I’ve only seen one relevant job opportunity this year…

Authored by Sam Belcher, Experienced Recruiter – Finance, Transformation, Governance and Supply Chain.

The 2018 banking job market in Singapore and Hong Kong has been pretty hot, certainly, when compared to some other years post the Financial Crisis. However, this is primarily at the junior / middle management levels and for senior back office staff the market remains challenging; with some banks looking to make further cuts at these levels, the landscape in this regard seems unlikely to improve in 2019.

We have met a number of senior candidates, particularly in Singapore, who are only hearing about a very limited number of relevant jobs over the course of the year – however there are always opportunities in both the local and international markets; the key is to make sure you are on the radar for organizations who might be looking to hire, ensuring you do everything you can to stand out from the competition in interview and developing your skillset to remain competitive in the current landscape. We have outlined some thoughts on this below :

Network Continually

I’m often surprised how little time senior professionals dedicate to networking either within their own organization or amongst peers in other firms. Similar to recruiters, if you start a job search totally from cold and with few ‘allies’ in the market, it could be a relatively long road to finding a new role. Attend events, arrange informal drinks sessions, or even set a target to meet or speak to senior people in your own firm each month and incrementally start to build your network in your chosen field and you will develop a safety net should things not work out in your current organisation. Remember that many senior jobs are recruited for through contact / networks / referrals and never hit the public domain.

Hope For The Best, Prepare For the Worst

Even if you work in a bank under significant cost pressure, it’s important to remember that there will still be good job opportunities internally. I meet a number of senior candidates who seem a bit ‘defeated’ and for them leaving their organisation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the flip side, I have seen other senior candidates significantly develop their career through a downturn or restructuring – gaining exposure to previously inaccessible senior management or getting stuck into tough projects and playing a key role in turning things around.

That being said, great opportunities can present themselves at any time and given there maybe only a handful of opportunities available a year, it’s always worth keeping an eye on the market. Singapore, in particular, has been a tough market for senior candidates and it can take up to 12 months to find a new role – if you do unfortunately find yourself facing redundancy, it would be good to already have one toe in the market to try and reduce the time out of work. Plus redundancy package + brand new role = a double win!

Read The Trends

It’s really important to look at what trends are impacting the market and ensure that you are keeping yourself up to date. We have found this year that hiring for traditional roles ( ie Operations, Product Control, Finance etc) has increased in onshore markets, but banks / FI’s are looking for candidates who can also bring something else to the table. Almost all firms are significantly investing in technologies in regards to data / data analytics, or looking at automation / RPA; try and see how you can engineer yourself internally to get some hands-on experience in these areas in your current organisation so that you have an extra string to your bow.

A working example of this would be a COO hire we made for a bank this year – the competition for the role was fierce but one of the primary differentiators he had against other candidates was that he had invested time to attend the Oxford University FinTech programme remotely and could articulate a genuine and tangible interest in emerging technologies, which was a key area of focus for the hiring manager.

Mobility = Opportunity

The reality is that senior back-office roles onshore have been the primary focus of cost-cutting. Expats in Singapore, in particular, have found it very tough, but even senior Singaporeans are finding it challenging to get back into the market in certain areas. Sometimes to continue to grow your career you have to consider different geographies or busier markets. Despite Brexit concerns we have seen a number of senior candidates move into great roles back in London, also the UAE continues to have decent (and well paid!) senior back-office roles. We have also seen in the FinTech space and Buy Side there are good opportunities in Hong Kong for overseas candidates.

Nail the Interviews

This one may be a no-brainer, but if you’re only seeing a limited number of opportunities, you have to nail the interviews. If you are only seeing 1-2 jobs a year this becomes even more critical. As mentioned before firms are looking for people who can bring something extra – how can you articulate where you have done this? Where have you been involved strategically, where have you made significant relationships with senior stakeholders, what will you bring to the table for this role that others can’t? If you don’t feel that interviews are your strong point, then it could be worth investing some time in an interview coach to make sure you give yourself the best opportunity of landing the role.

And Finally – Remain Positive…

Job searching at the senior end of the market can be disheartening – lack of opportunity and perceived lack of interest can take its toll over time. By and large, however, it’s the market driving this rather than anything inherently wrong with your candidature and the key is to remain positive and keep going. But by building healthy networks in your area of expertise and continually keeping an eye on the market both locally and internationally, you can minimize your exposure to having significant time out of the market.

If you are a senior professional finding it tough to get back into the market and would like some tips or advice – feel free to get in touch – my email address is sam@theedgepartnership.com

The Edge is an Asia focused recruitment business with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.