Hiring picks up pace in brokerages

Recruitment up 30% over last year, in diverse categories, especially for those with experience

Brokerages are back on the hiring table this year and with a larger mandate. Recruitments are up about 30 per cent.

Sectoral officials said the sustained improvement in the market in the past year had pushed up the need for more relationship managers (RM), dealers, back-office executives and research analysts.

“The business has been really good since elections last year. We are hiring more people and most of these recruitments are in the RM space,” said E Prasanth Prabhakaran, president, retail broking, IIFL.

Human resource (HR) professionals said broking firms were far more generous this year as compared to last year in terms of number of recruits and positions offered. “Last year, we had a lot of restrictions in place, like the number of people to be hired, profiles to be offered. This time, firms are being much more liberal and are actively looking to expand their employee count,” said Jaya Jacob Alexander, chief, human resources, Geojit BNP Paribas.

However, salary packages for the new hires continue to be in the same range. With retail (individual) participation still below historic levels, brokerages are not looking to pay more than the sectoral average at this point.

“Retail participation has improved but is not as high as we would like to be. We are hiring people but the salaries being offered are higher by five to 10 per cent only,” said Prabhakaran.

Dealers, who put through trades on behalf of clients, were till last year also doubling as back-office executives, assisting in day-to-day administration as trading activity was low. This year, the rise in participation by retail and wealthy investors has necessitated the need to separate the profiles.

While trading is increasingly moving online, a large segment of the retail clientele still prefers the old-fashioned offline mode, officials said. Further, with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regulations getting more stringent, the compliance teams have grown bigger and busier, as the list of compliance-related tasks has risen.

“There is a lot of responsibility on brokerages today. Many regulatory changes were made last year, making the task of keeping up with these that much more challenging for us. We now have a much larger compliance team in place, compared to last year,” said  Alexander of Geojit BNP Paribas.

 

Early this year, Sebi had introduced new norms governing research analysts, which increased the demand for qualified professionals. “Earlier, people giving research advice were not necessarily qualified to do so. With Sebi making it compulsory for analysts to get certified, the demand for such professionals has gone up,” said the HR head of a domestic brokerage.

While recruitments have gone up, fresh graduates would still find it difficult to find a foothold. The demand for experienced professionals continues to remain high.

“The improvement in the market has made many fresh graduates consider brokerage firms. For some time, the stock market as a career option was not very popular among new graduates. But, the more markets are talked about now, the more people find it an attractive sector to be in,” said Alexander.