The start of the year was a little mixed for the financial services job market, in the banking sector, hiring remains buoyant but it is not at the high levels we saw at the start of 2010 however the exception has been at a buy-side were job levels have increased. Across the whole of the financial services sector there are more people looking for jobs and there are currently some excellent opportunities for some talented individuals.
Skills in demand
There is a particular need for equity and interest rate derivative trade support specialists in banking operations, both at analyst and AVP level, we have also found that companies are keen to requite people at all levels, who have experience of regulatory and transaction reporting and OTC client clearing. Senior business analysts and project managers are also in demand across all asset classes.
Investment Management
The jobs market in the investment management sector has improved noticeably with many firms hiring for newly creative roles. Demands for second languages, extra qualifications and experience of hybrid positions increased for example those who incorporate operations and IT. Relationship managers with revenue generating experience were also hired in greater volumes particularly by the bigger private wealth houses.
Hedge Funds
The larger hedge funds generated significant profits in the second half of last year (2010) and many announced ambitious growth plans for 2011. These firms are now requiting in large numbers to fill the gaps left by internal promotions particularly at the more junior level. Generally the types of roles recruited have become more cross product and generalised in nature which has attracted people from the cell side to make a move from hedge funds. Professionals with broad product knowledge are in high demand as were product controllers and fund accountants.
Risk
Credit risk professionals where also in demand and banks where hiring across corperate, fixed income as well as credit risk projects and modelling this was mainly driven by increased deal flow. Not surprisingly banks are looking to hire people with the most in depth industry knowledge and proving transaction experience. A number of banks also recruited people for their compliance team, hiring professionals in newly created roles in the wake of FSA regulatory action and continued regulatory developments in the UK Europe and the US. We saw the biggest increase in the number of advisory roles at VP to director level.
Salary Levels
Banks are changing the structure of total compensation packages in order to address FSA regulations, raising basic salaries but reducing bonus earning potential. This has lead to significant variation in how remuneration is structured, and makes it difficult to benchmark pay across the sector. However the majority of people working in banking were disappointed with there pay reviews and many people have cited this as a motivating factor when coming to us looking for a new job. Feedback from those working in the investment manager sector has been more positive. Base salaries typically increased in line with inflation or, if they weren’t already, have been brought in line with market rates. For some this lead to increases of more than 10%, for those looking to move good candidates are often receiving multiple offers and are able to negotiate favourable packages.
Future Trends
As more and more bonuses are paid out, we expect more people working within financial services to consider their options, buy-side activity has been particularly encouraging and we are anticipating that this will be a strong hiring area though out the rest of the year.
Finance Careers-Jobs Market today
