It is now easier to get a new financial services job in London than at any time since March 2008

Remember March 2008? Pre-Lehman, pre-AIG, pre-Fannie and Freddie and the eurozone crisis, it was when Bear Stearns stumbled and fell. It was also long enough ago to reside in the golden age of banking jobs, back when bonuses were mostly cash and people responded to applications with meaningful interviews.

In terms of your search for a new financial services job, things may be just as good now as they were then.

We are basing this statement on the monthly figures for new candidates and new jobs released by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley. Yes, you have cast aspersions upon these on the past. Yes, Morgan McKinley is but one firm in the market. But it has been producing its figures for a long time and for March 2012 they suggested the surplus of candidates over new positions fell to a three year low.

To put things into perspective, Morgan McKinley calculated that there were 1,898 more new candidates than new jobs coming onto the market in March 2012. In July 2011, it thought the number of new candidates exceeded new jobs by 10,000.

Too scared to look for work

There's a reason for this. It's not that new jobs have increased. It's that new candidates have fallen off a cliff. In this market, people seem too timid to apply. Hence, in March 2011 13,000 new candidates came onto the market according to Morgan McKinley. In March 2012, 4,700 did. New jobs have fallen, but new candidates have fallen more. If you are willing to risk finding a new role, job-searching should be easier than it has been for a while.

We've posted several graphs based upon Morgan McKinley's historical data below. Its figures suggest there are now 1.7 new candidates for every new job. However, it's worth bearing in mind that there are also plenty of people who've lost their jobs in recent years and may still be lurking on the periphery of the London market. The CEBR estimates that 27,000 jobs disappeared in the City of London between 2010 and the end of 2011.  Even if only a third of these people are still looking for financial services jobs, that implies a pool of 9,000 unemployed to add to the 4,700 new candidates who came onto the market in March, implying that 5 people are chasing each role. Anecdotally, that number is even higher still.

Source: Morgan McKinley figures 

Source: Morgan McKinley figures 

Source: Morgan McKinley figures