eFinancialCareers has predicted 2013 will see a conservative uptake in employment across the financial services sector, with firms reluctant to significantly increase headcount and employees cautious over changing jobs.
eFinancialCareers managing director Asia Pacific, George McFerran, told InvestorDaily that tier one banks are looking to keep staffing levels fairly flat but there will be some tactical hiring with extra demand created by upcoming regulatory changes.
"That's not exclusive to Australia, it's a global challenge. All organisations are trying to find good quality people to help them with regards to Basel III and FATCA (The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act)," he said.
In that area there will be demand for people with knowledge of risk management, as well as project managers and change management staff. There will be particularly high demand for people with experience around the IT platform areas, which are significantly affected by those changes and a current global skills shortage, Mr McFerran said.
Upcoming changes unique to Australia such as Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) and Stronger Super are causing consolidation of super funds, which will lead to duplication and therefore to redundancies, as well as some opportunities, he said.
"While there may be some redundancies to eliminate back-office duplication, project management jobs will be created as well. Some super funds are internalising parts of their investment portfolio and will be recruiting investment teams in 2013," Mr McFerran said.
There will also be a shift towards internal hiring rather than employing external agencies, as companies look to keep a lid on costs. This means before companies advertise a job externally they are pushing internal movement and are keen to reallocate staff, he said.
And where reallocation is not an option companies are also pushing for staff referrals, he added. "Referrals are a very valuable way of getting new people on board," he said.
