"Compared to this time last year, the number of jobs we’re handling is up by around thirty percent – a massive hike,” says Nick Bate, director at Blue Eskimo. According to Bate, job opportunities aren’t just opening up within commercial learning providers. “There’s a consistent increase in both training companies and corporate learning departments," he explains.

"More encouraging still, there’s demand for roles across the board – whether it’s salespeople for learning providers or L&D managers for corporates. It really feels as though companies now have the confidence to put their foot on the gas."

The learning sector isn’t the only one to be on the up. For example, the number of vacancies in the IT sector is at its highest in five years – and CV registrations on a leading job website have gone up by almost forty percent in the last month. Employment overall is up by more than 300,000 over the last year.

Matched by the increase in advertised jobs is the demand for those jobs. Blue Eskimo says that there’s been a broadly equivalent rise in the number of people seeking work. "Competition for roles remains tough, with lots of applicants for each role. This said, we’re being contacted to help companies who are struggling to find the right calibre of people – they might get lots of applicants, but they’re not always good enough."

Blue Eskimo is about to exhibit at Learning Live, which runs 11–12 September in London. "Learning Live is the go-to event in the industry in the second half of the year," says Bate. "We’ll be there to meet people from both sides of the job-hunting fence: companies looking for people and people looking for jobs. Based on the uplift in jobs, we’re expecting to be busy!"