Investment banks still cautious over contractor recruitment

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Investment banks still cautious over contractor recruitment

Posted Feb 17, 2010

New figures suggest that investment banks are still suffering from a lack of confidence in the sector, with new job offers still shaky.

The data, released by pre-employment screening firm Powerchex, suggests that while confidence is returning to Hedge Funds and Stockbrokers, Investment Banks are still feeling the fallout from the Lehman Brothers collapse and as a result have yet to significantly recruit new permanent or contract staff.

The firm compared employment offer numbers in January 2009 to January 2010 and found that hedge funds and stock brokers increased their recruitment by 109% and 81% respectively. Powerchex also found that Investment Banks are not anticipating a busy year as they are hiring 60% less people compared to last year.

The figures also revealed that recruitment slowed when comparing January 2010 to December 2009. Investment Managers (24%), Hedge Funds (33%), Stockbrokers (5%) and IT contractors working within financial services (46%) all saw a decline in employment offers.

With financial results due in the next month, firms appear to be taking a cautious approach as confidence in the economy could be heavily affected depending on the financial success or failure of firms in 2009.

Alexandra Kelly, Director at Powerchex, believes confidence in the city is still shaky. "We have seen signs that the economy is on the up but firms are still being very cautious as many believe any recovery we may have seen is very fragile and could easily be knocked off course."

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