Best jobs still elsewhere

Recruiters say coveted front office roles are still few and far between in Dublin's financial sector.

"Dublin still has a small trading presence where nepotism rules and often you need the right schooling and right background to get you a front-office job," says Edward Cox, manager of the banking and finance desk at recruitment agency Qualitas People Solutions in the Irish capital. "There's loads of money to be made here but the trading aspect of the business is done mainly in London and New York."

While the level of assets being serviced by the Irish funds industry exceeds €1 trillion and employs almost 9,000 people, about 90% of those in the industry have back-office or middle-office roles, according to Helen Bergenstjerna, a senior consultant at Hudson's banking division.

Indeed, hedge fund administrators ranked as one of the biggest new employers in Ireland last year.

Many factors mitigate against Ireland's efforts to establish its

capital as a centre for front-office international funds, including an

unwillingness among decision makers to move from the world's long-established financial centres and Dublin's distance from the investment

community and key financial markets.

A foot in the door

"The level of competition for trading jobs here is so severe that only

people with first-class job experience are able to swing it," said Qualitas' Cox, a former Merrill Lynch trader. "There are two ways to overcome this. I would advise graduates to either move to London or to join a bank here, work in risk or quantitative research and then use this foothold to talk to the right people and put your name out there."