Applying directly gets no response, using a recruiter gets an interview same week.

My experience the past few months has been that it's almost pointless to submit an application through a website and you should use a recruiter. This is in London. My experience is the same for Buy side and Sell side.

Concrete examples. I sent an application to several funds via their portal. Some just had an email address to which you send your CV. Waited a few months as I wasn't in a hurry. No response. Sent it again. No response. A recruiter in the meantime has been contacting me about the company, I give them the go ahead, I get an interview same week.

Banks - forget about not using a recruiter. Their online portals are completely useless and it's the hiring process is just dysfunctional. With a recruiter, it's a lot easier but then you have a middleman and it gets a bit complicated dealing with some of the insecure bankers through another person.

I'm absolutely shocked that I send the same CV for the same job via a company portal and a week or two later through a recruiter and I get a response through the recruiter immediately. AFAIK, using a recruiter costs 25% base. I generally feel the HR person who deals with this needs to be talked to.

I absolutely love good recruiters and they do an amazing job for certain companies who don't have a portal or are small or hire infrequently. But for the Citadels, Goldman Sachs etc I would rather work directly with the company and not have a middleman. I've had bad experience with such "middlemen" who edit your CV and send it around without telling you.