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Finance Chiefs Urgently Wanted -- At Almost Any Price

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Finance Chiefs Urgently Wanted -- At Almost Any Price

by Cesar Bacani, 31 August 2011
topics:
Human Capital Management Professional Development
tags:
career opportunities headhunters Professional Development recruiters talent management

Here’s good news for Asia’s CFOs: Headhunters and the companies they work for in this region are laying out the red carpet for you.

 
“Right now, there is a shortage of qualified candidates, from CFOs to compliance people to risk people, even treasurers and accountants,” says Pallavi Anand, Director of finance recruitment firm Robert Half Hong Kong. In the company’s latest workplace survey, 90% of respondents across Asia said their company is struggling to find skilled finance professionals, particularly those based in Hong Kong and Singapore.
 
Those findings, however, also bring not-so-good news for the CFO. Sure, you may now more easily find your dream job, one that involves stimulating challenges in a city where you’ve always wanted to live and attached to a very comfortable compensation package.
 
But you are also likely to find that your first order of business is the same as in your old job: to make sure the current finance team stays intact and bolster it with the recruitment of capable and experienced new people – the same challenge, as it happens, facing 90% of your peers. There are ways to make this happen, as discussed in “How to Retain the Mid-Career Finance Manager.”
 
Whether the CFO stays in his current job or moves on to another company, the tasks of retention and recruitment are getting more expensive. Anand reports that 35% of employers in the Robert Half survey are having to raise salaries and incentives, some by as much as 50%. “You’ve got sign-up bonuses as well,” she adds.
 
But companies may have little choice. According to the Robert Half survey, 45% of finance professionals in Hong Kong plan to look for employment or a promotion with a new company in the next two years.
 
Sellers’ Market
For the CFO looking to move up, the climate has never been better. If you have the right credentials and track record, you can essentially write your own ticket. It is effectively a sellers’ market out there, especially in Singapore and Hong Kong, which host the Asia Pacific headquarters of many of the world’s multinationals.
 
Their footprint in Asia is growing ever larger. The world’s Fortune 500 companies have long had a presence in the region. They are now expanding as economic and business prospects in China, India, East Asia and Southeast Asia look brighter even as they slim down in the US and Europe. Global bank HSBC, for example, has announced plans to lay off 30,000 employees over two years – but recently hired 1,500 new workers in Asia Pacific.
 
“There’s another wave of companies coming in,” adds Victor Penna, Head of Regional Solutions & Advisory Team, Asia Pacific, at J.P.Morgan Treasury Services, referring to “Fortune 1,000 companies and below that are now looking to set up regional treasury centres” – and to expand the finance function. Local enterprises such as Lenovo in China and Tata in India are expanding as well.
 
All this is stimulating demand for mid- to senior-level finance talent. “You’ve actually got a lot of entry-level staff that are coming in,” explains Anand, as universities and accounting schools churn out a steady stream of finance and business graduates. “There isn’t a talent shortage there.”
 
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