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The balance of employment power in the banking and financial services sector appears to be swinging back to candidates rather than those doing the recruiting, according to the latest data released by specialist recruitment firm Hays.
According to Hays Banking regional director Jane McNeill, the surplus of candidates for jobs experienced through much of last year has now been absorbed back into the workforce with the result that employers now have less choice.
“In the post-global financial crisis workplace employers now have less choice and are even taking steps to minimise the impact of future skills shortages,” she said. “For candidates, particularly top talent, this means they have some power back.”
McNeill said candidates were starting to objectively examine job vacancies in far more detail than they did during the global financial crisis to determine whether it would provide them with the progression they want.
“They are asking for more information about a job’s responsibilities to work out if it is a step up, or at least a step in the right direction,” she said. “They want to know if clear career paths are offered. They are also reaching out to their networks to see what others say about the company.”
McNeill said there had also been cases of multiple offers for top talent, meaning the candidate had the opportunity to leverage an improvement in salary for the first time in well over 18 months.
However, she said that while some employers were starting to enter into such salary negotiations, it was likely to be some time before the trend was evident across the board.
