Around the globe: A roundup of hirings, firings and sector trends in 2011

Corporate banking, prime broking, traders’ hedge funds: What actually went up in 2011?

As we note in our accompanying article on the trials of the past 12 months, 2011 hasn’t been a particularly good year. One measure of this is that according to Bloomberg, more financial services jobs were lost in 2011 than in 2009. But hey, it wasn’t universally bad. [UK]

Equities, employment, Nomura, UBS: What went down in 2011, a year many may wish to forget?

It hasn’t been a great year. 2011 started well, with optimism that the climate of 2010 would persist. In 2010, every large bank was in an in-growth mode: BarCap added 1,600 people, Goldman Sachs added 3,200, Deutsche added 1,800, Credit Suisse added 1,200 and UBS added 1,700. However, instead of consolidating 2010’s gains, 2011 has been about rethinking and retrenchment. It has been a year of firing, not hiring. [UK]

Foreign insurers in China expect headcount growth but face plenty of challenges

Foreign insurance firms in China still plan to increase their collective headcount by 2014, according to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. This comes despite their stagnating market share and changes in the shareholdings of insurance joint ventures at firms such as AXA, New York Life and Sun Life, who have cut or disposed of their JV stakes since last year. [Hong Kong]

2011: What went up and what went down in Gulf financial services recruitment?

After a subdued 2010, this year was hotly anticipated to be one of active recruitment in the Gulf financial sector. Unfortunately, political uprisings in the region, combined with an increasingly gloomy global picture, has meant another quiet 12 months. [Middle East]

The In-betweener: In my experience, managers and human resources departments are failing women in the workplace

In recent blogs, I have told you about starting a new career and about changes in office environments. One thing that has struck me recently is the absence of human resources support when sticky situations arise. [Australia]

Guest Comment: If your job hunt’s in a slump, take a look at yourself before you blame your recruiter

There’s sometimes criticism from candidates on this site and others about the quality of service you’ll receive from recruitment consultants. Much of this criticism is justified. Recruitment is a sales-based industry which works on behalf of clients, not job seekers. We manage candidates who are at particularly vulnerable stages of their lives when they are looking for jobs. [Japan]