The profile of employees hired in the financial sector has slowly changed and experienced employees are now recruited more frequently. With current personnel ageing and retiring, more than 3,300 new recruitments were needed last year to replace them.
Tarja Kallonen, Research Manager at the FFI, believes the reason for these figures is in the changing needs of employers.
“Work in the sector requires different kinds of competency than before, such as sales skills and digital savvy. The financial sector also recruits experienced employees from other fields. The future recruitment estimates published by companies in the sector also point to changes in competency profiles”, Kallonen says.
According to a survey by the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, more than half of all financial sector companies intend to increase rather than decrease their number of employees. Additional recruitments are apparently needed, especially in the banking sector, whereas in the insurance sector the situation is the reverse. “Although it isn‘t possible to draw direct conclusions from the proportions of companies increasing and decreasing their numbers of employees, the figures suggest that employees equipped with new competencies are sought after”, Kallonen adds.
Moderate employee growth in banking groups
Employers hope to acquire multi-skilled employees, who understand customers’ needs, and are skilled in sales and quick to learn in the changing financial world. Training needs have diversified: a growing number of new employees come from ICT or engineering backgrounds, many also with degrees in tourism, restaurant and leisure services or healthcare.
Last year, banking groups’ employee number increased with about one hundred persons, now totalling approximately 27,000.
These figures are based on member surveys made by the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK and the Federation of Finnish Financial Services.