Growth and Roles in Banking & Finance
The number of job listings in Singapore rose steadily in 2021 with a 56% increase in the third quarter relative to the previous year’s third quarter and by 12% from a quarter earlier, with one of the more active industries being Banking and Finance. This includes capital markets, compliance, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, finance and accounting, investment management, operations, risk and treasury, PE/VC, and financial technology.
Roles in Operations have been in demand, especially those that require specific language skill sets to work with individual markets. Following a global trend, we have also observed roles starting to emerge that are focused on sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as Climate Risk Analyst or Sustainability Banker, for example, starting to pick up. These roles cover identifying and creating sustainability-related business opportunities.
The availability of roles in the banking and finance sector is due to various reasons such as regular turnover, replacement hiring, and also due to a slowing inflow of talent to Singapore in 2021, resulting in hiring banks struggling to find the right talent to fill them. Middle office increments are reaching 20% and above, including junior positions.
The Candidate Landscape
In an industry well-known for long work hours, many companies are attracting candidates by enacting proactive initiatives to address work-life balance (WLB) issues, especially for teams that work across time zones. Some companies have considered outsourcing work across time zones not to overstretch local teams. However, closer-to-home solutions have also been implemented, such as flexible work scheduling with “come early, leave early” initiatives, even during hybrid working styles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing this as things move towards an endemic COVID-19 will also be an attraction point.
There are also significant pushes to increase diversity in female leadership. Some major companies have ramped up their efforts to hire female leaders by hiring returning mothers, for example, for management positions, increasing diversity and actively exploring an available candidate pool.
Other companies have added interesting initiatives such as offering IT classes to employees. These are internal sessions provided by IT teams to employees interested in learning skills such as Python or other technical programming skills. Of course, having clear development goals for every role is a must to ensure that all hires can grow with the company and to their full potential.
What’s in Store Going into 2022
Hiring in the banking and finance industry for multinational banks is in transition with the drive to hire local talent and rely less on foreign talent in 2021. With jobseekers’ decreased inflow and liquidity, demand for local candidates in some banking and finance hot spots will continue into 2022. This means hiring companies should be prepared not to find 100% matches for their roles; the question then becomes, “Where can you successfully land?”
For example, with Singapore being a regional hub, many roles we see require specific language requirements, narrowing the pool of candidates to hire considerably. Changing the job requirement from a fluent speaker level to an intermediate level speaker can open up the role to a larger pool of candidates. Without this flexibility, finding a local candidate who fulfils such a specific requirement can be the difference between a “unicorn” role and an attainable one.
In this way, focusing more on candidates’ skill sets and experience rather than just language skill levels can produce better results. It is the difference between having a Plan B and not just relying on a Plan A. To see a successful hire, the best plan is to be realistic about adjusting the role to the available talent in the market.
To learn more about how a specialist recruitment solution can land you in the right place to hire the best candidate for your role, feel free to reach out for a confidential discussion by filling in the form on this page.