Andrew Zee, Team Lead, Principal Consultant, Private Banking and Wealth Management has interviewed with Asian Private Banker on the recent Movers & Shakers newsletter. He points out that the Relationship Manager at VP-and-above level is still in demand despite the prolonged pandemic.
Hiring Process for Relationship Manager
With the circuit breaker in Singapore, banks and financial institutions are using video conference interviews to make sure the hiring process is on-going during the past 2 months.
"This is definitely something new to our clients as well as candidates. But as a specialist recruitment team, we have experienced video interviews in the past, especially while we assist our clients for overseas talent," Zee mentioned. "During this period, we have put together interview guides for both clients and candidates. These reports helped them to relax as it allows them to get prepared step by step in advance. So they can focus on the actual interview when it happens, and get the process going but not being distracted."
A Face-to-Face meeting with Relationship Manager
Due to the role itself for relationship manager, it is unavoidable to require face-to-face interview. Hiring managers are preferring face-to-face meetings still before making a final recruitment decision. "At least we are now entering the ending circuit breaker phase, certain companies are partially back to the office," said Zee.
Bonus for Relationship Managers
While the pandemic has impacted the format of the interview process, has it been impacting bonuses? In Singapore, the majority of private banks were already given out their bonuses before the circuit breaker started. Hence, the lockdown didn't impact that much in terms of bonuses.
According to the latest South East Asia Job Confidence Index report, over half (53%) of the South East Asia financial services respondents receiving the same or an increased bonus compared to last year.
Relationship Managers are Looking Out
The pandemic no doubt could have affected the performance of the relationship managers in the first half of the year. "We do see relationship managers are open to new opportunities and open for discussions," said Zee.
If you are open for new opportunities or want to have a private discussion, please contact us.
This is an interview article reference from Asian Private Banker.