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Financial Planning Firms Investing in Hiring

By Ashley Rowe on March 9, 2013 in Finance - XLF.

The Financial Planning Association's 2012 – 2013 Financial Planning Compensation Study revealed that 43% of firms intend to hire new staff in 2013. Have employers already begun to increase their hiring for 2013? We looked at hiring trends for Personal Financial Advisors to see if recent hiring demand matches this prediction. As of January 2013, it looks like predictions are on track. January saw the highest volume of job ads posted online in the past 4 years. Over 8,000 job ads appeared online in January, representing a 21% increase over the same time last year. If this trend endures, we may continue to see new highs reached in 2013.

Hiring Demand for Personal Financial Advisors

Hiring Demand for Personal Financial Advisors

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

While the New York metropolitan area had the most job ads for Personal Financial Advisors, Detroit (MI) experienced the biggest increase in demand, growing about 80% year-over-year. Below are the metropolitan areas with the highest demand and their year-over-year growth.

Metropolitan Areas with the Most Demand for Personal Financial Advisors and Their Year-Over-Year Growth

Cities with the Most Job Ads for Personal Financial Advisors and Year-Over-Year Growth

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

Recruiting conditions for Personal Financial Advisors are likely to be somewhat favorable, scoring a 39 on our Hiring Scale (out of a possible 99, 99 denoting hard-to-fill.) Our Hiring Scale shows 3 cities that score a 5, which indicates that these are the least difficult metro areas to recruit this talent. These cities are Miami (FL), Stamford (CT), and Providence (RI). Although the Hiring Scale indicates that average recruiting conditions aren't likely to be extremely difficult, some cities are experiencing challenges finding candidates. 12 cities score above 90. Recruiters are likely to encounter the most difficulty in Iowa City (IA) where the Hiring Scale scores a 95.

Hiring Scale for Personal Financial Advisors in Iowa City, IA

Hiring Scale for Personal Financial Advisors

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

Find out if your job req will be difficult-to-fill with a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

Already an Analytics user? Log in here. We've already added the Personal Financial Advisor occupation. Just add your location and any other requirements.

Recruiters Approving of Mortgage Hiring Demand

By Ashley Rowe on December 8, 2012 in Finance - XLF.

This year, banks are earning record profits from the highest level of home refinancing since 2009. Consequently, employment is rising too. The BLS reports that "employment tied to mortgages has risen 9% this year through September… the most since 2008." Some banks have transferred staff to address the rising demand and they expect hiring to continue. With increased hiring and revenue, we thought it was a good time to look at hiring demand for mortgages related positions.

Hiring demand trended upward and increased at a higher rate throughout 2012. Over the past 90 days, job ad volume was 21% higher than the same 90-day period last year. August 2012 experienced the highest demand seen in the past 4 years, with over 32,500 job ads and since then has declined.

Hiring Demand Chart for Mortgage Related Jobs

Hiring Chart for Positions Tied to Mortgages

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

It's interesting to note that Personal Banker ranks high in this list. While considering refinancing their homes, homeowners may be consulting with Personal Bankers to make sure they're making the right decision and getting the best rate. Teller also appears on this list, while it is also among some of the most commonly advertised job titles. It may not seem like a position that is associated with mortgages, yet job ads require employees to be compliant with the Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.

  1. Mortgage Loan Officer
  2. Personal Banker
  3. Personal Banker Safe
  4. Loan Officer
  5. Mortgage Loan Originator
  6. Onemain Financial Fsn Consumer Finance Representative
  7. Mortgage Underwriter
  8. Branch Manager
  9. Mortgage Loan Processor
  10. Teller

Chicago (IL) currently has the most job ads posted online. In this location, hiring demand increased 52% since the same time last year. New York (NY) and Los Angeles (CA) follow volume of job ads posted online. These cities also happen to have some of the largest talent pools. Below is a heat map that shows job ad volumes by metro area. Darker colors indicate areas with higher job ad volume.

Job Ad Volume for Mortgage Related Jobs

Hiring Demand Job Volume for Mortgage Related Jobs

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

Are you hiring for one of the most in-demand job titles? Find out what hiring difficulty and hiring demand are like with a free trial of WANTED Analytics™.

