Good job prospects for planners
Things are looking good for financial planners and paraplanners in terms of their job prospects for the first quarter of 2011 with demand for these positions expected to increase, according to the quarterly report released by recruiting experts Hays.
Hays’ report was also supported by the Advantage Job Index, which expected to see increased employment over the year despite a slight fall in advertised financial services jobs in December 2010.
Hays found that financial planner and paraplanner positions were mostly sought by boutique firms, accountancy practices and the big four banks, while superannuation fund administrators were also in high demand.
“Given the expected increase to [gross domestic product] in 2011, confidence is up in financial planning,” the report said.
Nevertheless, Hays stated the real shortage of skilled and experienced candidates in the financial planning industry would become even greater as demand increases. Banks, in particular, will start looking for those with managed funds operations experience and will increase headcount in the back and middle-office areas, according to Hays. However, banks are also open to less experienced candidates who they can train up as workloads rise, and are generally looking for candidates with between one and three years experience, the report said.
The senior regional director of Hays Banking, Jane McNeill (pictured), said candidate levels would also rise in the first quarter.
“There is no doubt that we’re very quickly returning to a state of candidate shortage, and will continue in this direction as more organisations experience growth,” she said.
The December 2010 Advantage Job Index showed a fall in online job ads for financial services of 2.6 per cent, although jobs ads were up 16.6 per cent for the year. Commenting on the Australian job market in general, Advantage stated that there was a general fall of 2.3 per cent in online ads in December, which was attributable to the last interest rate hike. Yet despite the poor stats for last month, Advantage believed the story for 2011 was positive as the year would see increased employment.
There were more opportunities for graduates in December as banking and financial services jobs were up 3.5 per cent compared to the previous month, and up 29 per cent for the year. Accounting graduate roles were up 17.9 per cent in December and 110 per cent for the year, and the sector was tipped to be the fastest growing graduate profession in 2010 ahead of the engineering and mining sectors.
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