Dead end jobs are blocking the career prospects of one in four finance professionals in the Middle East who want to switch jobs as a result, claims a new survey.
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Thousands of workers are sitting in posts that they want to move on from – with 53% sending out CVs and attending interviews.
Around 40% more said they were not hunting a job, but if an opportunity came their way, they would likely move, while only 7% said they were happy sitting where they were.
The results of the study were put together by recruitment company eFinancial Careers.
While 25% of financial workers were despondent about the lack of movement in their careers, only 9% were upset with their salary packages.
Best banks to work
Tough workloads and long hours were also blamed on career burn-out.
A fifth of finance professionals told the survey they were ‘totally burned out’, while almost two-thirds described their workplace as unenjoyable.
HSBC was voted the best place to work, followed by Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
Outside the banks, Goldman Sachs was the global favourite employer for finance professionals globally. JP Morgan and BlackRock took the other top places.
“There’s a clear divide here between why people took a job and why they want to move,” said James Bennett, global managing director of eFinancial Careers.
Lack of communication
“We spoke to thousands of people working for banks and investments firms worldwide. More than 40% explained they had taken their current job because they were excited by the career prospects, yet more are now saying they want to leave because the promotion and responsibility that they crave is not forthcoming.”
One of the key issues, says Bennett, is staff and managers are failing to communicate about their goals at work.
“Managers are looking for performance but staff are looking for moving upwards and unless they talk about this reality, neither side will really get what they want. The study showed that more than half of financial workers do not have regular meetings with their line managers.”
On average, nearly 40% of Middle East finance professionals switch jobs at four or five year intervals.
In comparison, more than three-quarters of finance works in England and Australia were happy in their jobs and the number of staff looking to move posts across the world averages around 36%.
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