Funds management: the great Aussie hiring divide

The large fund management firms are boosting their teams in 2010, but their recruitment is mainly focused on mid-level candidates in selected sectors. If your expertise is in property, rather than energy, your career might be looking a bit shaky.

During the GFC, large firms - such as BT Investment Management, Colonial First State and Perpetual - cut some of their non-core products (and the senior project managers who ran them). BT, for example, axed its Global Return Fund.

And even today they still aren't in a rush to replace these expensive PMs because it would make their workforces too top-heavy again as they continue to concentrate on a more limited product range.

Instead, the major players want to hire more equity analysts - with about four to five years' experience - to support their remaining managers as markets recovery. And they will consider investment banking candidates as well as buy-siders.

"These younger people aren't tainted by having been decision makers in the financial crisis, but they have learned from the bad times," comments Caan Krsztew-Ivanow, recruitment consultant, H Capital.

It's the sector, stupid

So are your prospects perfect if you're an up-and-coming analyst? Unfortunately not - it all depends on which industry you're an expert in.

Before the financial crisis, firms based junior to mid-level hiring decisions at least partly on general skill sets, such as valuation and modelling. "The sector you covered wasn't so important. Many new funds were setting up and there was a talent shortage, so they were prepared to take a punt," says Krsztew-Ivanow.

Firms are rebuilding now, but cautiously, so they want sector specialists who can hit the ground running. Analysts with experience in three thriving areas - energy, resources and financial services - are most in demand.

Unsurprisingly, it is becoming much more difficult to swap sectors. "As I told an energy candidate recently: 'If you take this job, you will probably be an energy analyst for the next 10 years'," adds Krsztew-Ivanow.

Property analysts are probably the key victims of this new employment environment. "Not many funds are expanding in this sector, so these people struggle to get jobs at the level they want. I've seen good candidates forced to take on funds administration roles," says one headhunter who asked not to be named.