Member Article

Financial services need to rethink graduate programmes

Financial services firms are risking exacerbating a skills shortage if they do not adopt a different approach to their graduate career routes.

Research from PwC highlighted significant gaps between what graduates working in the sector export from their careers and employers, and their actual experience.

Over half of respondents made compromises when accepting a job during the downturn, which is likely to mean that as job opportunities increase with economic recovery, many graduates will be assessing whether their employers are acting on their promises.

In the insurance sector, 45% of those surveyed said their decision to take their current role was primarily down to their pressing need for a job.

The research also shows that nearly half of millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) working in financial services are already actively looking for new opportunities and 42% are open to offers.

Only 10% of those surveyed said they were planning to stay in their current role for the long term.

It would suggest that financial services firms need to invest in development of their graduates to ensure loyalty and retention.

Jon Terry, partner, PwC, said: “Financial services companies are already finding it hard to keep younger workers and this is likely to become even tougher as the job market starts to improve.

“This generation of graduates demand a different approach to recruitment, retention, management and development, which organisations simply can’t afford to ignore.

“If companies fail to invest in trying to understand what drives this group, they face the real risk of losing large numbers of them to other companies when the job market picks up.

“Carrying on with the same approach to recruitment and retention is no longer an option. Millennials want more than ‘just a job’.

“They expect a varied and interesting career, constant feedback and the opportunity to progress quickly. Their high expectations mean that companies might find it harder than ever to keep their best talent if they don’t adapt their approaches to their development appropriately.”

A shortage of talent has become apparent in the sector, as around a quarter of financial services CEOs said they had to cancel or delay a key strategic initiative over the past 12 months because the right people were not available to carry it out.

As reputation of the sector has suffered through the crisis, 21% of respondents said they would rather not work in the sector.

The millennial generation are conscious of a company’s reputation, with 61% of respondents saying they actively seek out employers whose corporate social responsibility values reflect their own.

Those working in the insurance sector seem to be particularly reputation-conscious, with 76% saying they would leave an employer whose behaviour no longer met their standards.

Jon Terry, partner, PwC, said: “Financial services companies might have a tougher time competing against other industries for the reputation-conscious millennial generation, whose experience and expectations have been marred by the financial crisis.

“This generation of graduates actively seek out employers whose values reflect their own, so the sector’s ability to restore trust and re-engage with society will be critical in attracting the best talent from current and future graduates.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .