Financial Services Employment Market Update – January 2023

It was a busy end to 2022, with a sense that many of our clients felt exhausted by the challenges of recruitment and all were ready for a well-deserved break.

The main observation of the last quarter remained the consistent theme that demand was still exceeding supply for key skills within the Australian Financial Services Industry. Many of our clients still have many vacancies to fill but recruitment remains a challenge.

We predict this theme to continue for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2023, but we have noted a welcomed influx of international workers (mainly New Zealanders, British, Indian and Irish) that many of our clients have hired on a contract basis, and some are willing to provide sponsorship which is a welcome change.

Key Observations

• The demand to hire female investment professionals at all levels remains strong and shows no sign of slowing done. More proactive firms are implementing customised sourcing strategies and partnerships to attract female investment professionals.
• There has continued to be strong demand for talent across ESG & Responsible Investment roles with the undersupply of talent at the mid-senior level being most pronounced.
• Investment Data, Market Data and Data Governance professionals with experience in investments is a rapidly growing niche and a very hard-to-find skill set.
• Organisations are having to work very hard and creatively to position their employment brand and EVP. Clients are still having to ‘pitch” to candidates. Those that don’t understand this are really struggling.
• It’s never being a better time to be a graduate or recent Graduate. Due to the excessive salaries demanded by established FS professionals, many organisations have proactively implemented Graduate or Entry-Level Analyst recruitment programs to develop the next generations of talent.
• Clients must have a seamless, efficient, and organised recruitment process. We have seen several firms lose out on hiring talent due to disorganisation. One global fund manager struggled to understand why candidates pulled out of the process after 11 rounds of interviews.

Cautionary Signs

While we remain optimistic about the employment market for 2023, we have observed some cautionary signs that may signal a slowdown.

These include

• Some Global Fund Managers have cut staff their global workforce. One Fund Manager operating in Australia cut 10% of their workforce worldwide.
• Another leading Global Fund Manager has confirmed they will be pulling out of the Australian market with several redundancies to happen in 2023.
• We have seen several Talent Acquisition teams starting to cut staff, with one firm making half of its talent acquisition team redundant. This clearly forecasts fewer recruitment needs in 2023.

Summary

Kaizen Recruitment specialises in financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney. For assistance or further information please contact us today.