Financial Services Job Market Update – January To March 2021

It has been a great start to 2021 with the job market and economy across financial services continuing the positive momentum from the end of 2020. Kaizen has experienced this firsthand with significant number of opportunities this quarter for candidates and clients and we are excited to see what the rest 2021 will hold.

At Kaizen, we have recommenced working back in the office, with many clients starting to do the same. Job opportunities which provide flexibility to be able to work from home are starting to be seen as a key criteria for some candidates in accepting a new role. We have seen candidates turning down roles where they have been required to work five days per week in the office.

The current recruitment market is very buoyant, with renewed demand for talent as employer confidence continues to grow which is resulting increased hiring. This is in addition to a backlog of pent-up recruitment demand through 2020. Top candidates have been receiving multiple interviews and job offers which is putting upward pressure on salaries.

For the period of January to March 2021, 58% of our recruitment assignments were completed within Funds Management. There was strong demand for professionals across Investment Research, Investment Accounting, Investment Operations, ESG and Risk & Compliance.

There were plenty of opportunities for experienced Investment Research and ESG professionals with many candidates receiving multiple offers.

The demand for qualified ESG and Responsible Investment professionals has been extremely high over the last six months across Funds Management, Superannuation, and Asset Consulting with no signs of this trend slowing any time soon. The feedback from senior managers has been that it difficult to source quality talent with a combined investment capability and ESG knowledge.

Kaizen has been very active in this space sourcing from our existing network and head-hunting excellent talent for our clients. During the quarter we completed a salary guide on our findings which has been well received by the industry.

It was a busy start to the year with near record levels of recruitment for the Kaizen team.

The average salary of all positions we delivered on was $127,000, with the highest salary at $250,000 and the lowest salary at $65,000.

48% of our recruitment assignments were retained and/or exclusive which enabled us to complete a comprehensive search process, and several search processes mapping the entire Australian market which added significant value to our clients.

56% of all placements came from candidates which we had previously interviewed via our existing network.

64% of placements were female, which was a significant increase over the previous two quarters and aligns with the trend we have been seeing over the last few years as outlined in our State of Diversity: Year In Review article.

We would like to thank our valued clients for giving our team the opportunity to partner with their businesses on a range of talent acquisition opportunities.
Victoria Funds Management Corporation (VFMC), REST Super, Generation Life, CCI, Funds SA, Payton Group, U Ethical, Aware Super, Australia Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), IFM Investors, Franklin Templeton, Qualitas, Paradigm Group and Treasury Corporation of Victoria.

Kaizen also welcomed two new Recruitment Consultants to the business during the quarter, Jewel Dcruz who will be recruiting for roles within Performance and Data Analysis and Joel Kaithavelil for roles in Business Development and Distribution.

The above summarises Kaizen’s activity during the January to March quarter and we look forward to working with our valued clients again through the rest of 2021.

Regards,

Simon Gvalda – Principal Consultant

Kaizen Recruitment specialises 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 telephone our office at +61 3 9095 7157 or submit an online form.

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