Mon, 12 Nov 2012

Recruiters have mixed views on the future prospects for employment in the City, following bleak reports published last week.  

The Centre for Economics and Business Research suggested that the number of City jobs could fall to its lowest level in 20 years, from a peak of 354,00 in 2007 to a predicted 236,000 in 2014.

Echoing the air of doom and gloom, The City UK, an independent body that promotes financial services, found that more than half of all jobs that could have been created in the UK over the past six years were moved abroad instead.

Meanwhile, MPs and peers in the House of Lords are to examine whether tough financial regulations are exacerbating job losses.

Philip Seager, director at City recruiter Alan Mitchell, says: “If the recent job losses announced by UBS are matched by the big banks then the market is weak.”

Adam Buck, of Phaidon Capital, agreed the figures “look far from great”. However, he tells Recruiter: “The market will come back as it did after the Russian crisis, the dotcom crash and, after 2009, and the credit crunch. It could be argued it will take longer this time, but I am sure that was said after the other events. 

“The market now demands very specialist recruiters operating in tight vertical markets and that suits us. For too long generalists dressed up as specialists were placing individuals not suited to their roles and responsibilities. The fact that has stopped is a good thing and institutions are being far more exact in hiring correct types, as they should.” 

However, he acknowledges that London is no longer the be-all and end-all for clients. “Clients also demand a global footprint now too, as opposed to simply operating from one main financial hub, and that is the reason we have opened in Singapore, have New York opening on 7 January [2013] and Zurich in Q2.

“We all need to adapt with the market changes. At the end of the day the old saying ‘money makes the world go round’ will always live true and whether it is in London or Singapore, project finance or commodity sales, finance is needed and always will be, and as such financial recruiters will always be needed too.”

Alan Mitchell’s Seager says that future prospects for employment and jobs with regards to competing international financial centres will be firmly linked to what happens in the Eurozone. He tells Recruiter: “Europe can’t be looked after from Hong Kong or New York.”

 Paul Avon, a director of AP Executive, agrees the recent reports “have some resonance”, with a lack of confidence on both the client and candidate side keeping a break on hiring.