To survive in consolidation era, it helps to shine in sales, service - Los Angeles, CA, banking industry

Sales and customer service.

Those are the mantras of today's job recruiters in L.A. banking, as local banks consolidate and competition heats up among those institutions left standing.

Gone are the days of administrative work and back-office jobs where interaction with customers was minimal. Also gone are many of the high level executive spots, which are leaving L.A. as local banks and thrifts get purchased by out-of-town institutions.

In their place, L.A. banks are looking for self-starters with sales and customer service skills to promote a growing range of products and services. Local bank recruiters are also in the market for employees with niche skills in foreign languages, computers, investment and consulting to sell their products to specialized audiences.

"The industry has really moved to customer service, so sales underlies everything we do now," said Jim Hose, senior consultant for employment services at Glendale Federal Bank. "Everyone needs to have Sales skills - to listen to customers, ascertain what their needs are and provide feedback as to our products (they can use)," he said.

Indeed, banking recruiters seem to agree that fierce competition in the industry requires every employee to have the sales and customer service skills necessary to act as a gateway for bringing in new business.

A case in point took place last year when Bank of America launched a major effort to beef up its small business lending.

In the two-week campaign of April 1996, BofA mobilized thousands of employees statewide - from tellers to senior management - to personally contact small businesses and create and build banking relationships. Bank reps visited more than 143,000 small business during the campaign, resulting in 30,000 sales, referrals and applications.

"In anything we're doing, (sales skills) are really necessary when we're looking to educate the population about our services," said Kathy Aleman, manager of Southern California recruitment for BofA.

Outside of branch networks, the future hiring needs of big banks like BofA will depend largely on where its major operations are based, Aleman added.

For example, BofA has large loan processing centers in Brea and Cypress, which would create a need for people with mortgage lending and other lending skills. The bank also has a small business loan processing center in Pasadena, creating a need for people with small business banking skills.

Those kinds of niche-oriented skills will also be in demand at smaller, locally-based financial institutions in the future, said Jan Vet, a specialist in financial and international job placements at executive recruitment firm Korn Ferry International.

"We're still getting requests for banking jobs, but more of those are coming from the niche players," he said. "A lot of banks are saying, 'If I can't be the biggest, I'll be the best in my niche."

One niche that's growing in multi-cultural L.A. is banks that cater to specific cultural groups, Vet said. Accordingly, bilingual skills and a knowledge of other cultures is becoming increasingly important, he said.

Other skill sets that banking recruiters will look for in the future include investment consulting and asset management - two areas that many financial institutions have recently entered, according to banking recruiters.

Meanwhile, the days of corporate-level banking jobs in L.A. will be limited in the years ahead, as local banks continue to be purchased by out-of-area institutions, recruiters said.

In the last five years alone, three of L.A.'s biggest financial institutions - Security Pacific Bank, First Interstate Bank and California Federal Bank - have all been purchased by Northern California banks. A fourth, Great Western Bank, is currently the target in a takeover battle between H.F. Ahmanson & Co. - parent of Home Savings of America - and Washington Mutual Inc.

"Whenever there's a merger, the executives end up on the street as a cost-saving measure," said Larry Madsen, an account executive in the Culver City office of executive recruitment firm Management Recruiters International.

Madsen recalled the plight of a colleague who has had a rough time lately placing high-level banking executives.

"He said he placed three people in the last three years. In the past it would've been one a month. It's just not happening now. If someone needs a banking person, it's easy to find good people. They don't need recruiters anymore," Madsen said.

Another banking employment category that may be on the fast track to extinction is the back-office, clerical job, said Susan Fowler, senior vice president of human resources at Sanwa Bank California.

"Those jobs are being replaced by customer service," she said, adding that many clerical jobs are now being done by computers. "The processing of paperwork is on the way out."

Source: findarticles.com

next>>