eFinancialCareers

Macquarie Group's shares slid after the company predicted full-year profit of more than $1bn that fell short of the amount analysts had been tipping. The investment bank today said second-half earnings could be up as much as 10 per cent over the first half as economic conditions around the world continue to trend back to normal. (Sydney Morning Herald) Inndustry consolidation has had a fundamental impact on the Australian life insurance... Read more

It boosted its international headcount last year with a global acquisition spree, and this week it lured a Wall Street star to run its DCM team (not to mention that one of its bankers is now infamous on YouTube). So is Macquarie making a comeback as the aggressive, world-beating Aussie bank we’d all love to work for? Despite the recent flurry of headlines, you should think twice before seeing Macquarie... Read more

Recruiters and employers don’t unanimously agree that cover letters are important. Great, you might think, I won’t bother to send one, or I will just quickly cut and paste some generic text. The problem is that a lot of decision-makers do still value cover letters, and you usually have no way of knowing whether the recipient of your application is a lover or a hater. So basically you can’t afford to take... Read more

From front office to back, 2010 will be an active recruitment year for industry superannuation funds, with more and more candidates trying to break into a growing, but talent-starved sector. And firms such as REST, Hostplus and Vision Super have pent-up hiring needs from 2009. “Last year there was little recruitment activity, meaning many organisations are below the headcount needed to run effective operations as the market picks up, so... Read more

Some Australian banks are cautiously revising their employee referral programs to attract new talent (and save money on recruitment fees) ahead of an impending skill shortage in 2010. NAB says it does not have a formal referral scheme across its entire group as yet, although it is trialling one within its business banking unit. “We will look at the results of the business banking program over the next few months. We... Read more

It’s potentially one of the largest ever reforms of American banking, but in Australia, talk about the domestic ramifications of the Obama plan has so far been, well, a bit underwhelming. Maybe our bankers are still too busy bonus-dreaming on the beach to worry about whether a US reform, which hasn’t become law yet, will directly affect their own careers. The Australian media has found few local angles on the... Read more

The financial planning industry is set to become even more top-heavy as industry consolidation boosts the market share of the large players. This shake-up is directly affecting recruitment: the big boys are expanding their headcounts faster than the boutiques; and candidates are increasingly attracted to larger brands because of their better job security and referral networks. Using September 2009 data, research house Rainmaker found that the five largest operators controlled 69... Read more

Banks made a lot of their layoffs way back in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, but the job market only really picked up late last year. This means there are people, quite a few people, who have now been looking for work for a whole year (or more). In many cases, the stigma of a year’s unemployment could be stifling their job searches, and leaving them with much explaining to do... Read more

Banks in Australia are struggling in their efforts to recruit directly as hiring mandates pick up and application levels remain high. Faced with rising workloads, many HR teams are turning back to recruitment agencies to meet their hiring needs. Establishing a strong rapport with a headhunter is therefore becoming more and more important. But it’s also safe to say that some job seekers remain sceptical about the responsiveness and usefulness... Read more

In part II of a two-part series, we give you some more examples of candidates who've made silly mistakes in their job search. If you haven't read part I, click here. The recruiter abuser Candidates who are represented by multiple agencies for the same role are a headhunter’s worst nightmare, says Trevor Bradley, divisional manager, banking and financial services, Chandler Macleod Group. “Job seekers need to ask recruiters exactly who their details... Read more

In the first of his "Junior Job Hunter" series, our new columnist tells us about his plight in the Aussie employment market since he left London last year. Two years ago I was working in a meagre back-office banking role in a small Australian city. Having been travelling and working in London the year before, I had two choices: return to London to hopefully work for an international bank and try... Read more

We get the message – from reading recent comments on eFinancialCareers articles, many of you aren’t particularly enamoured with the service you’re getting from recruiters. That’s why (in part I of a two-part series) we’ve asked a few consultants to address one of your key complains: not getting a good enough reply when you apply for a job. Too many candidates, not enough headhunters Don’t always expect an immediate or personalised... Read more

This time two years ago I was working as an institutional sales trader in one of the world’s top financial hubs. I was in the thick of it, trading on behalf of some of the most respected names in finance. I also had experience with two top-tier investment banks on my CV and had dealt with complex derivatives and structured products at a time when this area of finance was... Read more

Australia’s retail banks are facing a growing bad debt burden, but this shouldn’t cause mass redundancies or recruitment freezes. The next six months will probably bring us more of the same: selective high-end hiring for niche jobs, replacement of business-critical positions, and some small-scale layoffs, particularly in the back office. The Big Four’s debt problems won’t make the employment market in Sydney and Melbourne as bad as New York and London. Earlier... Read more

Have a read through this CV and use the box at the bottom to add your comments. What type of role (if any) could this guy get in the financial services sector? Is there anything particularly wrong (or right) about the way he's written his CV and the work experienced he's gained to date? CAREER OBJECTIVES A position that utilises my educational and employment experience to assist in providing planning... Read more

Hedge funds aren’t in the mood to hire as investors continue to give the alternative sector the cold shoulder. Many investors, both institutional and high-net-worth, remain cautious and don’t want to give their money to hedgies, especially with the short-selling ban still in place. "There are a number of factors which are affecting hedge funds at the moment and the difficulty in finding new investors is one of them. The employment... Read more