SEEK data shows increase in customer centric roles

SEEK data shows increase in customer centric roles despite digital advancements

The Banking and Financial Services industry is providing healthy returns to Kiwi jobseekers with employment opportunities in the sector up 52% in the year to March 2015, according to SEEK’s latest Employment Market Report.

The industry recorded the strongest nationwide growth of all industries over the year. This was driven largely by a significant 78% increase year on year in new job openings in Auckland, followed by Canterbury, up 46% in the same time frame.

Janet Faulding, General Manager of SEEK notes that, interestingly, the highest increase within Banking and Financial services was for retail and branch banking roles, up 158% in the year to March.

“Given that the industry has changed dramatically as a result of technology with the development of banking apps, automated tellers and online banking capabilities, it is interesting to see that face-to-face customer service roles are in such demand,” she says.
Annie Brown, Director, People and Communications at Bank of New Zealand says the bank has seen huge customer adoption of digital banking, with 88 million interactions through their digital channels in the last 12 months.

“However, it’s important to note that customers are utilising digital channels to complement person to person interaction. Banking today is not about choosing whether to focus on the store-based environment or in digital banking - our customers expect us to excel at both and our staffing reflects that.”

Candidate interest for jobs in Banking and Financial Services has increased in line with advertised roles in the industry, with applications increasing 59% year on year.

MARCH NEW JOB ADS DATA
Nationally, SEEK new job ads were up 0.9% in the month from February to March 2015.

Looking at year on year performance, the strength of New Zealand’s economy becomes apparent with new jobs up 4.2% when comparing March 2015 with March 2014.

Regionally, Wellington experienced the strongest growth, up 3.7% month on month, followed closely by Canterbury with an increase of 3.5%. Auckland was effectively unchanged at 0.3%.

According to Craig Ebert, Senior Economist for Bank of New Zealand, the local labour market is reaping the benefits of increased economic confidence.

“New Zealand’s job growth has been exceptionally strong for a couple of years now, and this is continuing by the look of employment intentions of firms, which are as strong as overall business confidence itself,” Ebert says.

“The fact that the labour market is buoyant certainly fits with the above-normal growth we’re seeing in consumer spending, relatively high consumer confidence and the boisterous housing market.”

REGIONAL TRENDS
Reflecting the slight increase in national new job ads, New Zealand’s largest employment centre, Auckland, remained stable, gaining just 0.3% in March 2015. Stronger increases were recorded in Wellington and Canterbury where new job ads were up 3.7% and 3.5% respectively from February.

SEEK EMPLOYMENT INDEX

The SEEK Employment Index (SEI) for March 2015 is 6.1% lower than the month previous, indicating a high number of applications received for every job posted on SEEK in March 2015. Strong application figures were evident across the country.

ENDS

© Scoop Media