Equities jobs are still out there

Equities markets may be in the doldrums, but the job market is not entirely moribund.

A glance at current job advertisements shows banks are looking for everything from German speaking equities sales staff to convertible bond traders and a head of equities strategy.

In a difficult climate, only the best applicants have much chance of success. Demands in the ads for 'exceptional' staff with a proven 'track record of success', which are so often just clichés, nowadays have the ring of truth.

Tom Crowfoot, an equities specialist at search firm Sheffield Haworth, said hiring in equities sales and trading was largely the result of upgrading: 'Banks are looking for people who will positively impact the bottom line.'

Some areas of the equities market are healthier than others. Crowfoot said demand for proprietary traders, who trade the bank's own money, had held up relatively well. There had been a greater drop-off in demand for flow traders, who trade on clients' accounts, he said.

Traders thenmselves are increasingly keen to move into proprietary positions. Mikayla Owen, head of equity trading at recruiter Napier Scott, said proprietary traders could usually earn up to 30% more than flow traders.

Proprietary traders tend to be paid on the basis of individual as opposed to team performance.

Owen said: 'Traders are desperate to make money and actually be paid for it. They are waking up to the fact that if they work in proprietary trading they will still get a bonus if they perform.'

This is particularly appealing in a market where hefty equity trading bonuses are hard to come by.

Andrew Warburton, managing director of recruitment firm Marshall Warburton, said base salaries for vice presidents in equities sales and trading in London were 65,000 to 85,000; base salaries for directors were 75,000 to 100,000; and base salaries for managing directors were 100,000 to 150,000.

Bonuses in 2002 were often zero or just fractions of base salary.

Simon Harding, a consultant at the recruitment firm Longbridge, said banks were unwilling to offer guaranteed cash bonuses to secure even the best equities staff.

But guarantees have not disappeared altogether. Mark Horlock, at the recruitment firm AMGM, said one-year bonus guarantees were still on offer in portfolio trading, where activity remains relatively buoyant.

Last week Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein made seven appointments to its portfolio trading team, including Zachary Tuckwell, formerly of Merrill Lynch, and Diane Garnick, formerly a global strategist at State Street.

Such hires hardly make up for wholesale job losses at larger firms - such as Goldman Sachs, which laid off 100 equities sales and trading staff last week. But they show that there is still hope.