In the financial sector’s mid-career hiring market, foreign-affiliated companies are expanding recruitment to include candidates without prior experience and moving to expand their organizations. With domestic M&A activity and PE investment remaining at high levels in 2025, hiring demand has surged, and companies are increasingly broadening their target candidate pools amid a shortage of applicants.
Hiring in the foreign-affiliated financial sector is accelerating, with demand expanding significantly, particularly in investment banking, M&A advisory and FAS. Domestic M&A deal volume reached a record high in 2025, while PE investment remained at a record level.
Companies are broadening their hiring pools and seeking to expand their organizations by securing talent, including candidates without prior experience. In particular, hiring of professionals with experience at Japanese securities firms is gaining momentum, while foreign-affiliated investment banks are increasingly accepting candidates without prior experience.
FAS firms are significantly increasing their graduate hiring quotas, and the use of candidates without prior experience is also expanding in mid-career hiring. This is broadening career options for job seekers and driving a shift away from the traditional small, elite-team hiring model.
Going forward, a key to successful hiring will be securing a sufficient candidate pool while maintaining the quality of hires. More companies are expected to focus on strengthening training and development systems for candidates without prior experience and those from other industries, as well as on recruitment branding. In 2026, companies will face a phase in which the qualitative improvement of their organizations as a whole will be put to the test.