COVID causing concerns, shifts in recruitment

Asset manager CEOs and other senior leadership are navigating new workforce concerns caused by the pandemic, including a pause on in-person recruitment of early career professionals.

Some executives say they are concerned about how the talent pipeline from colleges and universities will be impacted going forward, while others see an opportunity to broaden their recruitment to a more diverse pool of candidates, sources told Pensions & Investments.

Mario J. Gabelli, founder, chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors Inc. in Rye, N.Y., is concerned that the pipeline from which GAMCO typically recruits will be trimmed by the effects of the coronavirus.

He also questions how recruitment will be affected now that firms are not able to visit cam- puses. "I don't know how effective it's going to be on Zoom recruiting," Mr. Gabelli said.

GAMCO, which had $29.7 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, typically recruits from undergraduate programs at Babson College, Boston College, Yale University, Fordham University, New York University, Princeton University, Duke University, the University of Miami and Roger Williams University.

The firm also recruits from MBA programs at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school, Columbia University and, to a minor degree, Harvard University, Mr. Gabelli said.

Among undergraduate students, in particular, the applicant pool for entry-level analyst and sales roles at GAMCO is about half that of last year, said Richard Rose, director of human resources. The firm typically has an average of 10 undergraduate applicants per school, according to Mr. Rose.

GAMCO also had a couple of summer interns, who are enrolled in college, decide to take a gap year. "One would assume there are potentially more students taking a gap year because of COVID," he said.

Tina Byles Williams, the founder, CEO and CIO of Xponance Inc., a Philadelphia-based money manager with $11 billion in AUM, said that her firm typically recruits through either candidate searches or internships. She believes recruitment of entry-level talent "will become harder," as a result of the pandemic, but says that "people adapt."

"In a recruitment sense, it is possible that technology will sort people out relative to more objective criteria vs. the subjective criteria that is often infused with conscious or unconscious bias," Ms. Williams said.

"Technology allows for screening based on objective characteristics, such as particular skills or particular types or years of experience from a broader opportunity set, as opposed to solely through a network that is entirely curated through more cultural and social connections; such as country club membership or familial or friendship connections or even graduation from elite schools. It is easy to search more expansively remotely, because it is less taxing on the recruiter's time and travel expenses. Technology also can help prioritize objective factors over subjective factors (race, gender, social background) by simply highlighting those factors first, before the follow-up audio-visual or physical interview," Ms. Williams said.

As it pertains to Xponance's existing workforce, technology has also provided an opportunity for staff who don't work in the Philadelphia headquarters to connect more often with her and other senior leadership, she added.

Xponance has 43 employees across its two offices in Philadelphia and Durham, N.C.

"In some ways, (technology) may democratize access. One thing it has done for us, is staff in Durham have said they feel way more present with me as the head of the firm relative to my colleagues in Philadelphia. They were acutely aware that folks that were in my office could just stop by and have a chat with me," Ms. Williams said.

Since the pandemic started, Xponance has onboarded an intern and hired two additional employees via virtual recruiting, she added.

Another source also noted that virtual recruitment of entry-level talent has actually expanded recruitment opportunities.

"We've had our internship program for years. We think there's such a huge opportunity (to recruit) especially people from more diverse backgrounds," said Carol W. Geremia, president of Boston-based MFS Investment Management and head of global distribution.

MFS has more than 1,900 employees worldwide and managed $535.8 billion as of Oct. 31.

The firm has been able to interview a broader array of candidates due to the process being virtual, Ms. Geremia said.

"Interest in (joining) the industry is growing exponentially for diverse talent. I've spent so much time in the past six months, amid COVID and working from home, talking with interns and talking with students," Ms. Geremia said. "I've personally not spent more time than I have now talking to students," as a result of these engagements becoming virtual, she said.

Since mid-March, MFS has hired approximately 40 entry-level employees and "never hit pause" on hiring during the pandemic with the move to virtual onboarding, a spokesman said. "We continued to onboard on offers we had out prior to the pandemic and continue to look to staff on positions as they come up," the spokesman added.

The firm's hiring of more than 40 full-time, paid undergraduates through its cooperative program, as well as its onboarding of nearly 30 summer interns was also on par with last year despite the pandemic, according to the spokesman.

PGIM Inc., the $1.4 trillion Newark, N.J.-based money management unit of Prudential Financial, has seen applications to its early talent programs increase over 2019, Pamela Sinclair, global head of human resources, said in an email.

"While we have seen some changes in our candidates' graduation plans, our early talent candidates have not declined opportunities with us as a result of COVID-19 and our pipeline remains very strong. In fact, applications to both our full and part-time early talent programs at PGIM have increased year-on-year," Ms. Sinclair wrote.

"Virtual recruitment has actually permitted us to cast a wider net and focus on schools that we may not have otherwise. …We had more than 90 interns join us this past summer — more than ever before at PGIM — and we're expecting similar, if not higher, numbers for 2021. We have found that virtual internships has allowed for a wider range of candidates to accept roles due to reduced relocation costs, and the possibility of remaining with their families and part-time jobs that fund their schooling," she added.

A spokeswoman at PGIM said in an email that "the vast majority of the interviews for the 2020 summer internship program took place in fall of 2019 and in-person prior to the pandemic."

"There were, however, a handful of positions that were recruited for in spring 2020, where we facilitated interviews virtually after March," the spokeswoman added.

As a result of the pandemic, and the acceleration of longer-term trends like consolidation, recruiters in the industry have noticed more senior-level talent reassessing their career plans and in some cases considering a move.

Amanda H. Grant, a New York-based partner at executive search firm Calibre One Inc., said among senior-level distribution professionals, the firm is seeing "a sincere reevaluation of career objectives."

"People have been forced to step back by stepping into their homes … in a way in which the pace and in-person part of the industry did not permit time for before," Ms. Grant said.

"During this time we have seen many, many candidates, both in the (job search) market and gainfully employed, at a crossroads."

Some executives are questioning whether they even want to go back to "the way things were," she said.

"For example, if they were in distribution and they were on the road three weeks out of the month, do they miss it?" Some candidates are also exploring moving to new roles, whether at another company or on the "fringes of asset management in fintech," according to Ms. Grant.

There is still a subset of professionals, particularly at stable firms, who are "putting their heads down" and staying put, she said.

Another recruiter in the industry has similarly seen that some long-tenured professionals, who might have previously passed on new opportunities, are now considering a job move.

Jim Cooper, managing partner at executive search firm Concentriq LLC, Wenham, Mass., said that this year, some senior-level candidates are "not only returning calls, but proactively reaching out about opportunities" at other firms.

This could be due to family or remote work needs amid the pandemic, or because they are concerned about barriers to growth in their individual role or at the overall company, Mr. Cooper explained.

"(Among these professionals) there are questions about the long-term strategic direction or viability of some boutique active managers, particularly with all of the consolidation in the industry," he said, noting this is often a concern for firms with less than $10 billion in assets.

Executives may be taking industry headwinds into consideration with heightened scrutiny, or "they've had some time to assess their current work-life balance and have said they are looking for something different," Mr. Cooper said.