UBS staff lockout will not deter future applicants, recruiters say
1 November 2012
Reports that around 100 UBS employees were locked out of their London offices earlier this week as it confirmed plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide will not put people off applying to the bank in the future, according to City recruiters.
Thu, 1 Nov 2012
Reports that around 100 UBS employees were locked out of their London offices earlier this week as it confirmed plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide will not put people off applying to the bank in the future, according to City recruiters.
While some staff had their security passes deactivated, others first knew they had lost their job when their emails kept bouncing back, according to media reports.Hassan Jalil, a partner at City headhunter Hunter & Chase, tells Recruiter that such behaviour by UBS will not put people off applying to the bank in the future. “Although it looks bad and produces negative publicity, my argument is that there is too much talent out there at the moment,” he says. “It is all about supply and demand – there are a lot of good people out there fighting for each place.”
Jalil says he is aware of situations where 25 people applying for one job are called in for quick fire assessment and round robin interviews. “These are successful bankers,” he adds.
A second specialist City recruiter, who wishes to remain anonymous, says talented people from round the world “will always be attracted to work for firms like UBS because they pay well”.
And he questions the perception that today’s graduates are attracted more to companies seen as having high ethical standards, including how they look after their staff, and less by money. “People who want to work for ethical standards should go and do something else [other than investment banking],” he says.
UBS declined to comment.
Reports that around 100 UBS employees were locked out of their London offices earlier this week as it confirmed plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide will not put people off applying to the bank in the future, according to City recruiters.
While some staff had their security passes deactivated, others first knew they had lost their job when their emails kept bouncing back, according to media reports.Hassan Jalil, a partner at City headhunter Hunter & Chase, tells Recruiter that such behaviour by UBS will not put people off applying to the bank in the future. “Although it looks bad and produces negative publicity, my argument is that there is too much talent out there at the moment,” he says. “It is all about supply and demand – there are a lot of good people out there fighting for each place.”
Jalil says he is aware of situations where 25 people applying for one job are called in for quick fire assessment and round robin interviews. “These are successful bankers,” he adds.
A second specialist City recruiter, who wishes to remain anonymous, says talented people from round the world “will always be attracted to work for firms like UBS because they pay well”.
And he questions the perception that today’s graduates are attracted more to companies seen as having high ethical standards, including how they look after their staff, and less by money. “People who want to work for ethical standards should go and do something else [other than investment banking],” he says.
UBS declined to comment.
- For more on the prospects of City workers, see professional recruiter Morgan McKinley’s London Employment Monitor, which shows the number of financial services jobs in London dropping, but salaries rising.
