eFinancialCareers

If you want a change of job, now would be a good time to go for it. Manpower’s Annual Talent Shortage Survey exposes the extent to which Australia’s finance firms are crying out for staff. It says 61% of Australian employers cannot find qualified staff to fill vacancies. And of the 10 most critical sectors, finance (at number 4) and engineering (at number 2) were the only professional sectors experiencing trouble:... Read more

Are expanding workloads upsetting the delicate equilibrium of analyst/associate relations? Logan Naidu, a consultant at recruitment firm Cornell Partnership in London, says they are: "There's more stress, they get more tense, and it's easier to get ratty with each other." One associate (and former analyst) at a major European investment bank says associates who behave with Ted Bundy-like compassion are the main reason analysts quit: "The culture in investment banks is... Read more

Forget the credit crunch, pitchbook jockeys are still hot. Steven Harker, CEO of Morgan Stanley Australia, says, “Junior M&A positions? Yes, we are still all hiring. The value of the market is down, but not the activity.” This time last year, hiring in M&A would hardly have been surprising. Rising M&A activity meant the analysts and associates who devote their time to assembling pitchbooks used to win deals were in big... Read more

Macquarie Bank has been dubbed the "millionaire's factory" for over a decade, despite the Sydney-based bank's apparent objections. But now there's no denying it. It is believed that nearly all the 2,076 staff who sit at "director" level – that is associate directors, divisional directors, executive directors and above – received at least AU$1m (US$824k) in the past year. The bank's annual report revealed managing director Allan Moss and investment bank head... Read more

Is it possible to be too experienced for the Australian market? This is what some of you have been claiming in the comments on our recent article on the seeming lack of Australian jobs. Off the record, recruiters say it's true. The problem seems to be that the lure of the Sydney lifestyle is encouraging bankers from overseas to apply for jobs that are way too junior for them. And local recruiters... Read more

Research from international recruiter Robert Walters reveals middle office specialists in Australia are hot to trot in 2008. The report says product control is in red hot demand and that a Sydney-based product accountant/controller with three to five years’ experience can earn AU$125k, compared with AU$105k last year. Likewise, financial accountants can currently earn AU$125k, compared with AU$100k in 2007. Neil Dyball, associate director of the banking division at Robert... Read more

Most Aussie investment bankers plan to have their feet up by the pool well before middle-age, according to our latest poll. Just over 70% of those who responded reckoned they would have chucked in banking by the age of 45, with the rest being gone by the time they get to the big five-o. But most don't particularly want to retire too early either; just 40% want to be vegging in... Read more

What makes working for Goldman Sachs (or Goldman Sachs JBWere) quite so lucrative? Here’s our verdict… 1. It makes more money. Net revenues per head in 2006 were US$1.4m (AU$1.8m). This compared to US$678k at Lehman Brothers, for example. At 43.7% as a proportion of revenues, compensation costs were lower than at most other banks on the Street (shareholders are not being fleeced). 2. It works on bigger... Read more

What is it about ABN AMRO employees that’s so irresistible to Babcock & Brown (B&B)? The ASX-listed investment bank has poached ABN’s entire Indian M&A group, having nicked its infrastructure team 18 months ago. ABN staff might well be desirable, but this latest raid was motivated more by location: India. While outsourcing retail support roles to the sub-continent is common, we are now starting to see banks, including B&B... Read more

Most would-be bankers in Australia plan to work overseas if they can. This is the finding of a recent survey by graduate research company Universum, who asked Australia's finance graduates what they wanted from a career. They found 47% of women and 51% of men plan to make a swift exit and work overseas. They're also keen on having a life outside work – not something banks are traditionally strong on. 60%... Read more

Australia hasn’t lived up to its promise for ANZ’s ex-group managing director, Steve Targett. How common is it for immigrant bankers to come unstuck? In the case of Targett, the stakes are high and getting higher. Last month, he upped his damages claim from AU$2.1m to a hefty AU$57m, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. Targett, a former banker with Lloyds TSB, claims he left his well-paid job... Read more

Who’s hiring in Victoria? Big banks, according to recruiters. Sadly, the spokeswomen for both Melbourne-based ANZ Bank and National Australia Bank were unwilling to comment on their organisation’s hiring needs for 2008, but recruiters assure us both banks are staffing up in Melbourne during the first quarter of this year. “We have seen a big increase in demand for business development and relationship management staff due to new sales budgets that have... Read more

Recruitment may have cooled in some areas, but equities analysts are still hot. Even better, plenty are prepared to switch jobs. Patrick Hodgens, head of equities at Macquarie Investment Management, says market volatility has increased the flow of equities analysts looking for new positions – just 12 months ago he says they were much harder to find. “We’ve had quite a bit of success in building the team up, whereas a year... Read more

Forget the US bulge bracket – Australian private banks are the new kids on the block in Asia, and they’re hiring voraciously. Macquarie Bank launched its Asian private wealth business in Singapore in March this year to target the booming regional market. National Australia Bank is also aggressively expanding in Asia, says Sicilia Lim, a senior consultant at recruiters Robert Walters. Lim says the Australians and other new niche... Read more

You can tell the global accounting industry is in the midst of a staffing crisis when the UK office of a big four accounting firm looks to Zimbabwe to fill its gaps. This is precisely what the UK office of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu did last year. Nor does it seem to be alone in adopting such measures: rival firms in other locations are also eyeing accountants overseas. And the staffing crisis,... Read more

Senior private bankers are in short supply, and banks are turning to juniors to fill the gaps. This is good news for anyone who hopes to get a foothold in the private banking industry, as normally private banking is a very senior, strategic job (AU$300k plus bonus). "It is a real struggle to find people," says James Wheaton from recruiter Michael Page. "There is such a shortage, banks are even targeting... Read more

There's no shortage of bankers eager to make the move to Australia. But is a move to Oz good for your career? Plenty of would-be migrants come from the City of London. Recruitment firm Robert Walters recently advertised a number of Australian-based treasury positions in London's Financial Times and Evening Standard, for example, and received a mass of applications. David Rolleston, associate director in finance at Robert Walters, says it shows London-based... Read more

What's the chance of Sydney becoming a global financial hub and location of choice for the ultra-mobile international banker? Not much, according to one headhunter in the city. Anthony Ayers, principal consultant at Chandler Heath Executive Search, says Australia is unlikely to rival the likes of Hong Kong in the foreseeable future: "Australia's GDP, geography, and remuneration will all hold it back," he predicts. "The country will always be constrained by... Read more

Does chaos in the credit markets spell doomsday for jobs? "It's too soon to tell,'' says James Nicholson, director of recruiter Robert Walters. "Macquarie and BNP Paribas are two of our big clients and there have been no directives changing their hiring strategy. But, if this tumult gets worse, I would expect it to have a big effect.' Edmund Gill at recruiter Hays also says it's too soon to call, but if... Read more

The Australian dollar has been performing an interesting dance – and foreign exchange traders should be among the beneficiaries. First it was down, then it was up, now it's down again; the Aussie dollar has been all over the place as the world tries to dodge the fallout from the US sub-prime housing crisis. For FX traders positioned on the right side of the volatility, it should prove good news in... Read more