Shortage of senior paraplanners ‘desperate’: Hays
Demand for senior financial paraplanners has reached ‘desperate’ levels due to the strength of ongoing business development activity, according to a Hays Banking Forecast for the January quarter.
The forecast also found a ‘huge’ demand for financial planners, as well as shortages of financial planning support, dealers’ assistants, client services and customer service staff with financial services experience.
“Overall the demand for experienced staff will remain high (in 2007), as will the shortage of candidates,” said Nick Deligiannis, senior regional director of Hays Banking.
However, a number of factors would “combine to provide proactive employers with a rich and diverse workforce from which to select potential talent in 2007, he said.
“There’s an air of flexibility dawning across the market, created by the usual increase in the lateral movement of candidates in the new year, as well as a continued influx of overseas staff.”
Other key trends identified by the Hays forecast as being driven by the skills shortage include a relaxing of employer’s candidate age requirements, as well as unrealistic expectations by candidates.
“Some employers who were previously very rigid in their candidate requirements have become far more flexible, which is reflected in an increase in mature aged candidates being employed,” Deligiannis said.
On the other end of the spectrum, many job candidates “believe they’ll receive large salary increases from new employers to attract them to a new role or from their current employer to retain them”.
“However, while salaries are expected to increase slightly, candidates should realistically compare their experience to their expected salary,” he said.
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