Attracting top employees to your brokerage

HR in the forex industry: Part 1

Finding top talent is important in all industries. However, because clients become loyal to the individuals they invest money with, it’s especially important to hire and retain excellent employees at a forex brokerage.

In this three-part series, we’re looking at what attracts employees, what roles are essential, and how to retain good employees at forex brokerages.

In part one, we have three tips for helping you find the best candidates for your forex firm.

Your firm may have started small, but once you’re ready to expand your business it can be difficult to know where to begin. However, when you find and hire the best candidates, you’re setting your firm up for greater long-term success.

Implement these three actions to help the people you want to hire.

Your website is an essential place to list openings at your brokerage.

Include a careers sections on your site to ensure that anyone who thinks they want to work for you can easily see any available positions. After all, if someone wants to work at your brokerage so much that they seek out a careers page, you need to provide them the right information.

Place a link in the footer section of your website or on the About Us section of your site so that job seekers can quickly locate a list of openings. Keep this section up-to-date even when you don’t have any open jobs. When that is the case, clearly state that no positions are available, and encourage people to check back regularly.

You can also leave a general application open on your website all the time. You don’t need to advertise this position, so making it available won’t cost anything. It will allow you to pursue candidates that apply even if your firm isn’t actively recruiting.

These pages also give you the chance to brag about the benefits of working at your brokerage. You can discuss the culture at your firm and any perks you offer. Providing this info will allow you to give extra information to anyone who sees a job ad that you place who then looks at your website.

When you’re actively recruiting, it’s also important to place your ads in the right places so the candidates you want will find them. The OTC forex industry is somewhat of a niche field, so placing your ads where the most candidates will see them is essential for finding the right employees.

• eFinancialCareers – eFinancialCareers caters to job seekers in the finance sector. It features jobs from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, so you can be sure that the right candidates will find your ad no matter where your brokerage is located.
• LinkedIn Jobs – LinkedIn is the leading networking site for professionals around the world, and the jobs section of the site makes it easy for candidates to find openings they’re suited for. You can also create ads that allow job seekers to apply using their LinkedIn profiles, which makes it easy for them and helps you get a maximum number of applications.
• Indeed -Indeed is one of the largest job boards in the world, so the candidates you want are sure to search on Indeed at some point. You can uses its sites for specific countries to target the right location, which is especially useful if you have brokerages in more than one country.

Once you have enough applications, it’s time to conduct interviews! A candidate may not be the right fit even if their resume looks fantastic. After all, in the forex industry, personality and trustworthiness can be as important as previous experience.

You can separate the candidates who only seem like a good choice from the really excellent ones by asking the right questions during an interview.

This popular article from LinkedIn says there are three questions that matter in interviews: can the candidate do the job; will they like the job; and, do you want to work with them.

If someone has the necessary skills and experience to fulfill the role in your forex brokerage, then you also have to determine if they will like the job you’re hiring for and your brokerage’s culture. Since recruiting and hiring is a time consuming and expensive process, you need to work to make sure the candidate won’t quit after a few months because they’re not happy.

You also want to make sure you’ll enjoy the energy they bring to your firm. Think about questions you can ask to determine if their personality with fit with other money managers and traders at your brokerage.

Recruiting can be a drain on your brokerage’s resources if you don’t make the most of your website, choose the right places to advertise job openings for the forex industry, and ask good questions when interviewing candidates. However, with a little forethought, you can make it easier to find the right employees for your brokerage.

When your forex firm is staffed with the right people, you’ll be able to serve clients better. That will mean clients stay with your firm longer and invest more with you over time, which is key to brokerage success.