Banking was the first sector to be hit by the global recession and recruiters are still not seeing any signs of an upturn.

Nicholas Broughton, director of Fortuna Search & Selection, told Recruiter if anything things were getting worse: “Recruitment in the investment banking sector has slowed dramatically in Q1 2009.”

“We are seeing employers hiring cycles, both in the UK and abroad, becoming increasingly sporadic, with daily events altering whole recruitment drives.

“It is clearly a buyers’ market and clients that are bullish continue to demand only the most exceptional candidates.”

As a result, Broughton said that independent advisory boutique firms with no exposure to toxic assets, such as Fenchurch Advisory and Lincoln
International, were taking advantage of “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to pick up talent in M&A, corporate finance and restructuring.

Andrew Barton, managing director of Recruitment Zone, told Recruiter there had been a slowdown in banks recruiting call centre staff, though some recruitment was still going due to high attrition staff rates. “There is a lot less permanent recruitment, though recruitment on the contract side is still ticking over,” he added.

Barton said “one pocket of activity” was project work to reduce banks’ cost, where business analysts, business managers and change managers were still in demand.

Commenting on the North of England, Rick Davis, corporate and commercial banking specialist at Hays Banking, said some areas of recruitment were showing resilience, and even growth. “Credit teams, in particular, are looking to strengthen in the light of increased caution as focus shifts towards tighter management controls,” said Davis.

Professionally qualified candidates from outside banking with strong debt structuring and/ or corporate recovery experience were transferring into the banking market at senior levels, he said. Companies offering alternative sources of finance to banks were recruiting at all levels, he added.

Andrew Evans, managing director at Morgan McKinley UK, told Recruiter that recruitment on the asset management side of banking was slightly healthier than in investment banking.

Fee generating staff, such as those in sales, and relationship managers were more in demand than back office and support roles, said Evans.

One feature was ‘near shoring’ to other parts of the UK, with one fund manger recently opening up offices in Edinburgh and Manchester.

Another trend was for banks to take on contractors rather than permanent staff.

Evans said there was a distinction in salary expectations between candidates. “While those still employed require a pay increase to move, those who have been made redundant and are not working are being incredibly flexible and are happy to work for a similar salary or even less.”

Matt Coningham, a director at ConinghamLee, told Recruiter he had seen a slight uptake in hiring as clients agreed budgets for the forthcoming financial year.

Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide, added: “The banking sector has shown a slight recovery after several months of decline, yet opportunities have still reduced compared to a year ago.”

Coningham said wealth management was still an area of growth, as was recruitment in the South African market.

Coningham said that because of the glut of candidates on the market the time for deals to be completed had doubled from around 30 days in the bull market a year ago to 60 days now.

One problem was getting signoff from clients, said Coningham. Recently, the board of one client had refused to sign-off the hiring of a candidate, he said, even though the sourcing and selection process had been completed.

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