Recruiters share Lloyds chief concerns at banking reputation
14 May 2013
City recruiters share, in part, concerns raised in a speech by Lloyds Banking Group chief executive officer António Horta-Osório yesterday, saying the banking industry “urgently” needs to address the issue of its reputation is putting off potential talent.
Tue, 14 May 2013City recruiters share, in part, concerns raised in a speech by Lloyds Banking Group chief executive officer António Horta-Osório yesterday, saying the banking industry “urgently” needs to address the issue of its reputation is putting off potential talent.
Horta-Osório said in a talk at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School that banking needs to “take steps as a sector towards rebuilding our reputation”. He said it was “vital for the industry’s long-term viability” that this includes ensuring banking is seen as an attractive prospect for young people.
Jonathan Farmer, head of the strategy and analysis team at Carlton Senior Appointments, shares the concern, saying that having previously been “the most desirable” career in students’ minds, it is now facing competition.
“Generation Y are now better informed and have far more options available to them than previously,” he tells Recruiter. “Graduate recruitment teams within banks are increasingly finding themselves competing with top tech giants, hedge funds and start-ups.”
Richard Hoar, director of banking and financial services at recruitment firm Goodman Masson, says that broadly there is no concern from people already in banking moving between senior roles.
However, he says: “Maybe it’s becoming more difficult to convince people from outside of the industry at mid- to senior-level.” Nonetheless, he adds: “But we are still able to find people.”
A Lloyds survey of 1,000 students shows that 28% would be “too embarrassed to tell friends if they are going to work in a bank”, and also shows that distrust of banks has increased in recent years amongst students.
Hoar points out: “More important are the three-quarters of students who are not [embarrassed].” He also says the company had no problem recruiting for a recent banking graduate scheme it ran.
Isabel Frazer, a careers consultant at the University of London’s The Careers Group, specialising in the City, tells Recruiter that interest in City and banking careers “doesn’t seem to have diminished dramatically over recent years”.
Kieran Behan, managing director of finance recruiter Selby Jennings, agrees with Farmer that current graduates are comparing banking with a broader range of industries than before.
“This will, of course, affect the industry when it comes to hiring the best and brightest talent,” he says. “However, despite this, banks do not struggle to hire at entry level.”
Horta-Osório said in a talk at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School that banking needs to “take steps as a sector towards rebuilding our reputation”. He said it was “vital for the industry’s long-term viability” that this includes ensuring banking is seen as an attractive prospect for young people.
Jonathan Farmer, head of the strategy and analysis team at Carlton Senior Appointments, shares the concern, saying that having previously been “the most desirable” career in students’ minds, it is now facing competition.
“Generation Y are now better informed and have far more options available to them than previously,” he tells Recruiter. “Graduate recruitment teams within banks are increasingly finding themselves competing with top tech giants, hedge funds and start-ups.”
Richard Hoar, director of banking and financial services at recruitment firm Goodman Masson, says that broadly there is no concern from people already in banking moving between senior roles.
However, he says: “Maybe it’s becoming more difficult to convince people from outside of the industry at mid- to senior-level.” Nonetheless, he adds: “But we are still able to find people.”
A Lloyds survey of 1,000 students shows that 28% would be “too embarrassed to tell friends if they are going to work in a bank”, and also shows that distrust of banks has increased in recent years amongst students.
Hoar points out: “More important are the three-quarters of students who are not [embarrassed].” He also says the company had no problem recruiting for a recent banking graduate scheme it ran.
Isabel Frazer, a careers consultant at the University of London’s The Careers Group, specialising in the City, tells Recruiter that interest in City and banking careers “doesn’t seem to have diminished dramatically over recent years”.
Kieran Behan, managing director of finance recruiter Selby Jennings, agrees with Farmer that current graduates are comparing banking with a broader range of industries than before.
“This will, of course, affect the industry when it comes to hiring the best and brightest talent,” he says. “However, despite this, banks do not struggle to hire at entry level.”
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