Rise in Financial Services Jobs Despite Shaky Start to 2016

Despite a concerning start to 2016 for the financial sector, thanks to falling share prices in Asia and Australia, job opportunities in London’s financial district are expected to rise. This implies that the stock market might be set to recover, if bosses are predicting that they will need more staff in the near future. This article will focus on examining what news on these fresh jobs means for the City and the economy. For more information on a range of subjects within financial recruitment, Procorre’s About.me page will prove invaluable in the coming months for anybody looking to get essential industry news.

Fears for Global Economy 

2016 has gotten off to a lacklustre start for many of the world’s biggest markets. Problems in China saw local stock markets fall rapidly, producing a knock on effect in Australia and ripples from the lack of confidence in Asian markets reached as far as Europe and the US. In fact, London took the biggest hit in February as the FTSE 100 Index fell by 135 points – the last time the index dropped by that much was just after the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2009.

Concern for European economies, if not the world’s finances was further compounded by a statement released by the International Monetary Fund. The organisation feared that if the markets continued in the current downtrend then this could have a serious impact on economic growth. Low share values in banks have historically been good indicators that an economy is stagnating. However, the markets seem to have taken a turn for the better, European exchanges finished up in the first couple of days in March and even the price of oil has rallied slightly.



Good News for Jobs in Finances Sector 

Even before the European rallies in March, Robert Half, specialist finances sector recruiter revealed research which highlighted the potential for economic growth in London based on the fact that 63% of financial executives in the capital expected to add new members to their teams in the first half of 2016. While this does not guarantee a return to last year’s stock market highs, it is certainly indicative that confidence is returning in the wake of tumbling stock values in January.

This trend for new vacancies, and for a greater number of financial professionals looking for jobs is expected to continue throughout the year, according to a statement from Morgan McKinley’s operations director. January also saw the release of promising salary figures for financial consultants in London over the course of 2016, once again pointing to a healthy industry despite its shaky start at the beginning of the year.

 

Attracting the Right People 

As part of the same survey of financial executives conducted by Robert Half, almost all of those interviewed were concerned about two things. The first, is the quality of the candidates that will apply for the newly opened vacancies of this year, and the second is that executives are concerned that their top performers might leave for new opportunities.

Most directors will spend at least some of their time worrying about their top performers, retaining accomplished employees is a key strategy in any business. However, with high salaries being posted by industry leaders, incentives and bonuses will only go so far. In the likely event that these employees move on to a better paid job, it makes sense that executives are also apprehensive about whether new recruits will be up to the task of replacing them.

Advice from top recruitment companies and consultants suggest that the best way forward is to act quickly if a firm spots a suitable replacement or exceptional candidate to fill a new vacancy. Remaining competitive is also an age-old proven strategy, but with companies like Emolument now publishing the latest salary and bonus details of the bigger firms in London, companies can see exactly where they stand compared to rival businesses.



Maintaining the Momentum 

A pertinent point that arises out of recruitment figures from 2015 is that last year saw a similar rise in jobseekers in the first six months, whereas towards the end, recruitment fell once again. The cause of this was both in part to a stock market that was starting to slow down, in addition to fewer jobseekers being on the market as bonus season approached.

For continued growth in 2016, especially towards the end of the year, businesses are urged by recruiters to not just remain competitive in their approach to hiring new employees from the UK but also to try and attract financial consultants from overseas. The UK financial sector is approaching full employment but there are still many consultants who are trying to break into one of the biggest financial markets in the world.

The Number of Female Directors Increases in European Finance

Many industry giants, including companies like Yahoo, Pepsico, and General Motors, have women at the helm; when it comes to executive level leadership, women are starting to become seriously established. However, there remain large gaps when it comes to corporate boards. In Europe, some countries have recently introduced mandates to address executive level gender gaps. Although it is early days, it appears to be having an impact.



Almost a quarter of board directors at European capital markets companies are women, and about 16 percent of executive committee members are female, according to New Financial. Released at the start of 2016, a New Financial report found that more women were joining executive committees and boards. Compared to 2015, the number of women on boards has increased by 3 percent, while the number has risen by 1 per cent on executive committees.

Even with the positive news, there still remains some disparity in some areas of the financial sector. Representation in hedge funds and private equity firms is still poor. On the other hand, pension funds and investment banks have shown to be more favourable towards women, with many of these institutions having women make up at least 30 percent of the boards.

According to the report, executive committees have been slow to take up women, who make up about 10 percent of such committees at investment banks. Executive committees on trade bodies are more favourable to women, who hold a third of the seats.



Addressing the issue

As in many other countries in the world, the UK financial sector has taken notice of the gender gap issue and is working to address it. Lloyds Banking Group, for instance, set a target of having women hold 40 percent of senior positions by the year 2020. The British Bankers’ Association, while recognising the strides the banking industry has made, also made it clear that companies and institutions cannot be satisfied with current levels. The Royal Bank of Scotland, a major player in the UK financial scene, has also earmarked 2020 as the target to have 30 per cent of its executive leadership roles held by women.

While setting such targets within companies may eventually work, companies can also look to bring in professional consultants to help identify qualified female talent. Global professional services consultancy, Procorre, has helped more than 1,500 highly skilled and experienced consultants work on projects across various industries, including finance and understands the importance of tackling gender disparity in the work place.

Time for change 

In tackling the gender disparity at executive level positions, it’s important that a company understand some of the reasons why it is an issue in the first place. Some argue that this is because many women are reticent when it comes to openly asking for promotions, believing their good performance should speak for itself. However, top level decision makers may interpret this silence as a lack of ambition.



Some companies also fail to understand that men and women have different career lifecycles. Executive decision makers tend to recognise leadership candidates when such people are in early to mid-30s. However, this policy can leave out some women who might have taken time away from work to have children.

At the board level, some members might be unwilling to accept change. While the CEO might want to push for more women representation at that level, it might not be surprising to find that some of the board become resistant to such attempts. A CEO needs the numbers to support their point of view if they are to make the change.

A new dawn 

Tackling the corporate gender imbalance may need companies to change how they view leadership. For starters, leadership shouldn’t be confined to a particular position (CEO) argues Richard Hytner of Saatchi & Saatchi. Rather, it is possible to have individuals make insightful leadership input from other roles within a company, including operations, technology, and finance. If companies can start looking at leadership as a lateral journey rather than a vertical one, they will quickly realise that both men and women can make a serious impact in leadership roles away from the title of CEO. Aspiring leaders should know there are other leadership roles that aren’t necessarily at the very top.