Over a month into the new financial year for our Financial & Professional Services team, it’s been interesting to take stock and reflect on the uncertainty of the last one, and the impact on the year ahead.
We were led to believe that post Brexit, caution would prevail and the shutters would start to come down on HR recruitment in the Financial and Professional Services sectors. We experienced a confidence in the market that has been mixed, a guarded feeling in Q3 that was replaced by a resurgent optimism in Q4. We have seen growth in junior to middle management roles, also in small to medium sized organisations needing HR specialists to deliver regulatory change, to respond to changes in operating models and to identify and develop their emerging talent in partnership with their business clients. The shutters haven’t come down, but the locks may have been changed.
Where demand was consistently highest for HR Business Partners and Generalists, now candidates who are M&A, Change and OD specialists are the most sought after. Talent – an increasingly broad term in HR – remains a hot topic. Our clients are increasingly looking at analytics around OD, trends and the impact on their people practices. Wellbeing is an increasing area of interest and we are running a Round Table event for our insurance clients next month on this very topic.
The snap call for a General Election doesn’t appear to have created the same pre-Brexit ripples as last year and we remain highly optimistic that this increased confidence will continue.
An analyst interviewed in Investors Chronicle recently commented that last year’s market anxiety was “stemming from successive elections, as companies are more likely to approach hiring with more caution during times of uncertainty.” Yet, our resurgent Q4 showed a willingness to hire, particularly amongst specialist HR roles. Whilst the traditional investment banks were recruiting, so were insurance and asset management firms – more so in fact – and we experienced significant year on year growth in both sectors.
The same analyst commented that, with a number of recruitment businesses since reporting an upturn in the Financial and Professional services space, this “shows indications that companies are simply becoming comfortable with uncertainty”.
The challenge to our candidates across all HR specialisms in this market is to become the same. Agility of thought, commercial acumen and a willingness to work with, embrace and drive change are high on our clients’ wish lists… and therefore ours!