"May you live in interesting times," goes the Chinese curse. If it is true, recruiters in continental Europe can consider themselves charmed. Last year was distinctly dull. But 2004 promises to be livelier.

After the frenzied hiring of the late 1990s and the redundancies of 2001 and 2002, the last 12 months were a breathing space for recruiters in continental Europe's main financial centres. For most of the year redundancies were few and hiring was slow.