Hiring Trend │ Financial services

OPERATIONS

The sustained strength of Japan’s economic outlook encouraged financial services firms to hire greater numbers of junior professionals in 2015. Ongoing regulatory change also continued to drive demand for compliance professionals, and this will continue through 2016. Hiring managers have been increasingly ready to look beyond direct experience and appoint jobseekers who demonstrate strong potential for growing into a role. This is an effective strategy in a market where competition for experienced candidates is intense and top-tier professionals are regularly receiving multiple job offers. We expect the candidate-led market to last throughout 2016, and advise employers to continue taking this flexible approach.

FRONT OFFICE

Buy side companies were more active in the recruitment market than sell side firms in a busy 2015. In particular, strong investor interest in Japanese property ensured that real-estate professionals with acquisition and property management experience were highly sought after. Differing investor attitudes were reflected by the priorities of investment banks – while foreign banks primarily sought equities specialists, Japanese institutions were more interested in candidates with fixed-income experience. With economic growth in 2016 predicted to outstrip 2015 performance, we anticipate another busy year of front office recruitment, once again with a focus on building for the future by hiring junior talent at the AVP level.