Ominous talk of hiring freezes when it should be spring
At this time of the year, hiring should be warming up. Strangely, there are still rumours of hiring freezes in dank corners.
Among the banks rumoured to have freezes are: BarCap, Credit Suisse, and RBS.
Last August and September, lots of banks imposed freezes. It's possible they have yet to be lifted.
Equally, however, it's possible that the banks in question have cost control programmes and are recruiting only on a one-in-one-out basis.
As we noted last week, there seems to be a lot less going on in terms of front office recruitment this year, although demand for middle and back office people remains very strong.
"This time last year, everyone was interviewing at BarCap," says one M&A recruiter. "In the past five or six weeks, I haven't come across anyone who's interviewing there."
Beyond the middle office a few areas do still seem to have consistent headcount needs. Peter Harwood, managing director of Engage Search, says there's demand for people across the board in FX.
"For truly exceptional hires, a hiring freeze can always be lifted. The real change now is that the sign-off procedure is more robust," says another headhunter. "If you've only got a headcount of 5 instead of 15, you're going to put far more effort into finding the 5 best people," he adds. "It changes the whole hiring process."
