Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Recruitment Manager-Mumbai|Managed Services|Investment Bank

This leading European Investment Bank with huge operation in India is presently conducting an international search for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) with overseas recruitment experience, preferably in matured markets like UK, US, Australia and Singapore, to lead and build a recruitment team in Bombay, India.

The ideal candidate should have experience recruiting for front to back office positions for investment banking, private banking and global markets. Those with recruitment experience and prior industry experience working in an investment bank will be at an advantage.

Requirements:
* Ability to strategies with team as well as liaising with respective line managers/stake holders
* Experience in end to end recruitment as well as managing operations
* Experience in manpower planning and delivering solutions
* Leadership qualities to influence, implement and direct the team


The position can grow to Account Director in a year or two and the client is prepared to pay a very attractive salary around 110K USD.

For those interested in finding out more details please feel free to drop me a line - neitham(at)gmail(dot)com or buzz me at +6598573124.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Vacancies this week | 13th May'08

Vacancy 1: Front Office Developers (C++)
Client - leading financial institution with huge regional presence here in Singapore.
Requirement - 5 years+ technical experience coupled with 2 year+ business experience within equity derivatives.
Skills - C++ & Oracle (PL/SQL) development skills

If interested or know of anyone please write into joe.neitham@talent2.com or for details please follow this link.

Vacancy 2: Back Office Developers (C++)
Client - leading financial institution with huge regional presence here in Singapore.
Requirement - 5 years+ technical experience coupled with 1 year+ business experience IB back office.
Skills - C++ & Oracle (PL/SQL) development skills.

If interested or know of anyone please write into joe.neitham@talent2.com or for details please follow this link.

Vacancy 3: Business Analyst
Client -
multiple vacancies with IB clients.
Requirement - 5 years+ BA experience in Cash Equities OR Equity Derivatives.

If interested or know of anyone please write into
joe.neitham@talent2.com

Monday, May 12, 2008

Stanchart goes on hiring spree | S'Pore

Bank swims against the tide; plans to recruit another 500 in S'pore and 10,000 worldwide
While banks in the US and Europe are making announcements - almost on a daily basis - about job cuts and writedowns, Standard Chartered stands quietly poised to grab any talent that may come its way.
As its peers downsize, Stanchart will hire aggressively, especially in Asia. The bank has decided to swim against the general tide of gloom and feels this is the time to grow.
The bank derives most of its profits from Asia, Africa and the Middle East and has escaped relatively unscathed from the sub-prime fallout. It is well-positioned to expand, it said.
A Stanchart spokeswoman told BT yesterday that its Singapore operations will be expanding by nearly 11 per cent in 2008 alone. Some 500 people will be hired in Singapore across the consumer and wholesale banking and support functions, mainly in sales and risk management positions. The bank employs some 4,700 people in Singapore.
In all, the bank will be hiring 10,000 staff this year, across the world according to Richard Meddings, Stanchart's group finance director.
The biggest hiring spree will be in India where the bank plans to recruit another 3,000 people. Another 1,500 will be hired in China, 500 in Hong Kong, 400 in Pakistan, while the remaining 4,100 will be spread across different geographies. The bank's consumer banking business will see the biggest expansion staff-wise. More than half of the new hires - 6,000 people - will be recruited for this segment, while 1,000 will add to the wholesale banking staff. The remaining 3,000 hires will be slotted in support functions like risk, finance, operations, and technology.
'We are well-positioned for growth and are investing in people to leverage on the opportunities in the market,' said the Stanchart spokeswoman.
'We have been very successful in supporting this growth in Singapore due to our ability to attract, engage and develop talent across our markets,' she added. The bank on Wednesday said it had writedowns of US$97 million on its asset-backed securities portfolio for the first quarter. Another US$156 million charge was made to reflect losses arising from the change in the fair value of its available-for-sale reserves. The bank reported writedowns of US$300 million for 2007 on the value of of some of its its asset-backed securities.
All this, however, paled in comparison with the bank's profits before tax of US$4.04 billion for 2007.
This compares to other banks which have been beset with losses from their investments in collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). Swiss bank UBS AG, reported a net loss of 11.5 billion Swiss francs (S$15 billion) for its first quarter on the back of writedowns of US$19 billion. UBS is cutting 5,500 jobs globally, on top of 1,500 already earlier announced.
Citi reported a straight quarterly loss of US$5.11 billion , undone by more than US$15 billion in writedowns and increased reserves for credit losses. The US financial giant announced the slashing of 9,000 more jobs, in addition to the 4,200 job cuts already reported in January.
Source: Business Times

