The Headhunter

Moving Office on Monday 3rd July

We are moving offices on Monday 3rd July. Our new address will be 7 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3LT and our new contact telephone number will be +44 (0)20 7392 2644.

Hedge funds driving recruitment activity

Chatting with our clients over the last few weeks it seems that there are opportunities for staff at data vendors to switch to investment banks. Hedge funds are targeting the investment banks for staff and, in some cases, the banks are looking at software/technology firms for replacements. The banks are seeing the effects of reduced graduate intakes in 2002/2003 are making it difficult to fill some of these open positions. This has been the case for analysts (particularly credit and structured finance) and sales people. In the case of the latter, we have seen this in connectivity and custody.

How do companies find people?

We are often asked about the type of work we undertake at our firm. There are three ways for companies to find people. They can 1) use recruitment agencies, 2) employ selection techniques or 3) run full searches. Our work is mostly centred around searches and occasionally we'll manage a selection process. What's the difference? Using recruitment agents is similar to going to a shop and choosing off the shelf what is there. It can work well for less senior roles and companies can get quick results at a lower price. Selection involves advertising on behalf of clients and a reliance that you'll be read by the right audience. Search involves labour intensive reasearch and networking in order to pull together candidate lists for our clients.

Getting your CV noticed

We got in to work this morning and have gone through some of the CVs we have been sent overnight. Amongst them, three CVs from three different people with no cover letter, no hello, nothing but an attachment. I guess a suitable analogy would be e-mailing your PDF company brochure to a prospect as an attachment without an introduction. The commercial mandates we have all require a high level of customer interaction. So, we look for strong  communication skills in every interaction with you. Not only is it important to put together a strong CV, it is also wise to manage carefully the way you send it out so you can be sure your attachment gets opened.

How is the market, one week into 2006?

Our hopes of a gentle start to the New Year have been shattered with a busy week, albeit four days. We see activity in our sector this year in several areas. We think Credit markets will be buoyant with recruitment due to growth (active hiring in the banks) and general job movement. This will be across data, risk and operations. We also see reference data as a big area for growth, not just on the data side but on the software side too. Risk Magazine recently produced a survey (December 2005) of all the Risk Software firms and hiring amongst these firms is active. We also see Electronic Trading as another hot area with banks particularly looking for multi-asset class expertise.

A very merry Christmas

We wish all our clients and candidates a very happy Christmas. Also, thanks to everyone who has sent us cards and greetings. We are looking forward to a good year in 2006 - Paul and Aine

Where are vendor salaries heading?

The papers are predicting bumper bonuses for the banks this year. What about salaries in the data vendor world? This time two years ago, salaries had still not picked up after their slide following 9/11. There was still the uncertainty of another terrorist attack around the corner. Companies at the time had the pick of candidates walking the street and, therefore, they could drive salaries down. A time bomb of underpaid and over-qualified staff (versus peers in the teams they had joined). In 2005 we have seen a marked adjustment and believe that on average Junior Sales' salaries have increased in a two year period by 22%. In some cases Senior Sales roles have seen an increase in basic salary of 33%. (By this we mean Freshman has seen an increase in salaries by these amounts compared to similar roles we fulfilled 24 months ago). This increase has been fuelled by a shortage of supply of candidates for certain roles. Also, many sales people have been sitting tight in their roles. They have perhaps held off looking for jobs due to market uncertainty. There has been a steady uplift in the market and this has created more movement in the job market. Finally, some firms are losing the people they took on at lower salaries two years ago as rigid internal pay processes often make it difficult for staff to get their salaries back up to the market rate.

Recruitment Supply and Demand

If you were to apply an economic theory to the headhunting world then the principles of Supply and Demand would be a neat way to demonstrate shifts in the market. In a company-driven market, salaries fall. (Less jobs & more available applicants to interview). In a candidate-driven market, salaries rise. (More jobs & fewer applicants). It's a simple generalisation which doesn't apply en masse to all areas of the financial markets. You can assume all candidates have the same skills. Also, market confidence shifts in cycles. In 2002 & 2003, there were many redundant individuals on the market after job culls by data vendors. Many vendors adopted a short-term HR policy to cut recruiter fees and push salaries down as they felt they had high candidate choice. Many of our clients opted for a long-term HR strategy that tore up these Supply & Demand principles. Our mandates were consistent in that they stressed the need to approach top sales/marketing talent irrespective of market conditions. There are firms out there who feel the need to pay for timely research to shortlist top talent whether we are in a bull or bear market.

OUR FIRST BLOG

Welcome to our first blog. Paul and Áine at the Freshman Consultancy www.freshman.co.uk have entered the 21st century. We couldn’t find a blog on the web just for our industry, so we are starting one today. You know, we are often asked about industry specific issues ranging from salary indications, market conditions, CV advice, start-ups in financial markets. Information gets outdated so quickly so by publishing our blog we can generate a conversation with you. As the blog develops you’ll be able to watch with us and see how quickly the market can change. Over the coming months we’ll be asking key people in electronic trading what are the trends in recruitment. We’ll be looking at the global data vendors and tracking how markets are changing. We’ll let you know which areas of the market are the most buoyant. We’ll also show you a range of new job opportunities. Let us know what you’d like to read about.