The report also shows permanent salaries in the HR sector are up 0.17% from this time last year. Permanent HR vacancies for March have risen only 0.1% to 2,275, from February 2011.
HR assistant salaries are up 0.12% year on year to an average £20,000.
Lynne Hardman, managing director professional services at Badenoch & Clark, said: "As organisations start to see positive and consistent signs of growth, there is a renewed focus on retaining talent. This is being reflected in a significant rise in vacancies for learning and development professionals, particularly at the senior level, as investing in people is seen as a key priority.
"Demand continues to grow for HR professionals who can offer more than technical skills. Organisations are increasingly looking for HR professionals to set the tone for the future, who can operate at a strategic level and demonstrate strong commercial thinking and business acumen.
"The senior end of the HR market has begun to see signs of activity, with more vacancies coming onto the market in recent months. This is being fuelled by organisations keen to get back to pre-recession levels and needing a firm hand on the tiller to ensure growth and development plans stay on course.
"In-house recruiters are once again in demand, particularly on the interim side. Many larger organisations are starting to look again at their recruitment strategies and are adding to their recruitment teams. This is particularly so in sectors where business is picking up, such as financial services, natural resources and engineering."
Hardman added: "It appears that organisations' appetite to invest in people and bring recruitment back in-house is yet to have much of an effect on either contract rates or permanent salaries."
The trends described in the Talent Spotlight are based on insight from Badenoch & Clark's industry experts. The market data, is drawn together using market intelligence from job boards, data from all brands within the Adecco Group UK & Ireland, company websites, social networking sites, SalaryTrack, the earnings information service and mysalarychecker.com.