Which job-seekers are most sought-after in Swiss banking? While finance firms are increasingly looking to showcase women, finews.com looks at the magic formula that banks are looking for from job candidates.
The future is female: the catch phrase represents attempts by finance firms to correct course on staffing upper ranks which has traditionally tended towards pale, male, and stale, as finews.com has written.
Switzerland has been more hesitant than other countries to promote women into top jobs – banking even more so than asset management, where Fiona Frick runs Genevan firm Unigestion and Mirjam Staub-Bisang recently trumped other candidates to win Blackrock's top Swiss job.
Renewed focus on the lack of women in top has financial service firms scrambling to diversify their top ranks. «While that’s a good development, firms need to maintain focus across all levels of an organization to create an ongoing pipeline of diverse talent, including women, people of color, disabled persons, and LGBTQ employees,» search firm Korn Ferry said in a study last month.
Holy Trinity of Hiring
More seasoned Swiss bankers have groused that women get picked for top jobs purely based on gender – that is almost never the case, according to several headhunters. The most sought-after characteristics for top roles in Switzerland is experience in fast-growing Asian markets, as well as a background in information technology or digital projects.
Those qualifications being equal, female applicants have a distinct edge according to headhunters. «To a lot of big financial institutions, that’s kind of the holy trinity at the moment,» according to Chris Rowe, Zurich-based partner at international headhunter Leathwaite.
«Rightly, they are keen to redress gender balance at senior levels,» Rowe said. The urgency is underscored by a look at Switzerland's largest banks: UBS has less than 8 percent female representation in top management, while Credit Suisse only manages 9 percent.
Kingdom of Blind
In the highest echelon, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti has failed on a long-standing goal of lifting women to as much as one-third of management roles. Last year's C-suite shuffle left operating chief Sabine Keller-Busse the only woman in top management. At Credit Suisse, compliance and regulatory boss Lara Warner holds the fort for women on the executive board.
Diversity efforts aside, Asia’s continued boom makes experience in the region invaluable for European financial institutions, and a healthy track record one digital endeavors is hugely valuable, he says.
«However, it’s easy to rebrand yourself as a digital expert in the kingdom of the blind, but the big difference is candidates who can actually point to tangible things they have been involved in which work – either client-facing or internally,» Rowe said.
