New figures released by Powerchex, the leading preemployment screening firm for financial services, reveal that Hedge Funds are expecting busy year end, while other market sectors remain pessimistic about the future.
Investment banks, stockbrokers and insurance companies all dramatically reduced their
level of recruitment in August, and are sitting tight for a slow end of year. In the case of
insurance firms, they recorded a reduction in employment offers of almost 50% month on
month. Hedge Funds however, have been bucking this trend, rejuvenated by increasing
levels of M&A activity in the market, with month on month recruitment up 95%.
The number of jobs offers to IT contractors within financial services has also increased
dramatically, with levels of recruitment up 94% from last month. Alexandra Kelly, the
Managing Director of Powerchex, believes that firms within the financial sector are taking
on interim employees as an alternative to permanent hires. “Many companies, particularly
within the financial sector, tend to recruit contractors during times of economic turmoil as
they perceive these as a less risky alternative than permanent hires.”
However, this stance fails to take into account the potential risk caused by temporary
employees dealing with sensitive information. “Contractors should be subjected to the
same levels of background checks as anyone else that deals with sensitive personal or
financial information”
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NOTES
TO EDITORS:
About Powerchex
Powerchex is the UK’s premier pre‐employment screening firm for financial institutions.
Based in the City of London, Powerchex checks the background, employment history,
criminal records and professional qualifications of applicants on behalf of financial
institutions. It sets the industry benchmark of 5 days for a background check.
www.powerchex.co.uk.
