Can you “transform”? You may actually be able to land a job at a big four bank

Market conditions are making it difficult for banks to increase revenues, so they are naturally looking to reduce costs in order to improve efficiency and profits. Off-shoring, redundancies and recruitment freezes are all testimony to this. But while many job sectors are suffering as a result, at least one remains relatively in demand: transformation.

Transformation is a catch-all term encompassing change- and project-management roles that aim to make organisations more efficient, says Tim Carroll, co-founder, 325 Consulting. For example, some Australian banks are centralising shared-services and corporate-infrastructure functions like legal, HR, finance and risk. Transformation professionals, who help to implement these projects, usually sit within the relevant business unit.

The big four banks, thanks to their Australian-based decision making and sheer size, are carrying out most of the transformation work. “Typically they first appoint a large consulting firm to conduct a high-level analysis of where efficiencies can be made and to produce theoretical solutions and models,” says Carroll.

Transformation professionals are then recruited to tweak the plans and make them work in practice, he adds. Most are hired on fixed-term contracts of 12 to 24 months. They are often poached directly from permanent roles in consulting firms and thus want some guarantee of employment tenure and increased salary in their new position.

The transition from a consultancy to a bank may also bring benefits such as less travel and better work-life balance. “Plus there’s often a desire not just to advise, but to actually work for the company and implement change first hand. It’s a natural career progression,” comments Carroll.

The other, smaller talent pool consists of daily-rate career contractors who have typically worked in consulting firms in the past and now run their own independent companies.

Whatever the candidate, banks want both transformation skills and industry experience. People who have consulted to banking-sector clients are at the top of their wish lists.