Time-to-hire picks up pace

The time it takes a financial services firm to make a hire is speeding up. Here's what it means for you.

Research from specialist recruiter Reflect suggests industry players are making hiring decisions more quickly, as much as 30% more so in June and July this year over the same period in 2005.

This accelerated time-to-hire trend shows firms' willingness to shorten the interview process as they all go after the same, ever-shrinking talent pool. While banks want to hire in the best, they are under more pressure to identify talent - and make offers - before candidates get snapped up by their rivals.

Firms are hungry for staff, says Barnaby Parker, managing director of Reflect: "It's definitely a candidate-driven market at the moment and both contractors and those seeking permanent roles should be fairly confident when negotiating salary and benefits packages. The time-to-hire figures reinforce they are in the better bargaining position."

Time-to-hire also lessens mid-year because of rising business confidence. Companies review financial performance in June and adjust hiring strategies accordingly. With banks and fund managers flush from a record earnings season, they can afford to be generous.

Parker says, "The results reflect client hiring patterns with peaks in April and May. If you want to find a job quickly this is the time to do it. But these peaks are mirrored in September and October so we suggest that autumn is also a good time to look for a new job."

Reflect's research also shows slower time-to-hire statistics from January to March of this year, illustrating typical first quarter hiring patterns. Firms usually stop hiring in mid-December and get new job specifications out by mid-January. Parker says recruiters then start filling the roles in earnest from February.