INTRODUCTION
Q1 cyclicality slows down some hiring decisions. As we approach the end of Q1, having gone through the usual bonus round, unless you are at an Asian or Antipodean bank. The general consensus around bonuses has been mainly on the positive side, however, some banks have had a torrid 2021 and suffered through the Archegos incident. Q1 has remained busy from a recruitment perspective, we have seen some banks pushing further into E-trading and FICC specifically in terms of growth. Citi are having a renewed push to try and grow their franchise and market share across Europe.
The job market still remains buoyant throughout Q1. The candidate pool is exceptionally tight with good candidates involved in multiple processes and or even offers. We have found ourselves throughout Q1 trying to advise our clients that good candidates need to be closed quicker than normal and sometimes quicker than internal processes allow. We have had a number of instances where clients have lost out on their preferred candidate choice due to timing. As we approach Q2 we see the candidate market squeezing even tighter.
The main areas of interest across Q1 has been across systematic trading and all things electronic, we are seeing interest across sales and trading across multiple products. As mentioned earlier FICC is an area of growth, as a product it lags behind its equity peers.
Whilst we haven’t seen the geopolitical events directly affect the recruitment market, it is having an impact overall around certain currencies and commodities in terms of exposures. With companies due to announce Q1 performance, it will be interesting to see if these events have had a direct impact on revenues. With sanctions starting to bite, we are sadly seeing Russian banks in London announce redundancies.
As we turn our attention to Q2, normally the busiest quarter in financial services and particularly across front office. Many candidates will start to dip their toe into the job market. As mentioned earlier the candidate pool is already very thin and we don’t see this improving any time soon, bringing greater frustrations to clients. Candidates will continue to have choices, after bonus round we are already seeing a spile in post bonus, incoming calls from client and candidates.