitment Cameron Kennedy.

Meanwhile, Hanson highlights demand for management accountants working as ‘management information professionals.’ “A lot of heads of businesses are looking for detailed information to help dictate strategy and allow them to focus on costs,” he says.

3) OTC derivatives documentation

If OTC derivatives documentation is going to be snuffed out by new rules forcing clearing through exchanges, it hasn’t happened yet.

“We’re seeing a lot of demand within drafting derivatives documentation, where backlogs in the OTC market are still being cleared to meet Fed targets,” says Hanson at Robert Walters.

“There’s still a lot of project work around,” says Andrew Norton, managing direct of Michael Page international. “It’s often around the implementation of new financial systems dealing with funding and cost management.”

Robert Walters confirms strong demand for project managers and business analysts to work in operations. Demand is reportedly at its strongest in equities and OTC derivatives as firms look to implement new systems and improve processes to cut costs.