‘CREDIT CRUNCH RECRUITMENT SURVEY’ – BANKS STILL RECRUITING

 

ULTIMATE RECRUITMENT REPORTS ON FINDINGS OF RECENT SURVEY...

Somewhat surprisingly, given the current economic climate in the City, the team at Ultimate Recruitment, the UK’s new force in recruitment, reports a number of positive findings derived from its recent survey across the Banking Sector.

Two hundred clients, drawn from a range of companies representing  the UK’s leading Wholesale and Consumer Banks & Building Societies were asked seven questions revolving around the question of  how the current ‘credit crunch’ is affecting recruitment within their organisation, and comparing current conditions to those of one year ago.

KEY FINDINGS: MAJORITY OF EMPLOYERS STILL RECRUITING

The headline figures suggest that recruitment within Wholesale and Consumer Banking is still fairly buoyant, although belts are being tightened in some areas 

• 2 out of 3 recruiters are recruiting to at least the same levels as last year
• Nearly half are recruiting more than a year ago
• Only one third of respondents felt they were recruiting fewer roles than was the case a year ago as a result of the ‘credit crunch’
• Interestingly, over half of respondents do not feel the ‘credit crunch’ has impacted on their recruitment activity
• 35% of respondents have seen an increase in applications per role, but specified that this increase was concentrated in lower level roles under £25k
• Nearly 1 in 3 candidates are demanding an increase in both salary and package
• 8 out of 10 companies had seen a reduction in turnover of staff indicating some level of nervousness amongst employees
• Half of those respondents in control of recruitment spend had seen their budgets reduced. 

POSITIVE OUTLOOK IN SECTOR

The findings of this survey suggest that the majority of banks are still recruiting for customer-facing roles such as Relationship and Business Development Managers and that the sector is still relatively buoyant.  However, with candidates seemingly more nervous about changing their job roles during these uncertain times, the lack of movement is indirectly dampening the jobs market.  With fewer candidates currently available in the marketplace, the best candidates remain in high demand and this has resulted in prospective employees (one in three according to the survey) demanding higher basic salaries and packages than was the case a year ago.

Whilst 2 out of 3 companies are still maintaining recruitment levels the same as last year, the survey suggests that half of them or more are being asked to achieve this with a reduced recruitment budget.  This is being accomplished by companies concentrating on reducing their recruitment costs by means of increasingly utilising cheaper methods such as encouraging direct applications, improved quality targeted marketing and advertising via job boards.  However, many clients have complained that this creates a false economy whereby the direct savings achieved by not paying agency costs are often offset by hidden increases in operational costs.  Typical examples of these include the costs of running more assessment days, employing additional staff to pre-sc reen the increased numbers of applicants and the added time-pressures on HR and Recruitment Managers and their teams.

ABOUT ULTIMATE RECRUITMENT

Ultimate Recruitment  was set up in 2007 by a number of highly experienced individuals who wanted to offer something different and fresh in the recruitment market.  Ultimate Recruitment is a business which is small enough to care but has the resources normally only associated with a much larger organisation. The team comprise some of the most experienced people in the sector and this expertise should enable clients to achieve cost-effective resourcing which genuinely adds value.

For more information, visit our website: www.ultrec.co.uk or call

Bill Brace, Managing Director

The Ultimate Recruitment Company

4th Floor, Fleet House, 8-12 New Bridge Street, London, EC4V 6AL

t: 020 7822 0275                m: 07827 344019

e: bill.brace@ultrec.co.uk   w: www.ultrec.co.uk