It’s no secret that the human resources profession holds a special appeal for the female sex. Around 70% of the members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development are women, and at junior levels the percentage of ladies is even higher.

With the services of recruitment-focused HR professionals not really required in the City during much of 2008 and the first six months of 2009, one recruiter of financial services HR types says many of the City’s female HRs took the opportunity to go on maternity leave. They’re now returning to a much improved landscape, and have the opportunity to switch employers if they so wish.

“There has been a recent increase in demand for recruitment managers at investment banks,” says Nicole Brooke, head of the human resources practice at Pemberton Search. “This would suggest that banks are planning to increase their volume of hiring in 2010.”

Andy Simpson, manager of the HR recruitment team at Huxley confirms the resurgence of recruiter roles: “There’s been an increase in demand across the board.”

UBS, Deutsche, and Credit Suisse are all said to be hiring recruiters. So too are private equity funds, although hedge funds are reportedly doing little to mop up all the HR people they eradicated in the last 18 months.

Whether the maternity returnees want to stay in the City is another question, however. Brooke says other industries are now more popular. Simpson confirms this: "There's a PR hangover in the banking sector. 18 months it was where the money, the glamour and most of all the job security was. Now, things are different. Top candidates are being pursued for roles in industries such as law, retail, and aviation, and they are listenting”