Don't worry, jobseekers - a recruiter speaks...

In the current climate, it'd be easy to think it was all doom and gloom for anyone wanting to find a new job. But the truth is much more encouraging, according to Philip Marks, Managing Director of Huntress Finance. Plenty of jobs are out there, as long as you look in the right places. 

Here he shares his thoughts on how you can defy the credit crunch and get your next role:

1. How has the credit crunch affected the finance recruitment market and what are your predictions for the future?

The crunch has affected the focus of the recruitment market, not the volume of business so far. 1st tier investment banks are recruiting less in their largest recruitment areas e.g. Operations and front office but there has been an increase in recruitment in mid tier banks upgrading staff, private banking and advisory work.

2. Everyone is talking about the recruitment market suffering due to the current financial climate but what do you think are the current emerging financial roles and financial growth sectors?

There has not been a decrease in the volume of business. Emerging roles have been in private banking, advisory as well as roles in business recovery, liquidation and insolvency. 

3. Last year the skills shortage was making headlines. Is this still an issue? What effect has the credit crunch had? Is there an end in sight?

There is still a skills shortage. High calibre candidates are always in demand. However, there are more good quality candidates interested in looking at high quality opportunities but not enough to ease the shortage in general. There is no end in sight to the shortage due more to demographics and lack of foresight on behalf of employers to train and broaden their criteria.

4. Do you have some essential CV and interview tips for our candidates?

Highlight achievements in their careers more not just job activities listed on their CV. What makes them different to someone else doing the same job?

5. What can a candidate do to make themselves really stand out when they send their CV to someone like yourself?

As question 4. Also, use a recruitment consultant that their ‘gut feel’ tells them they can trust. Refuse to be represented by a consultant who does not service their needs well.

6. What do you need to do to become successful in senior finance?

Difficult to generalise but make sure that career progression is clearly seen on their CV and logical steps have been taken to enhance their careers rather than erratic moves in different directions. Be focused on what their company is trying to achieve and tailor their approach to reflect that.

7. If you were a graduate looking to embark on a career in finance what would you be thinking about?

Start with the end in mind. Work out what you believe your end game is and work back from there to achieve it. Goals are important to focus attention. Try and understand what motivates them and use their strengths to assist in their choice of career. Decide whether they are better at client facing roles or back office analytical roles, etc and plan from there.

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Comments

[Gareth in the North.]

What doesnt help candidates at all, especially the ones who have emerged from roles / companies that have enjoyed the "boom" period and therefore, had high salaries, bonus and benefits is when they are at interview stage.

Typically, a Finance Director / Controller level candidate will be told by an agency that the top end salary is say 50k, plus a few benefits.

What I find with such candidates is that, when you explain the salary to them in the interview prep, and if you can secure interest from a candidate to get put forward, and indeed if they do go to an interview, they fall at the first hurdle for aa couple of reasons:

1) The salary is 50k, so when asked by the interviewer what your expectations are, it does not help you when you say, "in my last job I was on 65k, plus a car plus a 20% bonus" - If the Job is 50k, then you have to express a desire in the salary at that level.

2) Dont express too much emphasis on having guarentees for bonus/benefits and year two rewards - Accept that the market is tight. It is very frustrating when a candidate spends too long asking about the year two salary / bonus. I get candidates all the time saying things like "i'll look at it if its paying 60k in year 1, but in year two, will I then be able to expect a car, a 20k uplift on salary and a 20% bonus" - All you are basically saying is that offered salary package is too low again.

3) "Ideally I am looking for a number 1 spot in an SME type business" - Anyone with over 10 years experience wants this job. There are hundred of candidates out there that want this job and to be fair, you are all good for that job. However, with so much choice for clients at the moment, you have to accept that you may not be the ideal candidate, and (as you know from when you were in the recruiting position) Clients rarely give feedback at the CV sending stage.

4) When a consultant sends your CV to a job that you think you are good for, if they come back to you and say that you were not sucessful, dont get the huff. You werent as strong as other candidates, deal with it - When a consultant tries to tell you why you werent sucessful, dont then try and re-sell yourself to the consultant because in all honesty, we dont disagree with you, but we are not the decision makers.

5) Use the time that you are unemployed to get qualified, especially if you are qualified by experience. The biggest volume of candidates out there are QBE, over 45 years old all wanting the number 1 or 2 spot in an SME - Qualified? if no, then spend the time getting qualified, it will help, especially if you are mainstream in your experience - Whilst you have the time, use it. Dont get bitter when people tell you that a professional qualification is needed. You may be better than a Qual, but given the market, people are looking for reasons to reject candidates, so a lack of Qual is a big rejection factor.

[Phil]

The worst suffering candidates are, unsuprisingly those who have emerged from Consutruction companies and / or Financial services. Having enjoyed above market rate salaries, bonuses and benefits, it is these candidates that need to "wake up fast". You may have been on 100k plus a car, plus a contributory pension, but that is well above the market rate. Further, by saying you'll consider a 10-15% drop "so long as I get a car" still does'nt cut the Mustard.

To Truly get the best paid job for you, and to get one quickly, ask a recruiter what they think you're expectations should be and accept that it will be a bitter pill to swallow. The best paid job however is going to be considerably lower than the one you want in many cases. This is the only way you are going to secure a perm job because there are alot of you out there, and the high volume of candidates, coupled with the low volume of Jobs (at the senior level) means that it is a buyers market (excuse the pun) or in other words, clients can reign in a candidates expectations.

I cover the North of England, and I must say, that for every 40-50k FC / FD job I get on at the moment, there is an ever expanding number of "recently redundant" FC/FD type people all wanting salaries which are a minum of 50k plus benefits, and the expectation for benefits has to put the package closer to 60k... This is just not going to happen at the moment, certainly when I have candidates saying things like "my ideal job is a number 1 or 2 in an SME type business" which is the "classic" line I hear from many candidates.

Accept that the top end you can get (excluding big companies - which arent really recruiting at the FC/FD level) is 50k combined total package, then you will have plenty of opportunities put in front of you and typically, once you have proven your worth, you can get the big bonusses and bigger packages you want.

[JACKIE OSBORNE]

All good advice I can see, but I'm in a very difficult situation. After three months of not working I have had to take a very junior local job (and huge pay cut) just to pay the mortgage.
Now that I am working again, I am despirate to get back on track career and exam wise.
Apart from still looking constantly for that better job rather than concentrate on the fact that I think my present job will turn perm, it is very difficult to know where to turn next to get back on track.
Any ideas out there?