FEATURED ARTICLE
Cardgigs Shares Industry Employment Insights for 2010
While many wonder what 2010’s job market will look like, a survey conducted by Cardgigs can shed some light on the payments industry’s current job climate and what’s in store for 2010.
Cardgigs recently approached payments industry companies that use its job board in order to assess the payments industry’s employment outlook and to approximate the expected hiring trends for the rest of the year. The most evident finding was that the health of the payments industry job market is tightly coupled to the effects the economic downturn has had on employment numbers in general. That said, employers did feel that the beginning of 2010 might mark the end of the great recession, if not from a technical perspective, perhaps more from an emotional one. Chris Isidore of CNNMoney.com reiterated this sentiment by saying that “A two-year string of job losses appears to be near an end, if it hasn't ended already.” Isidore however added that “most economists don't expect the employment picture to significantly improve anytime this year – or over the next few years for that matter.”
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It became obvious to Cardgigs that predicting the 2010 job market was complicated when using recovery figures from previous recessions, as no previous downturn precisely compared to the crash we’ve recently experienced. It appeared that economists experienced the same difficulty and issued outlooks on either side of the scale; CNNMoney stated “A survey of top economists in November by the National Association of Business Economics found 60% don't expect payrolls to return to pre-recession levels until 2012, and another 35% say it will take even longer than that.” On the other hand, Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Officer at Charles Schwab, recently wrote that panicking companies went overboard in cutting jobs amid the downturn. Judging by the GDP declines and correlating job losses during prior recessions, she noted that employers might have fired 30% more workers than they should have. Now that great decline in business confidence has been arrested, "many companies concede they didn't just cut employment to the bone, but into the bone" Sonders wrote. Sonders may have a point, as recent jobs reports and increased temp hiring may be testament to the rebound that lies ahead.
Because of the mixed messages from economists, Cardgigs approached industry Hiring Managers in order to gain a better perspective on how payments companies have dealt with the economic downturn and to gain insight on their hiring strategies for the coming year. One significant ISO in our field is North American Bancard (NAB). When speaking with Deb Fonseca, NAB’s Corporate Recruiter, an positive picture came to light. In reference to how NAB’s hiring practices fared in 2009, Fonseca stated “We were fortunate that NAB experienced tremendous growth and expanded into our new facility in 2009. We continued our policy to promote from within while adding ground-level positions on a regular basis and sought out industry professionals outside NAB for mid to senior level positions.” Fonseca added “We saw a lot of change in the industry in 2009. Many talented industry professionals seeking the stability offered by companies like NAB. This is a time for transition and a time for growing ISOs to partner with some exceptional employment talent.” When asked about the employment outlook for 2010, Fonseca said “For the first quarter of 2010, we have openings in Sales, Operations, Marketing, and Internships in various departments. Recruiting for Outside Agents, as well as Corporate Sales at our Headquarters in Michigan, is a strong focus. However, Customer Service, Retention, and Account Maintenance will be expanding as well.” The North American Bancard outlook is cautiously optimistic and does resonate with other companies in the payments space.
Shane Schut, Director of Sales Development at Eliot Management Group (EMG) was asked how the company’s hiring practices performed in 2009, stating “The resources committed by EMG to recruiting and number of new hires in 2009 modestly outpaced that of 2008. With the U.S. unemployment rate in the double digits, we saw unusually strong responses to our job postings. The demand for jobs allowed us to be more selective and find a higher caliber of new hires than would have been possible if jobs were plentiful. Eliot Management Group was (and is) fortunate to be growing at the right time.” When asked about EMG’s hiring strategy for 2010, Schut said “EMG will be adding Outside Sales Representatives in every local office in 2010. We also anticipate filling a handful of Sales Management openings. Finally, we will add corporate operation personnel as needed to manage growth and infrastructure improvements.”
By analyzing a snapshot of various payments companies, as well as the job listings posted on Cardgigs, it could be determined that many businesses have taken advantage of the spike in unemployment by refining their employment strategies and being more shrewd in their hiring practices. Cardgigs did see earlier-than-usual implementations of the common year-end hiring freezes in Q4 2009 followed by a steep increase of job postings in the first week of 2010. As for the rest of 2010, payments companies shared a cautiously optimistic view, with the idea that the worst is behind us, and the most important indicator at this point is the actual rate of recovery. Unfortunately, even bullish economists are not predicting an explosive job recovery, stating that it will likely be 2012 when the unemployment will have dropped to pre-recession figures. However, of all companies surveyed, none planned large-scale layoffs in 2010.
Cardgigs gained further insight as to which payments jobs are most likely to be in high demand. Based on feedback from Cardgigs users, joined with an assessment of the most dominant job listings, indications were that most bankcard job openings are for experienced Sales, Sales Management and Business Development individuals. Next on the list of most sought after talents are positions specific to the payments industry, primarily: Operations, Risk Management, Underwriting, Portfolio Analysts and Technical Help Desk. The next levels of employment that’s available are the trades that are also present in most non-payments companies, such as Finance, Marketing and ironically Human Resources.
Tannon McCaleb, Managing Partner at Cardgigs rounded matters up by stating “In this economic climate, no one can exactly predict how their business sector will fare through 2010, but by gaining insight from industry employers, economic experts and job listings being posted on Cardgigs, we offer a general picture showing that the payments industry was not hit as hard as others sectors, and that we’re indeed in a slow recovery.” McCaleb concluded “However, the largest concern to all is how quickly we can get back to normal; unfortunately a place we often take for granted.”