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This is why you can’t get a job

26 October 2009

Sarah Butcher

If you’ve spoken to enough recruitment firms recently, you should be feeling fairly positive about things. At most of them the mantra is the same: “The market was bad for the first five months of the year, but sentiment changed around May and we’ve started seeing concrete signs of hiring since July.”

This may be true. But there hasn’t been very much actual hiring yet.

Figures from the banks that have already announced their third quarter results, and which have broken out variations in investment banking headcount (either in their results or in separate press material) reveal a net change in investment banking headcount of around -2,800 in the first nine months of the year.

The biggest redundancies have taken place at JP Morgan (3,060 in the investment bank), Morgan Stanley (approximately 1,500 across investment banking and asset management) and Credit Suisse (400 in the investment bank). Citigroup has also made 47,000 redundancies across its network this year, but doesn’t break out investment banking operations.

The good news is that hiring does, indeed, appear to have resumed in the third quarter.

However, recent hiring has been nowhere near enough to make amends for the thousands made redundant previously. Net, only around 400 jobs were added in the three months to October. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman hired; JP Morgan continued to trim.

Q3 headcount changes

Source: Company annual reports and press reports

Comments (11)

Is interesting indeed, though most of the key points they talked about are well known among the students! networking and brightness are the keys of success i think.

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Comments (11)

  • What about Deutsche?

    Douche 26 Oct 2009

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  • Deutsche haven't announced their results yet.

    Sarah, Editor, eFinancialCareers 26 Oct 2009

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  • I appreciate that these are the firms who have announced and have been responsible for the majority of cuts so it makes for a straightforward story, however they are not the only places where people are able to get a job.

    For well qualified candidates who think outside the box (i.e. GS, JPM, CS, etc) there are definitely opportunities out there.

    Recruit1973 26 Oct 2009

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  • Wow...using an old MS Excel there. Come on, pick up the pace.

    Duke of Lancaster VI 26 Oct 2009

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  • Recruiters have tendancy of putting a positive spin on things  - it's our job to be the most postive person in the room. Yes some hiring would be a better than the wilderness months of Jan - June 2009.

    However as this article rightly points out, there has been no where near enough hiring since June, to mop up all those that have lost a job in the past 12 months.  There are a lot of candidates out there still who fail to see how the gap in their cv and the level of competition, make getting a job today still very hard.

    recruiter 26 Oct 2009

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  • Sarah-Douche  1-0

    soros 26 Oct 2009

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  • what about BoA / ML - their Q3 was out last week - did they not break out numbers?

    MAtt 26 Oct 2009

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  • This is very good info Sarah m well done, I complained a few times before about gossip etc, anyway this is very good. Should also be taken into accoun that most of the hires are basiacally IT/MO etc, so you get an idea of FO hiring ... still the time to be on the beach. Lets hope it will change.

    Max1 26 Oct 2009

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  • I thought BofA / Merrill combined eliminated 4850+ in UK...

    Brian 27 Oct 2009

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  • Forget recruiters/agencies whatever you call them - they will always put a positive spin whatever the market is like. I was made redundant last November for the second time albeit not due to the credit crunch. For nearly 6 months I answered agency email advertisements; I phoned agencies to find out what was available in my line; I even went in to the City and visited agencies by cold calling - all to no avail. I decided to approach smaller foreign banks direct and after a couple of weeks landed an interview at a bank for a position in a completely new area for me. Although I had minimal experience in that area but plenty of other experience they decided to give me a chance. I started in August and haven't looked back.

    So do not despair - try the smaller foreign banks and your previous experience might well be useful.

    Vince, London 27 Oct 2009

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