Poles looking homeward for financial job opportunities

They're well-qualified, desperate for work experience and have helped to shore up the skills-shortage in Ireland's financial services industry for a couple of years now, but now it seems Polish workers want to go home . They'll be taking a hefty pay cut though.

Around this time last year, we reported that a number of Polish financial services professionals were getting itchy feet. However, now that the jobs are drying up they're more keen than ever to look at opportunities in their homeland.

In fact, they're leaving at rather alarming rates. The Polish embassy reckons around 15,000 have returned home since July - or 140 a day - while a survey by Irish recruiter CPL says 1,300 a week are planning to leave Ireland over the next year.

Obviously, returning Poles didn't just work in financial services, but a large number of finance-focused immigrants are now exploring what Poland has to offer, according to Karen Kennedy of Grafton Recruitment who specialises in sending them back home.

"A lot of our clients are financial institutions who are recruiting in Poland," she says. "They're looking for anything from credit controllers, to financial analysts or fund accountants."

Firms with Polish operations keen to recruit include Royal Bank of Scotland, KPMG and Franklin Templeton, says Kennedy.

Other Irish recruiters are getting in on the act. Paul Cotter, director of Cotter Personnel, tells us that they've just kicked off their own efforts to repatriate Polish financial services workers.

"The general feeling is that if they opportunity is right, they'll move," he says.

However, pay figures quoted by Cotter Personnel are much lower than those offered in Ireland, even taking the lower cost of living into account.

A junior accountant can expect €11-14k, which rises to €22-30k at the senior level. Financial analysts can earn between €12.5-€19k and senior financial analyst salaries range between €14-22k.