eFinancialCareers

Definition and Trends
The human resources (HR) department is responsible for the people issues that arise in an investment bank. This means everything from hiring, firing and paying people to implementing workplace policies on diversity, discrimination, and employee monitoring, as well as managing disciplinary cases.

The mantra of HR professionals? “People are an organization’s best asset.” This is particularly relevant in investment banks, where the difference between a good employee and a bad employee can mean millions of dollars. Hiring trends at investment banks also tend to reflect the markets: The industry has a reputation for bulking up when times are good and laying off large numbers when times get tough.

Most banks have changed the structure of their HR departments in recent years, outsourcing much of the peripheral HR activity. Questions about compensation and benefits or employee relations, which used to be dealt with by HR people in each banking division, are now often dealt with centrally through call centers. As a result, there are fewer HR people inside banks, and those that remain face increasing pressure to become more of a ‘strategic partner,’ understanding and advising on crucial business matters like reward policies and retaining top staff.

Roles and Career Paths
Jobs in HR departments usually fit into one of five categories: employee relations, recruitment, compensation and benefits, training and development, and ‘generalist.’ A new ‘diversity’ category is also emerging as people working in HR are also entrusted with nurturing a workforce that includes ethnic and minority groups.

Another area of HR that is growing, as a result of increasing employment legislation, is the employment law field, with growing demand for professionals with a mix of HR and legal training.

Finding a job as a graduate trainee in the HR department of an investment bank is no easy task. Few banks offer HR traineeships, and those that do usually offer no more than two or three places. Rothschild, Citigroup, UBS, and Goldman Sachs were among those recruiting for HR in 2005. JPMorgan Chase recruits HR staff for its operations program, which also covers roles in finance, audit, and marketing and communications.

If you don’t find a job as a trainee, you have other options in the field. Because banks train so few HR staff themselves, they often recruit HR expertise on the open market. Former HR staff from Time Warner, General Electric, and Pepsi-Cola can all be found working in banks.

If you’re interested in working in recruitment specifically, it can be useful to first gain experience with a recruitment firm that helps investment banks find staff. Recruitment firms fall into two categories: ‘contingent’ and ‘retained.’

Contingency recruiters only get paid for their work if their clients make a hire. In comparison, search firms are often retained by banks, meaning they are paid a fee irrespective of whether they find anyone. International contingency recruitment firms such as Badenoch & Clark, Robert Walters, and Michael Page run graduate training programs. To be a recruiter at a search firm, you will usually need previous experience. But search firms such as Russell Reynolds, Korn/Ferry, and Heidrick & Struggles employ bright graduates as researchers and train them to become search consultants.

Skills and Qualities

• Broad range of interpersonal skills
• Intuitive reasoning
• Good judgment
• High degree of self-motivation