A matter of over-experience?
Is it possible to be too experienced for the Australian market?
This is what some of you have been claiming in the comments on our recent article on the seeming lack of Australian jobs. Off the record, recruiters say it's true.
The problem seems to be that the lure of the Sydney lifestyle is encouraging bankers from overseas to apply for jobs that are way too junior for them. And local recruiters just aren't buying it.
"We do tend to get people coming from overseas who are happy to apply for jobs just to give something a go, even if they may be above the skill level," says one. "The market doesn't really want to entertain them because they want someone who's going to be working their way up towards a job rather than stepping back just to take it on temporarily."
Given that Australia's a tiny financial centre compared to, say, the City of London or Wall Street, Matthew Gribble, associate director at Michael Page, says there just isn't the depth of roles here and migratory bankers can't find their niche. "It's quite common for people who have worked at banks in London and New York or major financial services centres that are much larger than Sydney to come with very specialised skills in a certain area," he says. "So they may not find that same kind of job as they had in one of those markets in Australia - they may find that they'd be coming in at a broader role."
