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Editor in Chief:
Joan Caruso
Writer:
Catherine Carlozzi
Designer:
Roberta Martin
If you have questions or
comments on this
month's issue, send your
feedback to: roberta.martin@ayers.com
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Staffing/IT Consulting—Offers and Counters Fly as the Floodgates Open in Financial Services
Ayers’ Staffing Services group is seeing a major increase in technology jobs in the financial services sector. “The floodgates we were talking about last year have opened and there is quite a bit of movement in the marketplace,” says Bob Deissig who heads the group. “A lot of people out there are looking to jump,” Managing Director Harry Plastik adds. “They are thankful to have had jobs but have been unhappy for a long time.”
“In this marketplace, the best candidates are now getting upward of five offers,” Bob continues. “We are well beyond the point where clients can take their time in making offers. You have to move quickly and aggressively.”
Both executives report seeing an increase in counter offers as one consequence of the outflow of employees. “Companies don’t want to lose good people,” Bob says. “But it will be interesting to see what the long-term implications of this strategy are because it can backfire. If employees know you are making counter offers, some who don’t necessarily want to leave will go out and get offers in hopes of receiving a raise to keep them in place. I heard about one senior programmer at a financial institution who resigned twice and received counter offers both times. He ultimately went to a competitor for a 70 percent increase over his enriched salary. He worked the system really well!”
When the issue of retention planning is raised, the Staffing Services head comments that discussions at some companies never get past the issue of money. “The feeling is, ‘It’s all about money.’ So many firms adopt the reactive strategy of countering,” Bob observes. “Others would like to be proactive and guarantee their best employees higher compensation, but no one knows what the bonus pool will look like at year-end.
“It’s important for companies to understand why employees are leaving. Is money really the issue? Or, is it how they were treated during the bad times, when they had nowhere else to go? Exit interviews make it clear that money generally does not top the list of reasons for leaving. It may not even be in the top three.”
“The fact is that if someone is really unhappy and wants to leave, there isn’t much a company can do to retain that individual,” Harry Plastik adds.
"Business Is Hot"
Although candidate flow slowed down with summer vacations, particularly in Europe, business is still hot, according to Harry, who oversees Ayers’ growing London office. “We’re picking up clients in management consulting, audit, and reinsurance, as well as financial services.”
Recent placements include a divisional CIO at a major global financial services firm.
On the IT consulting side, Managing Director Donna Held is seeing an across-the-board increase in activity focused on the financial services industry. “We’ve been much busier for the past quarter,” she says. “We are receiving calls for Developers, Project Managers, Programmers, Quality-Assurance Testers, Networking Engineers—everything! We continue to see more straight consulting and less right-to-hire, and there’s ongoing emphasis on experience in iterative processes. Clients are looking for hands-on experience, business background, and knowledge.”
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