The senior talent war isn't only about the banks...

Investment banks have grabbed most of the recruitment headlines recently, but they aren't the only ones searching for senior staff. Superannuation funds have been (rather more quietly) ramping up their managerial ranks in the current quarter.

"There's a shift happening in the market that is seeing an increase in management-level roles within superannuation. This is a combination of firms growing and winning new business, and an overall increase in confidence within the sector," says Kate Agouridis, banking and financial services consultant, Robert Walters.

Vacancies volumes have risen substantially from earlier this year where the sector remained quite stagnant, according to Jane McNeill, senior regional director of banking, Hays. "Super funds have been more active in recent months as they appear to ramp up their activity and pipelines for 2010," she says.

Most of the recent senior recruitment has focused on sales, business development and client management roles, says McNeill.

Agouridis adds: "There has been an increase in demand for managers and team leaders to supervise member and employee services teams now that they are growing, and a big push for business development managers within superannuation."

But what type of people are they looking for? Executive-level candidates within superannuation are typically poached from a competitor, says Agouridis. "Where there is more flexibility is at the team-leader level, where we find super funds bringing people in from banking and other industries."

Corporate super funds, as opposed to industry ones, face a shortage of senior professionals with backgrounds in the sector, comments McNeill.

"They will usually consider candidates from other areas of financial services providing they have strong relationship management ability and proven sales skills. We have seen individuals move across sectors, particularly between funds management and superannuation," she adds.