UK
In any normal market, front office hiring winds down in the final quarter as banks resist buying people out. This year, banks’ heads of recruitment say that probably won’t happen. Hiring is likely to remain comparatively strong in Q4 and should ramp up a lot further in 2010. Here’s why:
1) Strategic faux pas:
Banks like Morgan Stanley and UBS have failed to capitalize on the money to be made from flow businesses. They’re now trying to make amends: Morgan Stanley alone has committed to add ‘up to 400 sales and trading positions’ in the ‘coming months’. Given three month notice periods and the money to be made in the near term, it makes no sense to wait until 2010 to start hiring.
2) The end of caution:
After 18 months of redundancies and nine months of a softly, softly approach to hiring, most banks are now prepared to recruit again following three quarters of solid results.
“We began the year cautiously, but I now see both ourselves and our competitors going to back to decent levels of hiring,” says the head of recruitment at one US bank. “I can’t see hiring closing down in the fourth quarter.”
3) Suppressed desires :
As a corollary to the end of caution, both banks and their employees are becoming more willing to act upon the pent-up urges of the past two years.
“There’s been very little movement for the past 12-18 months,” says the head of recruitment at another US bank. ‘However, people are now seeing conditions in which they can move and banks are seeing windows of opportunity in which they can approach them. Pent up demand is flowing through. 2010 will be a year of building and of significant investment by a number of institutions.”
As a counterweight to bullishness, it’s worth noting that improving conditions are specific to a few sectors. “Fixed income, equity derivatives, and cash equities are all buoyant,” says the managing director of one financial services search firm. “M&A, leveraged finance and structured debt are all quiet.”
Yeah but a lot of these jobs strike me as being really tough. “Physical coal originator,” “Physical oil trader,” etc. It sounds like good money, with a lot of heavy lifting and/or large machinery.
But the problem is I’m quite small, and I bruise like a peach.
Well, I haven’t seen any evidence that this theory is working to a widespread extent as yet, the market is still very patchy. I’ll believe it more when I start getting calls from agencies again.
I agree with this, having just started with an Equities broker in sales. There is a genuine desire to grow the business and expand going into 2010. I’m also starting to get calls from head hunters again. I still believe that the Compliance and Rick Management sectors are the most bouyant though, as banks like RBS scrabble to bring in layer upon layer of control, which could potentially stifle a business
All we need is a little bit more optimism
thats ok to say if you have a job. I have not seen any real evidence of it becoming any easier, in fact, what I tend to see is firms creating alot more hybrid roles, wanting alot more but offering alot less
This seems quite an optimistic side of the job market. It may be true theoratically but practically we are yet to witness any of this actually happening. Moreover in my view, the equation is never as simple as it has been presented
I agree with djm. I was recently rejected for an exotics role despite having extensive knowledge of mangos, lychees and passion fruit. This recovery is an illusion and proof the the city is run by idiots.
We had a mantra we gave our recruits in the military, “Pain is sensation, sensation is pleasure, because you enjoy sex; don’ t you. Anyway the good thing about pain is that you know you are still alive”.
It’s about time you got your pit mentality back. We all know the market is recovering and it will get back to where it was before. We also know when that happens, we get the good times.
So rough it and tough it!
Shame that 2010 will see the resumption of the bear market which should wipeout all the gains made in the counter trend rally. New multi year lows, maybe.
Ignore the black October spin, its December when you should start getting nervous.
Some, repeat some, people who have jobs amazingly believe there are thousands of jobs out there! Don’t get me started on what Labour MPs have to say about job availability.
I tend to be in Big Rob’s camp! Another big drop in markets is on its way by the end of the year – at least it’s what the long term charts say.
Brace yourselves for the ‘experts’ and ‘analysts’ when they try to explain that which they didn’t see coming!
great – if you have a job stay in – cause the wanne be head hunters with CV fishing are there but not the real existing jobs!
Hot promises – and nothing behind -
Hopefully
This is all good and well,but what about a person who’s over 50 and worked in Global securities Lending and has’nt been asked on an interview much less offered a job?.