Referrals
Improvement and Urgency
Sometimes January sees a spike in hiring due to New Year optimism, but it feels like there’s something more positive building. It’s about time too. There has been a white-collar hiring recession for some time—particularly in the private sector. According to figures from the ONS, there are 600,000 more employees in the public sector since the start of the pandemic. Reportedly, productivity in the public sector is down by around 9%, which means more people are needed if a tech solution isn’t immediately available, and we have huge COVID backlogs to get through. At a time when SMEs have been decimated by the pandemic, the cynical side of me also thinks it’s politically convenient to soak up some unemployment in the public sector. Ask anyone earning over £100k in a head-office-type role in the private sector, and I suspect their experience of the jobs market has been negative, to say the least. Yet, we’re told that unemployment is very low, which can’t be disputed, but my experience is also that many people have given up on looking for a new role and retired.
Why do I think there’s some improvement? Partly, we’re seeing it in the types of roles we register. In wealth management, where we place people at board level through to administrators, the blend of roles is changing slightly towards more senior hires. I also think many firms across financial services have cut to the bare bones or, at best, have stood still for a couple of years. Firms can’t be in a holding pattern for too long. Even if they don’t change, market conditions around them do, and suddenly they don’t have the right skills mix to meet evolving demands. New skills and ideas are needed to move forward, or the slightest upturn in sentiment means firms that have cut too hard are suddenly understaffed.
There is also one final reason I think firms don’t stand still in financial services for long. In any service industry, it’s so easy to restructure or change tack. Being the leader of a financial services firm is a precarious job. You can so easily find yourself surplus to requirements and struggling to find a new role, to the extent that you need to make an impact quickly. A “we’ll just ride this out” mentality often doesn’t cut it, so everyday counts. This is why things don’t stay still for long.
AI
We’re often asked about AI and our role. The current AI recruitment tech I’ve seen is still in its infancy and isn’t particularly accurate in its filtering. However, I have no doubt there will be rapid developments in AI being used for hiring. At the same time, AI will soon be used to improve applications too. I haven’t experienced it yet, but I can see a situation where applicants’ CVs start to look the same, with AI exaggerating experiences to align more closely with job descriptions.
The key features of most service-based firms are to save clients money, save them time, and give them peace of mind. Without a well-qualified filter in place, hours will be spent interviewing the wrong people. AI also doesn’t do speculative coffees or networking. We recently placed someone I first met seven years ago, and this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. My colleagues and I have speculative conversations with candidates all the time, simply to ensure we have the right person for a client in the future. The vast majority of these candidates rarely, if ever, proactively apply for a role.
Pulse of the Market
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Pinch and a punch, as they say—wishing you a great February.
About Fram Search
Established in 2010, Fram Search is a specialist financial services recruitment consultancy. We focus on mid-to-senior hires in the UK and internationally.
We provide high quality contingent and retained recruitment services to boutiques and global brands. We have long established relationships, outstanding market knowledge, and access to deep talent pools. Fram takes a highly consultative approach, combining outstanding tech with a human approach. We are proud that our contingent fill rate is nearly three times the industry average and we augment our retained search methodology with rigorous psychometric testing. We take ESG seriously, we are champions of diversity and all staff have undertaken unconscious bias training. We also carbon offset.
Please contact us on 01525 864 372 / [email protected] to learn more.
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