The rapid pay increases and counter-offers enjoyed by the relatively shallow talent pool in Ireland’s funds industry are at an end. Jobs are still out there, albeit in much smaller numbers, but employees seem unwilling to move from their current role.

“Levels of growth previously seen within fund administration were unsustainable in the long-term and there has been a noticeable slowdown over the last three months,” says Kate Thomas, manager banking and finance at recruiters Premier.

Assets under administration are still rising. They stood at €1,494bn in June 2007, according to Lipper Fitzrovia, and figures from the Irish Funds Industry Association (IFIA) show that the net asset value (NAV) of total funds administered in Ireland was €1,666bn in August 2008.

However, the NAV of Irish domiciled funds, which has seen double-digit growth since 2000, has shrunk by -1.1% in the year to August 2008, according to the IFIA, and is expected to fall even further going into 2009.

At its peak in 2006, staff turnover in the funds industry was at 29%, and as high as 40% in the lower ranks, according to the IFIA. Entry level pay surged by 17% over 2007, according to a Joslin Rowe salary survey. Those glory days are over.

James Hayes, manager banking and financial services at Robert Walters in Ireland, says: “The movement of 18 months ago when people were moving for purely monetary reasons is greatly reduced. Companies are instead placing more emphasis on career planning and training programmes.”

Thomas agrees that there’s a greater focus on moving up the food chain within the current employer and that firms are longer aggressively competing for candidates or entering into a bidding war.

“Good staff are still in demand, but the approval for new hires is not forthcoming,” she says. “This situation has caused an increase in contract opportunities along with staff moving to new roles for similar, if not identical packages.”

Specific product knowledge, in areas like hedge funds and private equity, is prized and a minimum of three years experience is increasingly becoming a prerequisite, say recruiters. Compliance, financial reporting and business analysis are still buoyant within fund admin firms, reckons Thomas.