Planners continue to top the most wanted list

Financial planners are in rising demand, says Recruitment Solutions executive director Greg Savage.

Financial planners are in rising demand, says Recruitment Solutions executive director Greg Savage.

While he is increasingly receiving inquiries from companies - par-ticularly from banks but also from stockbrokers - for financial plan-ners, he says experienced people are almost impossible to find.

As a result, companies are looking for raw recruits and an obvious area is in is in the accounting field.

"A lot of people do not like accounting, so financial planning is a good option," Savage says.

He believes, however, that the financial planning industry has an im-age problem in that its people are seen as commission earners, simi-lar to those who sell insurance or second hand cars.

"Some people are unused to the commission element which poses chal-lenges for employers,' Savage says.

Meanwhile, Recruitment Solutions' latest survey on accounting and fi-nance staff has found that people in Sydney can look forward to higher salary rises than their counterparts in other states.

Savage says this is because Sydney is the city with the greatest skills shortages overall. "It is the city with the most head offices and it is the centre of financial markets in Australia."

The growth in the Sydney market is set to continue, but he adds that if there is a recession, Sydney-based companies will be the most ruthless in cutting down costs.

The survey found that Sydney staff can expect an average 4.47 per cent raise at the next salary review. This compares with 4.33 per cent in Melbourne, 3.7 per cent in Perth, 3.66 per cent in Adelaide and 3.77 per cent in Brisbane.

Savage says despite the strong economy, low inflation combined with rigorous cost control has led to subdued pay rises.

Of the 884 companies surveyed around Australia, 65 per cent plan salary increases of just 2-4 per cent for accounting staff at the next review while a further 13 per cent will raise pay levels by only 2 per cent or less.

Only 31 per cent of all companies said they would offer increases of 5 per cent or more - down from 41 per cent last year.

Accounting staff looking forward to the highest pay hikes work in the thriving fields of high technology (5.45 per cent), banking and fi-nance (5.07 per cent), and telecommunications (4.91).

Industry sectors planning the lowest increase include charity/non-profit (3.08 per cent), government and public service (3.51 per cent) and manufacturing (3.73 per cent).