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INTRODUCTION
Commentators suggested the most recent global economic crisis would be a challenge for governments, organisations, citizens and consumers alike and that the redistribution of wealth and development of sector regulation would continually highlight alleged 'wrong-doing' by financial companies (Wade, 2009). Naturally the financial services industry is receiving significant criticism and ongoing reputational damage (Eisenegger and Künstle, 2005). However, the levelling of blame is not a simple task. Many citizens blame banks and bankers for poor decision making (Pozen, 2009) and financial institutions blame consumers for the demand of a materialistic and over-consumptive lifestyle that requires funding (Claes et al , 2010). One suggestion is to level some blame at the marketing and Human Resource (HR) departments as well as Finance personnel. The rift between marketers and financiers is potentially caused by marketers' reluctance to be accountable for what they do. Baker and Holt (2004) support this view citing marketing education as a significant driver of this 'failure to engage with accountability'. Empirical research reported in their paper reveals that senior non-marketers perceive marketers to be 'unaccountable, untouchable, slippery and expensive'. The tense relations between CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and marketer, including the division of boardrooms over the value of marketing opportunity, are fuelled by perceived HR incompetence and drive heated discussion and debate within respective fields. Furthermore, a significant number of CFOs said they did not believe marketing to be crucial in determining business strategy: 'Marketers have constantly hidden behind a fog of measures that are based purely on tactical marketing activity, rather than solid financial metrics that are relevant to the City (of London)' (Deloitte, 2007).
This article intends to demonstrate this problematic collaboration between marketing, finance and human resources through exploratory qualitative methodology. The context of this study focused upon the recruitment of financial sector marketers and looked at the 'information exchange' between those persons looking for work and those financial institutions seeking new recruits. Over time the discipline of leadership and management has convinced many managers and recruiters that recruiting the right people with the right personality, skills, experience, goals and attributes enables improvement in institutional performance (Bennis and Nanus, 1985). Staff turnover is reduced with consequent lowering of recruitment and training costs and employees perform better if recruited to...