Rush of banking jobseekers swamps London market

In theory, if you're a candidate looking for a new banking job in London now, you can waft your CV and name your price. In reality, your experience may be rather different.

Although London banking headhunters working on front office roles say top candidates have multiple job offers, there seem to be plenty of other people in the City's financial services job market who don't have any offers at all.

The latest employment monitor from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley, reflects the situation. Morgan McKinley bases its estimates on its own observations of the market. It says there were a lot more new financial services jobs in London in the third quarter of 2021 than in the third quarter of 2020, but there were also far more new candidates.

The upshot is that there were more than two new candidates chasing every new London financial services in the third quarter - up from closer to one per job four years ago. There's also the overhang of all those candidates who wanted a job last year, and couldn't find one.

The implication is that claims of a Brexit-related talent shortage may be overblown, and that if you're looking for a new role now and are struggling you're not alone. 

Beyond areas like M&A, Morgan McKinley says the talent shortages are in roles like cybersecurity, software development and data, where the demand has been "huge" for 18 months.

Photo by Will H McMahan on Unsplash

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