Banks are being horribly specific about who they want to fill their front office hiring holes.
Things aren't looking so great for people working in fixed income. Despite having an unusually good first quarter, Morgan Stanley has joined the legions of banks cutting from rates and FX teams. Goldman is also said to have done some fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) trimming last week.
However, hiring is still happening. And it's not just happening in compliance and technology. Recruitment firm Selby Jennings has issued a series of reports suggesting where hiring is heating up. If you want to pitch yourself for front office finance jobs where your résumé will be embraced enthusiastically, try these very specific niches:
Forget London, try Zurich or Geneva. Selby Jennings says there's a big shortage of people to fill junior sales and marketing roles in Swiss funds. The shortage in Switzerland is such that funds there can take up to four months to find the right people.
If you're a candidate, the downside is that Swiss funds are very fussy. They probably won't hire you unless you speak French, German and English - fluently.
U.S. quant hedge funds have also been hiring. However, Selby Jennings says they're fussy too: they mostly want people with between five and ten years' experience in similar roles at other hedge funds.
Electronic trading is hot and was the biggest hiring area for banks in the U.S. in Q1, says to Selby Jennings. Banks mostly want to hire electronic trading talent from other banks, however. Within this niche, there's a real shortage of U.S. electronic trading talent with between two and five years' experience.
Finally, Selby Jennings says there's been big hiring of senior analysts in Asia-based fund management firms. Analysts with between seven and 12 years' experience are reportedly in big demand in Asian markets, with high yield and distressed debt China-focused analysts especially sought-after. Demand for Asia-based analysts at associate and vice president level is also expected to pick up soon, simply because Asian firms have neglected to train enough graduates. However, applicants for these jobs will need solid financial modelling experience, something which can be lacking.
Rise of the quants at Goldman Sachs
How desperate must you be to accept a job in a bank’s ‘non-core’ unit?
Suddenly, there’s demand for people who’ve been out of the market since 2008
