Ratings agencies, such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch, are looking to add to their structured finance teams. But with banks doing the same, agencies are having to be inventive in how they go about doing it.

“Everyone is hiring collateralised debt obligation (CDO) people at the moment,” says Andrew Farr, head of structured finance recruitment at Moody’s. “It’s hard to find them – you have to think very carefully about where you’re going to recruit from.”

Farr says Moody’s currently employs 35 people in its London- and Paris-based CDO teams, and plans to add another five to seven in the coming months. He says some are likely to come from a legal background. Recruiters say others are likely to come from a little further afield.

“Ratings agencies will hire people who wouldn’t be able to move into a front office position in an investment bank,” says Alex Tracey, a consultant at a Clifden Partners, a recruitment firm. “They’ll take credit analysts from the middle office of investment banks, people from management consultancies, and journalists.”

A few years’ in a ratings agency can work wonders on your CV, says Tracey. “It’s a bit like an apprenticeship,” he says. “A year or two in a ratings agency will turn you into a product expert. They offer an opportunity to learn the skills that will enable you to transition into banking.”

The apprenticeship culture is bad news for ratings agencies, however, who suffer from something of a revolving door when it comes to recruitment and retention.

In their favour, Farr says ratings agencies offer a more collegial environment than banks, and that pay is slowly rising. “If you have six years’ experience in a ratings agency you can now earn a salary of 120,000 to 130,000,” he says. “This is competitive compared to banks, at which director-level salaries are typically confined to 100,000.”

But Bruce Wheelan, a consultant at recruitment firm Anderson’s, which is currently recruiting for a rival ratings agency, says this is an exaggeration. “Working for a ratings agency, you’d be lucky to earn 100,000,” he says. “And bonuses tend to be 30% max.”