IT is currently excluded from the hiring freeze
Morgan Stanley, and a number of other banks, have largely pulled back from hiring for the remainder of this year. But this doesn't seem to apply to IT roles.
Morgan Stanley itself still has around 50 live technology jobs in the UK. Whether (or indeed when) it actually commits to taking someone on for these is a different matter.
But, despite front office hiring freezes, a number of investment banks are still recruiting for IT roles. According to recruitment sources, UBS, Citi, SocGen, RBS, Nomura and even Standard Bank are indulging in relatively enthusiastic tech hiring.
Meanwhile, the likes of Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and HSBC ostensibly have hiring freezes in place for recruiting techies.
"We have no single client with a complete hiring freeze," says Mark Warburton, partner and sales director at IT in finance recruiters 752 Solutions. "However, many are taking stock of new hires after what has been an extremely bullish year for both contract and permanent recruitment."
So, why is IT surviving? It could simply be that the gaps created by the vociferous firing of both permanent and contract staff in 2009 still need to be filled. There's also the fact that, after a year of maintaining existing systems, innovation has been back on the table in 2010 and these projects may still need more manpower.
"Because of the number of medium to long-term projects banks have undertaken, these could go badly wrong if they are under-resourced," says Paul Bennie, director of IT in finance headhunters Bennie MacLean.
Could it also be that they're comparatively cheap to hire? Not necessarily; bonuses may be smaller but the fact that salaries have been on the rise and counter-offers increasingly common means hiring techies is still expensive.
"They might not be earning the millions of their front office counterparts, but IT professionals are still a significant cost," says Bennie.
Moreover, even if hiring drops off towards the end of 2010, there remains a healthy appetite to take on techies next year, suggests Warburton.
"The signals we're getting from clients suggest that recruitment budgets in IT are likely to be up 10% next year on 2010 levels," he says.