Analytics users: log in to Analytics, enter the industry commercial banking, select specific job titles and location and generate a Talent Sourcing Report.

Does the Securities Industry Have Job Security?

By Ashley Rowe on October 26, 2012 in Finance - XLF.

In a recent Bloomberg News interview, banking analyst Meredith Whitney indicated that 50,000 – 100,000 layoffs will take place in the financial sector. These cuts are a reaction to the sales drought and declining revenue. She goes on to say, "Wall Street is just going to have an extremely challenged revenue environment." We were curious how or if this expectation affects securities-related industries and financial sector hiring trends.

In the chart below, we looked at hiring trends in the financial industries with the most demand over the past 4 years and looked specifically at securities-related industries. Commercial Banking (blue) had the most job ads posted online in September, with more than 55,000 online job ads, an 8% year-over-year growth. Insurance Agencies and Brokerages (red) ranked second in demand with over 29,000 job ads online, a 15% year-over-year increase. Direct Health and Medical Insurance (green) ranked third, just above securities related industries, with more than 13,000 job ads, an 8% decrease compared to the same time last year. Other Financial Investment Activities (purple) and Securities and Commodities Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage (pink) remained somewhat steady. There hasn't yet been a notable hiring demand decline in those securities-related industries. The same trend doesn't apply to Securities and Commodities Exchanges (black). Securities and Commodities decreased 64% with less than 200 job ads posted online in September.

Financial Sector Hiring Growth Chart – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand Growth Chart for Financial and Securities Industries

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

As might be expected, New York had the most job ad volume. For more on Wall Street hiring trends read Wall Street Woes: Hiring Demand Starts to Fall. New York is closely followed by Chicago. Below is the heat map of job ad volume for the financial industries mentioned above.

Heat Map of Job Ad Volume for Finance and Securities Industries

Job Ad Volume for Finance and Securities Industries

SOURCE: WANTED Analytics

For a full picture of financial sector hiring demand by each city sign up for a free trial of WANTED Analytics.

3 Things to Know About Recruiting on Wall Street

By Abby Lombardi on July 16, 2012 in Accounting/Finance, Finance - XLF.

While international financial markets may be struggling, jobs on Wall Street have been fairly steady. In June, more than 14,000 jobs in New York's financial services industry were posted online. Although it is a slight decline from May's 4-year record high, this still represents a 1.2% increase over hiring demand during June of 2011. We thought it might be interesting to look at 3 things that Recruiters and hiring managers should know about recruiting on Wall Street.

Think traders are in demand?

Contrary to what you may think about Wall Street, brokers, traders, and financial analysts are not the most commonly advertised jobs. Instead, the most commonly advertised job title in the financial services industry in New York is Tellers. Personal Banker and Sales Service Specialists were second and third. With Commercial Banking accounting for about 42% of all jobs on Wall Street, it's not too surprising that most of the jobs are for banking careers.

Here are the top 5 job titles being advertised on Wall Street:

  • Teller
  • Personal Banker
  • Sales Service Specialist
  • Teller I
  • Branch Manager

New York may have the highest demand for financial services jobs, but they are still easier than average to fill.

You probably aren't surprised to hear that employers in New York have the highest demand for jobs in the financial services industry. More than 14,000 job ads were posted online in this sector during June 2012. This is almost twice the volume seen by Chicago, which had the second highest demand for this industry. However, Recruiters are actually likely to find jobs on Wall Street easier to fill that on average across the US. When considering the available talent supply, our Hiring Scale™ and candidate supply data shows that New York has a large pool to source from. It's estimated that over 550,000 people work in the financial services sector in the New York metro area. This means that Recruiters will likely have a large number of candidates to source from.

Hiring Scale for Financial Services Jobs on Wall Street

Hiring Scale for Financial Services Jobs on Wall Street

Source: WANTED Analytics

Find the best places to source talent – locally and nationally

Although jobs are easier to fill in New York than on average, the difficulty of each position will vary slightly depending on the skills needed and the number of potential candidates in the local workforce that meet those requirements. If you are struggling to fill a job on Wall Street (or a finance job anywhere in the US), our Hiring Scale can show you the locations with the best conditions for finding that talent – both locally and nationally. In these areas, there is less hiring demand by employers and larger talent pools, meaning there is less competition to attract candidates and Recruiters are likely to find candidates more easily.

Near New York City, the best locations to find candidates in the financial services industry are:

  1. Utica-Rome, NY
  2. Elmira, NY
  3. Glens Falls, NY
  4. Rochester, NY
  5. Dover, DE

Across the US, the best locations for sourcing candidates in the financial services industry are:

  1. Morgantown, WV
  2. Dalton, GA
  3. Spartanburg, SC
  4. Wheeling, WV
  5. Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce, FL

Want to see how recruiting in your city compares to New York? Check out our online Hiring Scale! Just tell us where the job is located and what position or skills you are sourcing for, and we'll show you a Hiring Scale, average salary ranges, and who you are competing with for talent.

Already an Analytics user? Log in and search for the "Finance and Insurance" industry in your city to see hiring trends and competitive information.

Financial Services Hiring Reaches 4-Year High in April

By Abby Lombardi on May 25, 2012 in Finance - XLF.

The financial services industry has seen its ups and downs over the past few years. We were interested to see what recent hiring demand has been and what kinds of jobs this industry has been recruiting. In April, more than 160,000 job ads were online by companies in this sector. Not only is this a 5% increase over last April, but also marked a new 4-year high in the number of online job ads during any single month.

Hiring Demand in the Financial Services Sector – 4 Year Hiring Trend

Hiring Demand in the Financial Services Industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

Below are the 10 metro areas with the highest volume of job ad by financial services organizations during April. We expected to see New York City at the top of the list, despite an 8% decline year-over-year in the number of ads. Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Washington (DC) rounded about the five cities with the most demand.

Cities with the Most Financial Services Job Ads during April

10 cities with most job ads in financial services

Source: WANTED Analytics

We also see that many of the most commonly advertised job titles in the financial services industry are banking related. Many of these aren't too surprising since branches of banks and financial institutions continuously need staff.

  1. Teller
  2. Personal Banker
  3. Customer Service Representative
  4. Branch Manager
  5. Financial Advisor
  6. Mortgage Loan Officer
  7. Administrative Assistant
  8. Business Analyst
  9. Project Manager
  10. Accountant

Despite many of the jobs being banking related, we found that most of the commonly required hard skills needed in job ads in the financial services sector are actually technology related.

  1. Microsoft Office
  2. Microsoft PowerPoint
  3. Structured query language (SQL)
  4. Microsoft Word
  5. Oracle Java
  6. UNIX
  7. Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL)
  8. Microsoft Office Visio
  9. Word processing
  10. Microsoft .NET Framework

Are you recruiting in the financial services sector? Sign up for a free trial of WANTED Analytics™ to see how hard-to-fill job reqs will be in your area, average posting periods, salary range data, and sources of hidden candidates.

Is Wall Street Ready to Hire Again?

By Abby Lombardi on April 6, 2012 in Business/Finance, Finance - XLF.

Back in November, there were reports of impending layoffs on Wall Street and we saw the volume of online job ads decline and we looked at hiring demand for finance related talent. Now that the first quarter is over, we wanted to return to hiring in the Financial sector of New York City to see what demand has recently looked like. Over the past 90 days, there were about 4,400 job ads posted online by financial services employers in the New York metro area. This represents a 16% increase compared to the same time period last year. Hiring peaked early, when more than 2,000 job ads were posted online during January, a new 4-year high seen by this sector.

Hiring Demand by Financial Services Companies in New York City

Hiring Demand by Wall Street Employers

Source: WANTED Analytics

The 10 most commonly advertised jobs within the financial services sector are below. Sales agents of financial services were the most demanded with more than 1,000 job ads in the past 90 days. As we are in the height of tax season, it isn't too surprising to see Accountants on this list with a higher volume of ads than last year. Of the below 10 jobs, Loan Officers experienced the greatest year-over-year increases, up more than 59% compared to the same 90-day period in 2011. 3 occupations (Financial Analysts, Auditors, and Sales Agents of Securities and Commodities) saw declines in demand versus 2011.

