Financial services sector touches the lives of everyone in the country, contributing over 5% of the UK’s gross domestic product and employing over 1 million people. The UK is home to thousands of financial services firms, many of them from overseas, and home of the largest financial markets in the world. So it will come as no surprise that jobs in the financial services sector are being filled faster than at any time since 2000.
Financial services is an umbrella category that can encompass a variety of services, including securities dealers and brokers, investment management and mutual fund firms, insurance companies, credit card companies, and investment and commercial banks.
Financial services have moved in many cases from the centre of London to the suburbs, where property rent and office rent is lower. Estate agents and office builders have seen an increase in work in areas like Highgate Hook and Ilford. Small firms like insurance brokers, claims specialists and tax advisors have tended to move from areas like Kennington or Kensington to Richmond or Hammersmith. Finance jobs still dominate in the city for banking jobs and investment, accountancy and book keeping or accounts staff, but for smaller companies specialising in financial services such as house insurance or private tax consultants the suburbs are becoming more popular.
The Blomfield Group latest research said it now takes 12 weeks to fill a vacancy, from date of advertising to the date of the employee starting.
Salaries increased by more than 10% in just one month, they have risen from €33,310 in February this year to €36,692 in March so no wonder jobs in Dublin’s financial services sector are filling at their fastest rate in five years. Permanent salaries are following a strong upward trend in Dublin more than in London Edinburgh or Glasgow.
In the London market average salaries have risen by 3.5% over the month to £36,146, while in Scotland the increase is of 6.5%, to £21,678.
Paul Cotter, the Managing director of Blomfied’s Dublin office, said: “Jobs are now filling significantly more quickly than they were one, three or five years ago, reflecting the new surge of confidence in the market.”
The financial services jobs markets in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow are seeing a similar trend. In London it takes 8.6 weeks, compared with more than 15 weeks in 2004.
In Scotland, it is taking on average 9.7 weeks to fill a job, compared with 14.3 weeks in 2001.
In the not so long-gone past, many career advisers were advising young people seeking to start out a career to go into finance. The financial markets were doing well then, finance jobs were in plenty and MBA schools were bursting with young students seeking to build a career in finance. And the finance jobs were, of course, not limited to the financial markets. With a strong economy, finance graduates who couldn’t get jobs in the financial markets and investment banks could quite easily be absorbed into commerce and industry accounting jobs. Other would get middle office finance jobs in the public service, and going was good.
Then the bubble burst.
The economy went into recession mode, the financial markets shrunk and finance graduates who had taken up jobs with investment banks found themselves facing the axe, as the investment banks are the worst affected by turmoil in the financial markets. And as if on cue, companies, in a bid to cut costs, were also cutting on their head counts, thus also shaking the fortunes of the finance graduates who found commerce and industry accounting jobs in the private sector. In the midst of all this, it seems that the only secure finance graduates are those who took up middle office finance jobs in the public sector, but even this is not fear-proof for we do not know for sure what the full effects of the economic turmoil will be on civil service staffing.
So in the face of all this, what is the future of finance jobs?
It might seem counter-intuitive to say, but the future of finance jobs is still bright, in spite of the current turmoil in the financial markets. As it were, economists tell us that the current economic turmoil is largely short-term to medium term, which is to say that it won’t be with us forever. Which means that the people who chose to pursue a career in finance need not regret their choice, as better times are coming. But even before the better times arrive, the people with finance backgrounds who are currently getting laid off might not find themselves in the cold for too long.
As governments unveil the various economic stimulus plans, there will be need for people to manage the money as it goes into various sectors – which translates to some finance jobs. Of course the finance jobs created in this way will be for the best brains in finance.
And then there is the fact that all companies, like human beings, have a native survival instinct, which they are likely to find handy in these hard economic times. One survival strategies for companies in crises is to hire the experts who are likely to navigate them through the particular crises. And since the current crisis is financial, the companies are likely to find themselves hiring financial experts to help them address the economic crisis. Of course, the companies are not likely to be overtly looking for finance experts to help them address the financial crises. What we are likely to see is an increase in commerce and industry accounting jobs, but the accountants so hired are bound to be almost exclusively tasked with cost and revenue management tasks, geared towards helping their employers sail through the turbulent times successfully.
And finally the good times will surely come back again. If the history of the financial markets is anything to go by, we know that all bursts are always followed by booms.
The financial sector in the United Kingdom has increasingly become a place where technology is valued as being complementary to customer service. Customer service representatives have access to any client’s account information with a few clicks on the keyboard. Advisors and financial consultants working with corporate clients have immediate access to information, such as the latest interest rates available on business loans. Another highly valuable technological development in this sector is in online recruitment. Young professionals interested in finding great finance jobs in the UK need to be aware of the plethora of online resources available to them.
The best resource online for finance jobs in the United Kingdom is the general job website. General job sites have become increasingly popular for young finance professionals who are trying to apply ‘en-masse’ to a wide variety of positions. The reason why job websites are a great resource for job hunters is that they are updated regularly with an extensive variety of finance positions. Entry-level customer service representatives and high-level managers alike are able to find a new jobs on these sites. Also, there are usually ways of saving application materials or CVs in personal accounts in order to facilitate a simple application process every time.
However, a savvy professional should not end their finance job hunt at the general job site. Finance workers should go directly to the source in order to find a new professional opportunity. Banks, financial services firms, and other bodies involved in the finance industry, offer extensive career pages to entice talented professionals to consider working with them. An interested applicant can usually fill out an online form, submit a CV, and use contact information in order to stay updated on the progress of their application. While going directly to the hiring company seems obvious, it is often overlooked by eager professionals.
There are numerous other online resources that should be consulted as part of an effective finance job hunt. Financial professionals with knowledge of specific jobs and a willingness to abdicate part of their job hunt to recruiters can use specialist job agencies. Workers who receive publications or e-mails from industry organisations can gain an edge on their colleagues by learning about trainee programs or open positions. Finally, a financial job applicant can review financial news services to discover major projects that are being undertaken by industry-leading firms. A clever professional will often take this type of news as a potential job opportunity where their talents may be appreciated.