Welcome to the Inquisition

Trying to find the right candidate for any position is a difficult and arduous task in the best of times. The same can be said about the problems candidates face when looking for a new job. Things (nearly always) take longer than expected and we often remind both parties in the recruitment process that nothing is done until someone actually sits on a new chair. (And sometimes even that is premature as we have seen new appointees quitting after a short time). So the news that the FSA is putting extra emphasis on vetting the appointment of senior staff is going to complicate things further. What experienced professional will be happy to be subjected to a detailed and bureaucratic grilling by people he will rightly consider to be professionally inferior bureaucrats? So far we have not seen what criteria the FSA is applying during this vetting process and as it will forever be shrouded in secrecy confidence in the procedure will never be established. Firms where appointments are subject to this interference will be at a competitive disadvantage in the future, In addition, this is just another step on the paths towards the reduction of London as a financial centre.