Fund servicing: Outsiders welcomed in
Whether through enlightenment or desperation, it seems financial services employers in Scotland are now more willing to "look outside the box" when considering candidates for fund servicing roles.
"Candidates are increasingly approaching us," says Elaine Peacock from Joslin Rowe's Glasgow office. "They may not have the experience, but we are finding that due to the general shortage of talent, employers are now more willing to train them up."
With fund servicing experience no longer a prerequisite, the new buzzword is transferable skills. Peacock says employers from investment houses to legal and accountancy firms are asking broad (and fairly rudimentary) questions like: 'Can they do the job? Will they fit into a team? Do they have leadership skills?' The only prerequisite these days is a degree.
As a result, she says one company recently opted to hire a candidate from a manufacturing background and to fill in the gaps by teaching him everything he didn't know.
But anyone rushes to jettison a career as a social worker or horticulturalist, Neil Campbell of Change Jobs, offers up a note of caution: "There remain many financial service employers around not willing to look outside the sector for new staff."
