Recruiting has become less of a priority as firms including DBS Group Holdings Ltd. have highlighted the revenue impact of worsening business conditions.
Financial
firms operating in Singapore and Hong Kong are delaying hiring as the
coronavirus
outbreak disrupts their businesses.
Both
domestic and foreign institutions have slowed recruitment, according
to headhunters in the financial hubs. They’ve been impacted by
quarantines, restrictions on travel to and from China, remote working
arrangements and decisions not to conduct face-to-face interviews.
It’s
another aspect of the fallout from the virus, which has also caused
factory closures, disrupted supply chains and initiated the world’s
largest work-from-home experiment. Recruiting has become less of a
priority as firms including DBS Group Holdings Ltd. have highlighted
the revenue impact of worsening business conditions.
“Everybody
is distracted,” said Gurj Sandhu, a managing director at Morgan
McKinley Group Ltd. in Singapore. Hiring is falling down the “pecking
order,” he said, while adding that nobody is canceling roles yet.
Bloomberg
spoke with six recruitment firms, all of which confirmed the
slowdown. Hiring processes and relocation plans are taking longer at
most companies because of logistical difficulties. While some
financial firms are conducting interviews by video conference or
phone, closing the deal is more problematic, especially at investment
banks and wealth-management units.
Bankers
are “big-ticket items,” said Hubert Tam, a managing partner at
Sirius Partners Ltd. in Hong Kong. Private banks and investment banks
are holding off on hiring until they can meet candidates in person,
“even if they performed well last year,” he said.
What’s
more, many private bankers covering China
would have to travel to the country to meet clients and “get their
blessings” before they move banks, according to Amod Jain, a Morgan
McKinley consultant in Singapore. “Not everything can be done by
phone.”
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