5 ways to maximize your recruiting efforts

Simply put, your job is to hire people. But for you to do your job well means you have to hire the right person for the right job. This is where your job gets difficult. Oftentimes, the people that respond to your posting in a newspaper or online aren’t the ideal candidates. These people are cold calling a million other places and put little thought into where they’re actually applying. You need to find the person for the job you’re filling; the right person isn’t going to find you. Consider these five tips on better recruiting:

1. Extend your network. This is a common adage for the job seeker, but it works just as well for the employer. Contact local colleges and universities and speak with their career counselors. This is a great way to tap into a talent pool of young, educated, and eager people just hitting the job market. Career counselors know what type of candidates they have through interviews and are usually excellent judges of talent.

2. Look in-house. If you have a position you need to fill, who better to turn to than someone who already knows what you’re looking? Before advertising a job listing to the public do so internally. A current employee looking to advance in the company will know how the system works and will be more easily trained. It also builds employee morale when you hire within because it makes current employees feel valuable.

3. Look for experience. This sounds like a no-brainer, right? But going for someone who simply graduated from a top college doesn’t always translate into success. Look for people that have performed a similar job to the one you’re looking to fill and have done so successfully. This will make the transition easier and they’ll already know the professional landscape.

4. Advertise your benefits. Given the current economic landscape prospective employees want to know what you’ll give them beyond salary. Sure a competitive salary is crucial, but if you offer comprehensive healthcare then let it be known. Have a free health club? Have a great retirement plan? Sell it.

5. Tap your employee’s networks. Your employees know what type of person fits in the company and they can cut down some of the sifting through of resumes if you ask for their help. Offer a referral bonus and you’ll see your employees step up to the plate with viable candidates. They won’t risk putting forward a candidate if it’s going to reflect badly on them.


This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on the subject of how to become a nurse. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Jobs cuts plan by top finance firms!

Against the sub-prime crisis end of last year most finance firms were announcing and consolidating on their exposures during the 1st quarter of 2008 which eventually culminated to drastic measures which we are beggining to hear and see now - job cuts!

Here are some of the latest developments!

UBS: Swiss investment bank UBS axed 5,500 jobs.

Morgan Stanley : Morgan Stanley is planning another round of layoffs in the coming days - 1,500 jobs.

JPMorgan Chase: Plans to cut jobs to make space for incoming Bear Stearns employees.

RBS: Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is set to cut hundreds of jobs as it pushes ahead with the integration of Dutch bank ABN AMRO's investment bank and slashes headcount in divisions hit by the credit crunch. Expected job cuts - 7000.

Citigroup: Plans to slash about 15,000 jobs.

Goldman Sachs: Plans to cut headcounts eventhough their exposures were light.

Merrill Lynch: ML intends to reduce headcounts by 4000 employees.

Here in Singapore, most managers including those at UBS are very confident that the affect will be minimal as most of the job cuts are in US and UK.

In most banks, it has been observed that the hiring plans are either on hold or delayed and even those that are hiring does requires layers of approvals before the offer could be finally released.

My advice to most candidates that are in touch with me -
if you think your job is safe, hold on to it. Don't bother to look out for greener pastures because there isn't much option at this time.
And for those who are out of job or on the verge of being retrenced, look for opportunities aggresively and take any offers that comes your way. Don't bother to look for some more options before you can decide which one to take because there isn't much option for you to weigh at this time.

***Happy hunting folks!***

Friday, May 02, 2008

Why won’t Singaporeans work abroad?

I came across this debate conducted by eFinancialcareers and found one of the comments very interesting, it goes like this...
The reason we don't leave is that Singapore is a great place to live and work - summer all year, world's best transport sytsem, no crime, no hassles....when you step out of work you don't have to battle the guns, cold and grumpy people like in New york or London. plus If Sing wasn't so great then why would so many expats want to live here????