Commodities hires drain oil industry
Oil production companies like Shell, Total, and BP, are set to hire increasing quantities of junior traders to replace staff who have defected to banks.
One headhunter who works in the area, and declined to be named, says physical trading companies have suffered heavily from staff defections this year as investment banks have sought to build their commodities teams.
Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse are among the banks building new commodities teams. Financial News yesterday reported that BNP Paribas is preparing to recruit 20 people globally for commodities before the end of this year.
French bank Calyon recently hired a team of power specialists from Total Gas and Power in London. Other banks have also poached heavily from oil traders in an effort to find talent in the overheated commodities market.
The headhunter says physical trading companies rarely traders into junior positions, preferring to cultivate junior talent in-house.
Pay is considerably lower at physical traders than banks, says the headhunter, but there are upsides. "You'll earn 75% less working for a producer than for an investment bank," he says. "But if you work for a bank, you're liable to lose your job in a downturn. If you work at a producer, you're in there for the long term."
