Anthony Serhan
Australian investment professionals are among the most pessimistic in the world when it comes to expectations of future employment, and nearly a quarter say the situation is getting worse.
This is the industry reality the world’s leading association of investment professionals, the CFA Institute, is flagging. The figures come from the 2015 Global Market Sentiment Survey (the Survey), which collates responses from over 5,200 leading investment professionals around the world.
According to Anthony Serhan, President, CFA Society of Sydney, the real conundrum lies not in what the Survey reveals about market sentiment, but in finding answers to the question it prompts: what can investment professionals do to compete?
“This is particularly the case in the face of growing concerns about continued economic weakness at home, including the latest unemployment figures,” he said.
Speaking about the implications of the Survey findings both on the broader industry and for career-focused individuals, Mr Serhan said that differences between local and global responses were revealing and sometimes unexpected.
“Only 15% of Australian investment professionals expect employment prospects to improve, which means we’re out-gloomed only by Brazil (14%), Switzerland (13%) and Germany (12%). I would however point out that while the Australian figure is relatively low, it also represents an upswing, with twice as many people positive about employment prospects compared to 2012,” he explained.
Looking at the cheerier end of the spectrum, the major developing economies of India and China have more to smile about with their employment prospects than their global counterparts, with 77% and 60% of respondents respectively expect their job prospects to increase.
“These are high figures, but in the context of their expectations of GDP growth, not surprising,” said Mr Serhan. “Chinese respondents anticipate GDP growth of 6.2% and India 5.8%, figures which far exceed the anaemic 1.6% from Australians.”
Mr Serhan went on to say that Australian expectations of deterioration in labour market conditions were perhaps even more telling than those of their more optimistic counterparts.
“A quarter of Australians expect a decrease in employment opportunities in financial services, although this is positively upbeat compared with the Netherlands, where 43% expect conditions to worsen, and Switzerland, where 40% do,” he said.
According to Mr Serhan, while these findings reveal a difficult year ahead, investment professionals can actively improve their prospects in the face of fewer job opportunities.
“Candidates who can demonstrate a competitive advantage, such as a better education, the right kind of on-the-ground experience and a demonstrated commitment to upholding high ethical standards will secure the best jobs and have the greatest chance of long-term success. This very issue – that of the optimum intersection of education, experience and ethics in the industry – is a question currently being debated in the Australian industry. And the CFA welcomes that debate.
“While the jury is still out on where some of this discussion will land, what we do know for sure is that it’s up to the industry as a whole to place more emphasis on all three key factors: education, experience and ethics,” he said.
Employers, too, have a vital role to play.
“Employers should be demanding a calibre of person who can objectively demonstrate that they have these factors covered. They should also be contributing to the betterment of the industry as a whole by demanding high standards of ongoing professional development, staying abreast of the best market intelligence and being open to networking and exchange of ideas with likeminded professionals,” explained Mr Serhan.
He finished by saying that it is understandable that Australian investment professionals are concerned about their employment prospects in 2015 – but focusing on what is in their control is a great place to start.
“Undeniably the industry is in a state of challenge and change. There are steps needed on many levels to bring it up to speed and achieve the potential it so clearly offers. One of those steps however is making sure intellectually robust and rigorous international qualifications become more widely agreed upon and sought after. While there’s no single fix to guarantee either industry or career success, this would certainly make it far more likely.”