We have previously looked at the decade-long dip in hiring for sales roles across the EMEA Buy Side, down 25% since 2013. The causes are well known: industry consolidation, technological disruption, the rise of passive funds and ETFs, fee compression, higher regulatory and compliance costs, and Brexit, among others.
Last year’s 39% slump was most likely a response to dwindling RFPs and mandates, as asset owners moved into liquidity strategies amid rising inflation and the market instability that began in the summer of 2022.
Trends in hiring salespeople in asset management
Our latest data shows no recovery yet. Hiring in Q1 2024 was down sharply on 2023, the sixth consecutive quarter of low demand since mid-2022. Even so, we expect a surge before long, for six reasons.
1. History repeats. Every past slump has been followed by a bounce-back. We saw it in 2009, 2012 and 2020, and each time hiring rebounded sharply the following year.
2003 to 2024 trends in asset management recruitment
2. The big switch. High inflation pushed many asset owners temporarily into liquidity products: global passive equities, money markets and short-dated bonds. Most believe the underlying strategic asset allocation (SAA) shift back towards active strategies is only a matter of time. When it comes, sales teams will be busy across a broader range of strategies, and hiring will follow.
3. Too much de-layering. After the initial COVID-19 shock, many firms went back to hiring at 2019 levels, only to cut costs again in early 2023 as volatility rose and profits fell. Senior staff were often the first to go, because they cost the most to keep on. When the market turns, firms will need experienced leaders again, lifting demand for senior sales roles.
4. No meat on the bone. In the hunt for savings, many teams have simply made do with fewer people, and leavers have not been replaced. Teams are stretched thin and only just coping, so when activity picks up they will have to hire.
5. The growth of sales ‘verticals’. As traditional defined benefit (DB) markets shrink, asset managers are chasing new pools of assets through sales ‘verticals’ such as Alternatives, Insurance and Financial Institutions Groups. These need specialist skills, which will lift demand further. Godliman has already mapped all three verticals in anticipation.
6. European recovery. Despite high inflation and geopolitical tension, there are clear signs of recovery in Europe. A fall in headline inflation towards the European Central Bank’s 2% target could be the trigger for the long-awaited allocation switch.
Most of our contacts remain convinced that the switch is not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’. For now, with interest rates high, asset owners have little reason to move: they are earning a near risk-free 5.5% in money markets. Once rates look set to fall, the flow of mandates should resume, and that is likely to be the catalyst for hiring.
Postscript, 2026: the rebound came later than we expected here, as rates stayed higher for longer, but it did come. We set out the recovery in Help wanted: senior distribution hiring is back.
If you are building or rebuilding a distribution team and would like our read on where the talent sits, please contact us at hello@godliman.com.
After 11 subdued quarters, the conditions for senior distribution hiring across UK and EMEA Asset Management have shifted, and hiring demand is back.
Hiring in EMEA Buy Side sales dropped 43% in 2023 against 2022, the lowest we have recorded in two decades. What drove the slump, and why demand began to return.