Occupations with Most Job Ads in New York City's Financial Sector

Jobs on Wall Street with Most Hiring Demand

Source: WANTED Analytics

In addition, we wanted to look at some of the tools, technologies, and certifications that financial service companies most commonly require of potential candidates.  The 10 most demanded skills required on Wall Street are:

  1. Microsoft Office
  2. Microsoft PowerPoint
  3. Microsoft Excel
  4. Portfolio Management
  5. Microsoft Word
  6. Internal Audit
  7. Financial modeling
  8. Asset allocation
  9. Loan Origination Software
  10. Microsoft Access

The 5 certifications that are most often required of potential candidates include:

  1. Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
  2. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
  3. General Securities Representative Exam (Series 7)
  4. Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
  5. Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)

Find out how easy or hard these jobs and skills are to recruit in your area with our free, online Hiring Scale™. Just tell us what position or skill set you are looking for and the location of the job opening, and we'll show you the Hiring Scale, average salary information, who your competition for talent is, and where you can find candidates.

Hiring Computer Programmers Part 2 – Recruiting "Nice to Have" Skills

By Abby Lombardi on January 17, 2012 in Computer/Math/IT, Finance - XLF.

Yesterday, we looked at recruiting "must have" skills for Computer Programmers by reviewing candidate supply from a real job opening currently being advertised. Today, we'll use the same job ad to look at recruiting for some "nice to have" skill sets (in comparison to those that are required) and how conditions change. Often, job ads list required qualifications and additional skills that hiring managers would prefer candidates to have. We'll keep the same required skills (Oracle, VBA, and Sybase programming experience with background in the financial services industry), but add additional requirements.

Here's the job ad we used as an example:

Computer Programmer in Financial Services Industry

The job lists SharePoint and Java development skills as preferred skills. By adding these 2 common tech skills, our candidate supply reduces from 317 (in yesterday's post) to an estimated 8 potential candidates that would meet all our job requirements. After reviewing this information, Recruiters and hiring managers can discuss realistic expectations on finding these additional skills. You may decide that on-the-job training is a better option, since this combination of skills is extremely rare.

Candidate Supply of Computer Programmers with Java and Sharepoint

Source: WANTED Analytics

Another way that we can change our search criteria is by industry. This job ad requests candidates with experience in financial markets. However, by opening up our industry selections, we may find additional candidates. Even after keeping Java and SharePoint as required skills, we see that the number of potential candidates – across all industries – increases to 159. The first source of candidates for many companies is their industry competition. But, as you can see, this can often limit your candidate pool.

Candidate Supply of Computer Programmers with Required Skills across all Industries

Candidate Supply of Computer Programmers across all Industries

Source: WANTED Analytics

By discussing the estimated number of candidates for each scenario with the hiring manager, an effective recruiting strategy can be developed. You may determine that these are required skills and can't be compromised and, in that case, you can prepare the hiring manager for longer recruitment times or suggest ways to attract candidates from outside the NY metro area.

Do you know which skill combinations will be difficult to recruit? Start your free trial of WANTED Analytics™ to find out! Search by skills, location, industry, job function, and occupation to determine recruiting conditions, average salary information, and how much competition there is.

Hiring Computer Programmers Part 1 – Finding "Must Have" Skills

By Abby Lombardi on January 16, 2012 in Computer/Math/IT, Finance - XLF.

When Recruiters meet with hiring managers about a job opening, the hiring manager often provides a "laundry list" of skills and qualifications that candidates must have. Do you, as a recruiter, find out what the must-have skills are for the job opening? In this blog post, we'll take a look at an example of how narrowing down required skills can help realistically determine the difficulty to hire for any job.

Here's a sample job ad we found for a Computer Programmer opening in New York, NY currently being advertised by a company in the financial services industry. This ad requires candidates that have background in financial markets, as well as experience with VBA (or Visual Basic for Applications), Oracle, and Sybase.

