Is financial services leading the recruitment fight-back?
Total online job ads in Australia fell 1.67 per cent in October, according to the latest Olivier Job Index, but financial services defied the trend by climbing 3.05 per cent.
Leading the way was wealth management, which jumped 10.2 per cent , and corporate finance (up 7.2 per cent).
Author of the report, Bob Olivier, director of the Olivier Group, reckons financial hiring is driven by the general need to ease the pressure on staff weighed down by waves of retrenchments over the last 18 months.
Others believe that a skills shortage in specialist areas - in particular research, dealing and investment banking - helps to explain the sector's comparatively strong recruitment performance.
John Coles, CEO, Executive Group International, comments: "In research, it's a very specific demand. There is a requirement for mining and property analysts. It's a good time to upgrade to a new job."
Dealers are in demand because some institutions made significant cuts to their desks in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse. "Remember Macquarie let go of over 1,000 people in one hit," says Coles.
Accountants and risk management professionals are also sought after, according to David Barr, director of banking at Robert Walters in Sydney.
"Employers think they can pay salaries at considerably lower levels than those paid 18 months ago. This isn't the case and employers retaining the best people are paying salaries comparable to what was paid before the GFC," he adds.
