Post-Eid hiring is a-go: here are five hot roles
Those in the know will be eyeing the next two months with a sense of nervous trepidation. After the mutterings under the Ramadan curtains, most financial services organisations now have a clearer idea of their recruitment plans for the remainder of the year. What can you expect?
The first thing to point out is that sentiment is, well, surprisingly positive. After a year of muted recruitment activity, most firms are heeding a pent up need to hire.
“There’s been a real change of sentiment in the market, with a number of organisations keen to connect to discuss hiring plans for the remainder of the year,” says Barbara van Meir, managing director, head of MENA at Pemberton Partners. “A lot of companies are keen to hire this side of Christmas.”
According to recruitment professionals in the region, this is where the hiring is likely to happen.
1. Wealth management
Yes, the flow of wealth management roles has slowed in recent months, but firms are still keen to bolster their ranks for differing reasons. Van Meir says that the growing wealth in the region simply presents an opportunity for banks to exploit, and many are competing for the same relatively limited pool of talent.
Shane Phillips, owner of headhunters Shane Phillips Consultants, says: “On the one hand, universal banks are using wealth management as an opportunity to develop relationships with key people in the region which they can leverage across other business areas. Meanwhile, there are plenty of stand-alone wealth managers still building their ranks.”
2. Retail banking
Retail banking, particularly branch roles, may not be considered the ‘sexy’ side of the business, but it’s one that is presenting a lot of opportunities, particularly for Emirati candidates in the UAE. The likes of Rakbank, United Arab Bank, First Gulf Bank and Commercial Bank International are all building aggressively, according to recruiters in the region.
“I’d expect retail banking to be the one true growth area for the remainder of the year, potentially creating thousands of jobs,” says Peter Greaves, managing director of IES HR Consultants.
3. Principal investment arms of family offices and sovereign wealth funds
More large sovereign wealth funds, particularly the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Qatar Investment Authority, are building their direct investments teams. There’s also more of an appetite from large family offices to take on private equity professionals currently, argues James Wakefield, director of recruiters Cobalt Abu Dhabi.
What does it take to secure these roles? “If you’ve worked in private equity within the GCC then you’re in a good position,” he says. “More recently, however, SWFs have looked to recruit from London or New York, where there’s plenty of available talent. They’re also interested in hearing from investment bankers with a bulge bracket brand on their CV.”
4. Technology
Banks in the MENA region still heavily lag behind Western and Asian institutions when it comes to technology investment and they’re likely to bring in senior IT executives, swiftly followed by recruits lower down the career ladder, within the next few months, suggests Phillips.
“Most local banks are looking to recruit for IT, some with new chief information officers, others upgrading the staff they have,” he says. “Rather than recruiting for the local market, many are searching London and Asia for the best in class.”
5. Risk management
Risk is generally highlighted as a hot job sector, with banks in the Middle East still vying with more regulations and a need to keeping tighter reins on risk management. The spike in demand for risk professionals shows no sign in abating, suggest all the recruitment professionals we spoke to, with some banks choosing to poach key talent from their peers (in order to capitalise on regional experience) and others hoping to sway risk employees across from other parts of the world.
