Financial planning job ads on the rise
After months of attrition in the financial planning employment market, research released today has revealed that opportunities for planners are improving.
A survey of financial services companies by the financial planning division of eJobs Recruitment has shown an upswing of 11 per cent in job advertisements in the last month, reversing an eight month jobs slide in which 39 per cent of financial services companies lost financial planning staff.
In the last eight months 61 per cent of respondents had implemented lower wages or hours instead of cutting staff numbers, while only 9.5 per cent of companies had hired more staff during the downturn.
Interestingly, the research found that the major banks are recruiting heavily for senior financial planners, being responsible for a large proportion of job advertisements posted. In contrast, boutique dealer practices have maintained a hiring freeze, with very few practices looking to increase their financial planner numbers, according to the survey.
However, despite the job freeze in smaller boutique practices, 44 per cent of respondents believe the industry was just reaching the turning point in future profitability, while 34 per cent believed the industry had not yet become profitable and would return to profitable levels between the fourth quarter of 2009 and 2011.
Job advertisements have remained stagnant at low levels, down by 59 per cent compared to the last 12 months.
The managing director of eJobs, Trevor Punnett, said the responses indicated there would be a long and protracted period of low activity in the financial planning industry.
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