Even as banks cut and freeze recruitment, the large superfund administrators are still taking on staff, predominately in Melbourne. Hiring is mainly driven by continued outsourcing of administration functions to major players such as Superpartners, Mercer Wealth Solutions, Russell Investments, AAS and Pillar.

“There is increased competition for experienced candidates in this space, which has traditionally always suffered from very high staff turnover. Recruitment activity remains high and candidates with superannuation administration experience will always be in demand,” says Matt McGilton, director, Kaizen Recruitment.

Despite tough market conditions, Mahesh Rawal, manager, banking and finance division, Randstad, believes overall vacancies levels are only slightly lower than last year. “Reasons for hiring are a combination of staff replacement and new business being won, so teams are increasing to compensate for the increase in workload.”

Who are they hiring?

There is especially strong demand for business analysts and project managers, who can command high day and fixed-term rates if they work as contractors, according to McGilton. “With multiple-system integration and transition projects currently underway, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find good people with relevant experience,” he adds.

Rawal says superfund administrators are also hiring financial planners, but not in as large volumes as the banks. “When these jobs are available at super administrators, they are filled quite quickly due to many financial planners looking to move from a revenue-driven environment to a more service-driven business. Fin planners often consider super administrators more enjoyable and less pressured places to work.”

Breaking in is hard to do

Superfund administrators have traditionally hired people from outside the super sector only for positions such as marketing, communications, sales, and relationship management, says McGilton.

However, for technical roles, superannuation experience is usually required, he adds. “While some funds are open to hiring candidates without superannuation experience, others will not because superannuation systems and knowledge are very hard to train for.”

If they can’t find the candidates they need within their own industry, superfund administrators will consider people with administrative experience in financial services, says Rawal. “They could come from funds management, banking or high-volume processing roles, e.g bank tellers, insurance or claims processing.”