Computer Programming job Ad

Overall, hiring demand for these skills is high. During December 2011, more than 3,200 job ads were posted nationwide for Computer Programmers that required these skills across all industries. Close to 900 of those ads were posted by financial services companies. In the New York metro area, we found 8 employers with a total of 22 unique jobs postings currently being advertised online that require these skills. This may not seem like much. Recruiters and hiring managers may think that there won't be too much competition for these skills. However, when you look at the candidate supply – meaning the number of candidates in the New York workforce that meet your job requirements – you get a different picture. Out of 8.2 million people in the New York workforce (279,000 of which are IT professionals), there are just 317 people that meet your qualifications.

Candidate Supply of Computer Programmers with Required Skills in New York

Candidate Supply of Computer Programmers

Source: WANTED Analytics

Our Hiring Scale™ also confirms that these jobs will be fairly hard-to-fill – both nationwide and in the New York area. Recruiters in New York are likely to experience a slightly easier recruiting market than nationally – but not by much. Nationally, it takes about 41 days or just under 6 weeks. In New York, job ads are listed for an average 40 days – one day less than nationally. This information is a guide that Recruiters can use when discussing market conditions with hiring managers and set expectations on how long it will take to fill these jobs.

Hiring Scale for Computer Programmers with Above Skill Requirements – New York vs. Nationally

hiring scale for computer programmers in NY

Source: WANTED Analytics

Since it is likely that Recruiters in New York will see difficulties with sourcing candidates, it may be beneficial to discuss hiring from alternative areas with the hiring manager. There are several cities in the US that are currently experiencing easier conditions and shorter recruitment cycles than in New York. For example, Washington (DC), Dallas, and Baltimore are currently experiencing the easiest recruiting conditions for these exact skills. By sourcing from these locations, Recruiters and hiring managers may be able to reduce their time-to-fill and reduce their cost-per-hire since job ads will be listed online for shorter period of time.

Companies recruiting for these skills should look for candidates with some of the below most common job titles. Searching for just “Computer Programmer” may not return all qualified candidates. In fact, of the 10 most common job titles below, only one has the word “Programmer” in it. By including some of these common titles, Recruiters and hiring managers may be able to expand their pool of potential candidates and possible reduce their time-to-fill.

  1. Rates Application Support Analyst
  2. RAD Developer Commodities
  3. CIO Service Delivery Analyst Associate
  4. Front End Solutions Development
  5. Systems Application Engineer
  6. Applications Developer
  7. Senior Programmer IT Securities Processing Group
  8. Oracle Developer
  9. Tech ASG Bond Studio Developer
  10. Support Analyst Problem Manager

Check back tomorrow, when we look at how the candidate supply changes when you add some of the “highly desired” skills and change your job requirements. Will this job become even more difficult to fill?

What skills do you require for Computer Programmers? Enter the skills into our free, online Hiring Scale™ to see how hard-to-recruit those skills are, average salary ranges, and who you are competing with for talent.

Employment for the Financial Services Industry Keeps Growing in 2011

By Abby Lombardi on June 28, 2011 in Business/Finance, Finance - XLF, Staffing Industry.

Despite the Fed recently lowering the US economic and employment forecasts, employment in the financial services industry is growing.  Over the past 60 days, financial organizations posted more than 100,000 new online job ads – a 24% increase from the same 60-day period in 2010.  In fact, job ads within this industry have been booming since the beginning of the year, now up 19% from January.

Hiring Demand in the Financial Services Industry over the Past 4 Years

Hiring Demand in the Finance Industry over the past 4 years

Source: WANTED Analytics

The top employer in the financial services industry was Wells Fargo, placing more than 6,600 new online job ads, 370% more than the same time period last year. Other top employers include UnitedHealth Group, Citigroup, PNC, Chase, Fidelity Investments and Morgan Stanley – all of which placed more jobs this year than last.

