Financial Sector Post-Crisis

“Gazeta Wyborcza” daily recently published an extensive commentary by Luiza Olencka, Head of Resourcing, Talent Management and Employer Branding, regarding the developments on the job market in the banking sector.

Here’s what Luiza says: Contrary to popular belief, if we look at the entire banking sector, we will see that over the last couple of years the headcount level in banking has stabilized rather than decreased. According to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, there are currently some 173,000 people working at Polish banks. Compared with the headcount levels in 2009 or 2010, the headcount dropped by a mere 1-2 per cent. It’s not that the people are no longer needed; it’s that they now face different tasks.

Banks started to move their business to the Internet. Customers already effect most of their transactions via electronic banking or mobile banking. So who can count on a job? Units, such as call centers which will provide customer service on a remote basis will see growth.

Luiza also emphasizes that a call center employee will no longer be one of many people who contact clients every day but rather they will be one of the key people responsible for building customer relationship. With technology development and process automation, IT graduates are among the most sought after candidates for work at banks. Most specifically, highly specialist experts who do not only oversee smooth implementation of processes but also create, develop and improve them. Citi Handlowy is now searching for 70 specialists to serve affluent customers and employees for the Citi Service Center Poland which expands its Anti-Money Laundering Team.