Hired Thousands Within 2 Years but Maintaining Recruitment Is Difficult
Conservative Financial Sector Culture Also Influences
As the world is swept by an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Business Insider reported on the 23rd (local time) that although Wall Street in the U.S. has been securing AI experts for several years, the financial industry is struggling as talent is leaving one after another.
Those accustomed to the IT industry, known for its free culture, seem to feel the gap with the conservative financial industry and often end up returning to their original fields.
Business Insider analyzed data from companies such as Punks & Pinstripes, which help networking among Fortune 500 executives, and reported that the six major U.S. Wall Street banks?Bank of America (BoA), Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo?have hired thousands of AI specialists over the past two years. This includes engineers, product managers, as well as senior executives such as CEOs.
However, Business Insider stated that on average, most of the employees hired by banks during this period had to leave. Only about 20% of AI experts who left banks remained in the financial sector, while approximately 70% returned to the IT industry. The remaining 10% of AI specialists moved to industries outside IT and finance.
Local headhunters explained that large banks are attractive workplaces because they possess large-scale data desired by AI experts and offer significant roles within the company compared to the IT industry.
However, headhunters identified three main reasons why AI experts leave large banks.
First is the nature of the projects AI experts handle. According to Jang Carlo Hirsch, Managing Director at Glocomz, a technology talent recruitment specialist, working at big tech companies or electric vehicle manufacturers focuses on solving product or service-related problems, whereas banks emphasize automating certain tasks such as process simplification and operational efficiency.
Simply put, the work is not interesting. While there are exciting tasks in the field such as applying new technologies to solve problems or create new services?like Tesla’s autonomous vehicles failing to recognize strollers and stopping?AI experts do not want to work on document automation or productivity improvement system enhancements at banks.
Second, in terms of salary, headhunters noted that banks generally offer lower compensation compared to big tech companies or private equity firms. Although big tech companies have conducted large-scale layoffs this year and the value of stock-based compensation has declined due to tech stock drops since last year, the financial sector also suffered last year with bonuses sharply reduced, so the situation is not very favorable.
Additionally, from a cultural perspective, the restrictive culture of the financial sector creates an unsatisfactory working environment for AI experts who have been active in the free-spirited IT industry. For example, regarding the remote work culture preferred mainly by engineers, Wall Street banks including JP Morgan strongly emphasize returning to the office, whereas many IT companies maintain remote work. Some big tech companies have requested office returns, but there are significant differences in the number of office days and work environment.
Karlie Stack, leader at U.S. consulting firm Spencer Stuart, said, "There is a distinctly different rhythm and culture present in technology companies that have become pioneers of AI." Ryan Bulkowski, partner at another consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles, added, "I think many people end up missing the Silicon Valley environment and the networks built within it after leaving."
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