The most demanded field in this sector was for Business and Financial Operations occupations such as Loan Officers, Management Analysts and Financial Analysts. The second most in-demand field, with 17,000 online job ads, were Management occupations like Financial Managers, Marketing Managers and Operations Managers.  This field saw a 20% increase from last year.  However, the greatest year over year growth came from Computer Programming-related jobs with a combined 54% increase.  Computer Programmers are some of the most demanded by employers and recruiting agencies across all industries in the US, so it isn’t surprising that financial services organizations are also sourcing for these skills.

Top 3 Occupations within the Financial Services Industry

Top 3 Occupations within the Financial Industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

Also not surprising is that the overwhelming majority of these jobs are located in the financial capital, New York City.  However, other metro areas seeing double-digit increases in online job ads are Boston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Atlanta and San Francisco.  Washington, DC and Philadelphia are the only metro areas in the top 10 list seeing decreases in volume.

Top Metropolitan Areas Hiring within the Financial  Services Industry

Top Metropolitan Areas Hiring within the Financial industry

Source: WANTED Analytics

Depending on the position and location being recruited for, employers and recruiting agencies will see varying degrees of ease in sourcing candidates and filling these jobs. For example, Market Research Analysts will be moderately difficult to recruit for since they are highly in demand by employers and recruiting agencies in all industries.  According to the Hiring Scale™, New York has seen more demand for candidates with these skill sets and has just 4 potential candidates for every online job ad over this time period.  In comparison, the talent supply in Los Angeles is larger and recruiters are likely to fill these positions easier and faster than the national average.

Hiring Scales for Market Research Analysts in New York and Los Angeles

Hiring Scales for Market Research Analysts in New York and Los Angeles

Source: WANTED Analytics

However, those organizations in New York looking to hire Financial Analysts, will have an easier time recruiting than the national average.  Although this position is in high demand currently, there is a very large talent pool in the NY metro area to source from.  In comparison, Boston will likely see a much more difficult time in recruiting since their pool of candidates is smaller.  Boston should look to New York to see if it is possible to recruit candidates from this area to fill any talent shortages they may be experiencing.

Hiring Scales for Financial Analysts in New York and Boston

Hiring Scales for Financial Analysts in New York and Boston

Source: WANTED Analytics


Finance, Health Care, IT Stocks Lose Momentum as Hiring Slows

By Charles Thibault on February 2, 2010 in Business/Finance, Computer/Math/IT, Finance - XLF, Health Care, Health Care - XLV, Information Technology - XLK, S&P 500 - SPY.

Several stock market industry segments have taken hits over the past two or three weeks as the labor market situation deteriorated slightly during the second half of January.

Health Care stocks are down 2.9% over the last two weeks (XLV); Information Technologies stocks are down 9.5% over the last three weeks (XLK); and Finance stocks are down 7% over the last three weeks (XLF). The 4-week moving average of new unemployment insurance claims has gone up two weeks in a row.

Hiring in these three sectors – Finance, Health Care, and Information Technologies  – has slowed in the past two weeks too, falling off the positive trend they started in September. What's worse, year-over-year hiring improvements have swung from positive to negative in these sectors.

The following analysis confirms a great Q4 in terms of GDP growth (+5.7% annualized), but also suggests that growth rates are slowing.

Let's first take a second to make sure we're not presenting conflicting information about the labor market situation, particularly compared to the Conference Board's Help Wanted Online series which uses the "same" data as we present here (HWOL). That series uses a "mid-month to mid-month" time-frame in order to match the BLS's sampling framework which measures national employment on the 14th day of each month. In early January, we did see some positive labor market signals.  However, national Hiring Demand fell by 3.7% two weeks ago (after the HWOL sampling period closed). Since January 19th, the S&P 500 index has lost 4.3% too. This is after the S&P 500 gained 3.6% during the first couple of weeks of January on positive December UI claims data.

The following table compares year-over-year changes in sector Hiring Demand (the number of new online job ads) and weekly returns of sector Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Sector ETFs are tradable securities which mimic the composition and returns of the different sector indices developed by Standard & Poor's. Sector indices are sub-components of the S&P 500.

Source: WANTED Analytics, Google Finance

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