WANTED: Web masters and go-getters

It seems these days there is no way directly up the financial industry ladder without owning a www.com login.

It seems these days there is no way directly up the financial industry ladder without owning a www.com login.

While the days of paper piles have not totally disappeared, there has been a major shift in the industry’s interest in online business.

Online managers, or webmasters as they are commonly known, are one of the most sought after positions in today’s online businesses.

Webmasters need a variety of business criteria attached to their CV. It needs to cover areas such as banking, financial service knowledge, managed fund knowl-edge, from corporate managed funds, retail and IT experience.

Director of web development company Method + Madness, Stephen Langsford, says the Internet is a thriving industry for jobs and online businesses.

“It’s a very can-do environment which for anyone coming from an institutional envi-ronment can be very refreshing. Online companies are also rewarding staff with com-pany options and as a result many otherwise salaried workers are accumulating sig-nificant wealth,” Langsford says.

He says in the last few months he has recruited people from firms from accounting, financial services and advertising.

“Our most recent recruit came from Arthur Andersen. Developers and programmers typically come to us from university campuses plus more experienced professionals who want to trade up to more leading edge technology.

“Online companies are scrambling to get the very best and brightest so with such high demand it is a good time for workers getting restless to jump tracks.”

As a result of increased online interest, industry types have discovered an untapped job market alongside advertisements in the metropolitan paper method.

But as Financial Recruiting Group managing director Judith Beck discovered, the Internet is not always the best way to find your dream financial service position.

“We have tried out some of the Web sites with a number of senior positions, but we have received limited responses. Our positions are mainly senior roles, and we have found that the Internet is not a source for us to find candidates for our clients,” Beck says.

“A wider base does not always mean quality. It is more important to have the quality of the candidate. The Internet would be very useful for graduates and early job seek-ers. It is not a good source of executive level positions because they will always need to be tapped on the shoulder.”

Beck, doesn’t discount the recruitment resource of the Internet entirely, stating it would easily apply to a junior positions, as juniors would have more time to be ‘surf-ing’ the Internet pages.

Beck says her best contacts of prospective candidates are found through already set up databases and having a keen eye on company movements.