According to findings from the Q2 2014 Morgan McKinley Asia Pacific Employment Monitor, there was a 5% year-on-year increase in financial services jobs vacancies in the Asia Pacific region. The Monitor recorded a 7% increase in vacancies in the first two quarters – up from 12,660 vacancies in Q1 2014 to 13,576 in Q2 2014.
It was noted:
The Financial Services recruitment market in the Asia Pacific region has shown definite signs of improvement in recent months, largely driven by a resurgence in front office banking recruitment, changes in compliance and regulatory demands and standards, organisational changes and restructuring as well as IT implementations and updates, particularly in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Nevertheless the mood is still cautious, with most organisations unwilling to commit to major increases in headcount. Persuading job-seeking candidates to move can be challenging if they are well looked-after by their current employer, which reflects a slight decrease in new candidates coming into the market compared to the last quarter.
This cautiousness is reflected in a slight decrease in new candidates coming into the market compared to the last quarter – 34,487 in Q1 verses 33,033 job seekers in Q2.