Canada: Sound job market in the finance sector

Canadian banks even describe the current climate as a growth opportunity and are busy hand-picking talent from international competitors, reports the “Financial Times“. True, Canadian financial institutions have not entirely escaped the turmoil and have all experienced write-downs on toxic securities. But their value has suffered less than that of their US counterparts and thus last year the World Economic Forum declared Canada’s banking system to be the soundest in the world. 

Most Canadian business schools report a drop of between five and fifteen per cent in hiring from a strong 2008, which they say puts them at about 2005 levels. True numbers will only be available in September, when schools track progress three months after graduation. But the schools claim nevertheless that all big Canadian banks and overseas banks operating in Canada have maintained their campus recruitment programs. 

The banks agree. Toronto-Dominion Bank, for example, hires at the same levels that it did two or three years ago; in some groups they are filling even more positions, such as in wealth management, investment advice and financial planning. The bank also continues its Associate Program, which each year takes 250 applicants from MBA courses and business undergraduate degrees on an eight- to twenty-four-month rotation through various departments.

Although Canadian banks consider themselves to be in growth mode, not all of that expansion benefits graduates. Canadian financial institutions are targeting senior-level staff outside of the country who have been laid-off or are unhappy with reduced bonuses and other cuts. Bank of Montreal, for example, reports an “enormous accessibility to experienced people coming out of the US looking to come into Canada”. The bank has recently hired senior staff from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Wachovia.

However, even with competition from international recruits, Canadian MBA graduates are finding jobs in the financial sector. Sharon Irwin-Foulon, who heads the Career Management Department at the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business, where about three out of ten MBA students head into the finance sector, says: “In Canada we have not seen firms dropping their offers.”

www.ft.com