Source: ONS Labour Force Survey 2007

• The sector will need to source more than 100,000 new employees by 2010, most of them to replace retirees.
• More than one quarter of the labour demand will be for managers and senior managers.
• Demand levels for administrative and elementary roles will be driven mostly by high retirement rates.
• The demand for technical staff is most likely to impact salaries and cause skills shortages.

Sources: FSSC UK Financial Services: Five Years Forward 2006 and Working Futures 2004-2014

For more data on occupational replacement demands and employment growth see:

Employers often report management skills gaps, especially around the areas of leadership and relationship management. This is because managers are often selected on the basis of technical expertise or sales ability, not the ability to manage staff.

In highly specialist sectors, for instance in the London Market for wholesale insurance, employers are also concerned about the effects of a silo mentality on skills. Specialists often become exclusively concerned with their particular area of expertise, to the exclusion of a generalist view of the business or a full understanding of customers’ needs.

Administrative and customer services staff, most of them new entrants to the industry, often appear to be ill prepared for the world of work. What is lacking is a combination of basic literacy and numeracy, communication and presentation skills, empathy, a positive attitude and a strong work ethic. Employers generally believe that this lack of work-readiness represents a failure of the educational system.

Junior staff often enter the industry with insufficient understanding of business and financial services in particular. Employers believe that financial capability, the ability to manage one’s financial means and engage the financial services industry, should be taught at home and at school. To that extent the industry contributes to financial capability initiatives in order to educate future consumers and employees.

Source: FSSC The Skills Bill: Analysis of skills needs in UK financial services 2007

For more data on occupational skills gaps reported by employers see:

Financial services workers generally earn more than their counterparts in other sectors. The average annual salary of a full-time employee in financial services is 87% higher than the average earnings across industries. Average salaries in high-value-added sectors such as investment and fund management are more than twice that.

Professionals and technical staff working in roles specific to these sectors earn substantially above average. This is because professionals in these areas can bring in substantial profit for their employers and are rewarded on the basis of their performance.

Almost 32% of all compensation in financial services is incentive pay. The bonuses earned by professional staff in financial services are a substantial component of their packages: in most high value-added occupations, incentives are worth much more than the base salary.

With increased earnings come longer working hours. Financial services staff work longer than their counterparts in most industries and some City workers, in particular, are often on call 24 hours a day. Financial services jobs that must track global money and capital markets (e.g. trading) tend to have working hours adapted to those of the markets they deal in.

Sources: FSSC The Skills Bill: Analysis of Skills Needs in UK Financial Services 2007 and ONS ASHE 2007

For more data on salary levels see:

The FSSC careers advice website provides employee profiles, testimonials and career advice from practitioners on the following common occupations include:

• Premium manager
• Savings department manager
• Compliance officer
• Head Start trainee
• Loan consultant
• Administrative assistant
• Underwriting manager
• Claims handler
• Medical underwriter
• Account executive
• Financial planner

The Prospects website (a graduate careers website) includes information on: Banking, investment and insurance 

This section includes information on: job roles entry and progression; typical employers; opportunities abroad; future trends; case studies; plus a list of contacts and resources.

The learndirect website also has detailed occupational profiles for some occupations in the financial services, including:

Accounting technician

Bank/Building Society Manager 

Financial adviser

Insurance underwriter 

Tax adviser

These profiles include information on entry points, training, working environment, employment opportunities and expected annual salary. 

The aim of ACareerChange website is to help those who get stuck in a career or have an ambition to work in an alternative field.  There is a section on changing careers to finance and management providing information on what the job entails, deciding on whether you are right for the job, and the training required.

Careersbox has films of those working in the finance sector, including:

• Finance and investment banking graduates
• Accounting technician trainee
• Group financial accountant 

Films are from those already working in the sector offering an insight into what it is like and what their role involves.