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TURNOVER RISES AS BONUSES FALL

A shortage of skills and bonuses not matching expectations will be leading factors in a faster moving recruitment market over the forthcoming months, according to specialist recruiter Hays.

The Hong Kong recruiter has already noted an increase in candidate interest in job vacancies following speculation that bonuses will not be as high as previous years.

“The recruitment market traditionally receives an injection of candidates following the awarding of bonuses,” says Emma Charnock, Regional Director of Hays in Hong Kong.

“But this year, the overall market uncertainty in terms of bonus allocations means this injection of candidates will be significantly higher than usual.

“One major investment bank has already advised they will not be allocating any bonuses this year. If other employers follow suit, the number of vacancies will increase as staff resign and seek another role elsewhere and employers start competing for the same available talent.

“It’s already a tight labour market in Hong Kong’s banking sector though and it’s only going to get tighter as candidates start reassessing their options.

“Employers have also indicated to us that they will create new positions to enable planned expansions. The lack of bonuses will only add fuel to the fire, increasing the number of candidates looking for a new job and tightening the already existing demand from employers in the market for suitable skills.

“Given this level of activity, solid candidates will be snapped up with speed, and provided jobseekers know what they want and why they want it, the first quarter of 2008 will provide prime opportunities to advance your career.”

Emma advises candidates can get ahead of the game with a significant advantage. “Given the impending rush of candidate applications, those candidates that enter the job market now, and start looking for their next role before the post-bonus recruitment rush, will find themselves in a distinct advantage,” she said.

In the latest Hays Quarterly Forecast, employment expectations for the quarter to March are up. The Forecast ranks vacancy activity and reveals the following hotspots of candidate demand:

  • Within corporate finance, a booming economy has seen a large amount of money flowing into Hong Kong and the mainland and the relatively low cost of borrowing has resulted in the increased structuring of some major finance deals in Hong Kong with a mainland focus. Corporate finance M&A in particular focuses on raising capital to broker acquisitions and these have been numerous in the positive economic climate.
  • Another hotspot exists within credit, as leverage and project finance deals have been more numerous recently. Credit approval for these large borrowings is necessary so there is an array of vacancies in credit at the moment to cope with this large deal flow.
  • Compliance candidates are also required from junior analysts right up to department heads to keep the lending and investment in line with bank policy.
  • Finally, and as a knock-on effect from the above, demand exists within operations. These candidates are crucial to support a bank’s increased activity. Hence roles are available from junior support roles to Head of Operations.
  • Meanwhile increased legislation has created hotspots of candidate demand for accountancy skills such as internal audit, risk management, accounting policy, compliance and regulatory reporting. Demand also exists within financial reporting, particularly on a regional basis due to expansions across the Asian region, for IFRS, US GAAP, SOX and Basel II specialists. Meanwhile the shortage of product control specialists, particularly in equity derivatives, has created a further hotspot.
  • Senior finance professionals with specialist knowledge in the banking industry and strong management experience are also in demand. Candidates that have international exposure, particularly those with experience growing and expanding business operations, will be keenly sought.


Turning to other market sectors, the Hays Quarterly Forecast also reveals:
  • In the construction & property market, with an enormous amount of construction work underway locally in addition to work in Macau and China, demand for experienced candidates is very high. For example, last year a third of Hong Kong business was for projects on the mainland, and this year it could be as much as half. In particular demand are architects, engineers, construction managers, commercial brokers and project managers with exposure to large-scale mixed-use projects.
  • In the specialist finance technology market, specialist programmers with datawarehouse tools, SAS, Cognos or Datastage skills and five years experience are in most demand within Hong Kong’s specialist finance technology market. This demand is caused by the niche and limited market of candidates with this particular skill.
  • Demand also extends to analyst programmers, systems analysts with Java and J2ee, Sun-Certified candidates, and those with RPGILE/AS400 and iSeries. Demand is highest for candidates with between three to four years experience. Meanwhile developers and managers with Peoplesoft Finance/Oracle Finance skills in addition to general ledger banking systems are required and those with IBM mainframe backgrounds and three to four years experience are sought. Most Hong Kong banks, insurance and finance institutions use the aforementioned technologies, keeping demand for these skills high and forcing institutions to compete for the limited pool of candidates. Candidates with specific skills in investment banking finance applications such as Murex, Sofis, Calypso, Summit, Kondor+ are also required, but again there is a limited pool of these skills so demand exceeds supply. Project managers with eight years or more experience, including five years large-scale (regional) project management experience in the banking, finance or insurance industry and certification on PMP, Prince 2 and ITIL are a final area of demand.
  • Finally within the legal market continual demand exists within law firms for mid-level corporate, mergers and acquisitions and finance lawyers. Last quarter a hotspot emerged for banking lawyers, which we expect to intensify over the coming quarter. Top tier law firms still struggle for first-rate academics, language and technical expertise, while international law firms are increasingly looking at PRC lawyers with overseas education skills. Meanwhile the demand for intellectual property specialists is very buyout and there is continued growth in foreign direct investment. In-house demand exists for derivative lawyers (credit equity and fixed income) at all levels of PQE. Despite talks of recruitment freezes, vacancy activity has not yet reduced.

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