Career opportunities

Career opportunities

In an April survey conducted by eFinancialCareers.com, a leading global website for career advice in banking and financial markets, 56 percent of responding companies said they are looking to increase their head count in 2011. However, 95 percent of them believe there is shortage of skilled talent in the current market. As many as 28 percent described the shortage as "long-existing".

Further complicating matters is a tendency among those already employed in the sector to switch jobs.

Fluidity is typical in the financial services industry, according to George McFerran, head of Asia-Pacific at eFinancialCareers. Referring to another survey his company conducted,,wholesales mac Lip gloss, he said: "While 77 percent of respondents expressed their satisfaction with their current job, they said they are still continuously looking for better career opportunities. Another 13 percent said that they were unhappy and wanting to change jobs as soon as possible."

Mark Hall, a manager at Kelly Services China, a human resources and consulting company, echoed the sentiment.

Hall cited a recent study that showed the majority of financial organizations (93 percent) reported a lack of middle- to senior-level professionals with relevant skills,,CVC Fabric, which had a negative effect on their ability to serve clients.

"The difficulty in hiring and retaining middle- to senior-level professionals has remained the top business challenge for companies," Hall said.

Furthermore, the greatest negative effect is experienced by the private equity and trust ends of the business, followed by funds, securities, insurance and investment banking. The skills reported to be in shortest supply are those considered most important for middle-ranking and senior executives in the sector. Initiative and enterprise - considered to be two of the most important skills - are cited among the top skills in short supply.

"As the financial services sector in China is constantly challenged by changes, organizations are looking out for middle- to senior-level professionals who possess high levels of initiative and the ability to build long-term relationships with clients as well as autonomously sell products and services that are targeted to individual client needs," Hall told China Daily.

This has mirrored findings from eFinancialCareers, which identified corporate banking relationship managers, private banking relationship managers and risk managers as the top three professionals most wanted in the talent pool.

"As the financial sector is by nature a service industry, it is highly essential to maintain relationships to draw clients and sell products," McFerran said.