Eye to eye hiring challenge the financial sector

Contratar durante uma pandemia exige “romper muitos preconceitos sobre como fazer as coisas”, disse Marshall, responsável por private banking no banco britânico Weatherbys.

Outros vão pelo mesmo caminho. Felipe Guerra, diretor de investimentos da Legacy Capital, fechou a contratação de quatro pessoas recentemente pelo Zoom, apesar de haver se encontrado com os candidatos antes das medidas de isolamento social.

Jeanne Branthover, Managing Partner and Global Head of Financial Services Practice at DHR International, recently completed four executive selection processes in which clients and candidates never met, although in one case they had lunch together – virtually.

Social isolation measures due to the coronavirus have left millions of people out of work globally and led many companies to freeze hiring. About 60 percent of companies that responded to an April survey by organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry said they’d decided to postpone hiring.

Still, some financial services companies are seizing the moment to fill key roles and strengthen their businesses. Fidelity Investments and Fifth Third Bancorp have started a “hire wave” in recent weeks, according to Korn Ferry. More than 100 people have joined Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management hedge fund since March, while Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital has hired 20 asset managers this year.

Companies’ recruitment methods vary, but they offer a glimpse into the ways the pandemic can transform long-established traditions and practices when it comes to hiring employees. Not that the process is necessarily faster. For new employees, remote hiring is generally more exhaustive.

“More now”
“Everything is more now – more virtual meetings than face-to-face, more reference checking, more use of assessment tools,” said Jeanne, whose journey now extends from 7 am to 1 am. She needs to better prepare people for interviews and help clients to make the process work virtually.

Assessment tools like the Hogan Personality Inventory test – which assesses how someone relates to other people – become more critical when employers can’t meet candidates face-to-face, he said. “This gives the customer another validation that this is the right person,” he said. “It gives an idea if they fit into their culture, if they handle stress well.”