Applicants far outnumber jobs in the Gulf
With the carnage at investment banks in the West, and the positive PR machine in the GCC painting a picture of a hiring oasis in the region, international applicants for M&A and private equity roles have soared. There's just one problem - hiring is slowing down in the Gulf.
"The number of applications we're receiving now is phenomenal," says Nicola Beer, senior consultant for financial services at Hays in Dubai. "This time last year, around 150 would apply for an investment banking or private equity role, now it's closer to 1,000."
Job opportunities in Europe and the US only seem to be getting bleaker. Latest estimates from the Centre for Economics and Business Research reckon 62,000 jobs will be lost in the City of London alone by the end of next year. Meanwhile, New York's city comptroller William Thompson thinks 35,000 Wall Street workers will be redundant by 2009.
Not surprisingly, bankers are looking east. Anna Orchard, director of recruiters Morgan Hunt, says: "We've seen around a 50% increase in speculative CVs from investment bankers at international banks within the last month alone."
However, one head of HR at a major international bank, who wished to remain anonymous, told us: "We've received a lot more applications, but the problem is we're being a lot more cautious with our recruitment practices. We're focusing on controlled growth rather than aggressive expansion."
Orchard believes it's becoming a similar scenario at local banks: "Up until three or four weeks ago, local clients were still interviewing and interested in seeing people. Now, they're being cautious and waiting to see how the market develops. They have headcount allowance for this year, but the feeling is that they'll hold off hiring until the first quarter of 2009."
