6 Figure Career Management

“More asset managers are hiring than are firing staff, according to new research, despite the downturn in markets and investor confidence that has led many in the fund management industry to start cutting costs.”

I think the headline and the first paragraph of this article are a somewhat misleading. The survey in question says more asset managament firms which took part in the survey were hiring (25%) than those that were letting staff go (20%). But there is no data for the absolute numbers hired and fired in the last 3-6 months – data which would I’m sure paint a very different headline.

I sense that a large proportion of the firms in the 25% that are hiring a niche boutique houses as opposed to larger fund managers. From what I’m seeing in the market place (certainly in London), the larger asset management firms are now laying people off to cut costs which means that on absolute numbers there is  probably more firing going on across the asset management sector than hiring.

Nonetheless, the survey does confirm the relative stability within the institutional asset management area inspite of the poor performance of most funds at the moment - something you would expect given the longer term view tyoically held by the trustee boards of pension funds. The number of firms in the survey confirming that they are hiring is also an strong indicator for those leaving jobs from investment banks that asset management (and to a greater extent, Private Banking/Wealth Management) are better hunting grounds in the current market. 

To read the article, click here