Archives for August 2019

Finance recruitment: the race to hire top engineers and tech talent

August 30, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Finance recruitment: the race to hire top engineers and tech talent

Content Team

August 30, 2019

In finance, digital change is widespread. Top tech talent has never been more important to this space.

Yet, the financial services sector often struggles to hire the most skilled tech specialists. This is a huge problem, and it must be addressed.

To gain a deeper understanding of the driving factors, we spoke with one of our top finance recruiters, Stewart Mitchell.

Stewart is a recruitment manager for a large global bank and offers more than 20 years of industry experience. He helps manage the bank’s recruitment processes across North America.

Discover what the financial services sector must do in order to secure the best tech talent in the market.

The challenges with hiring technologists in finance

So, why is it so difficult for banks and other financial institutions to attract the best tech talent?

A range of reasons can offer insight.

In some cases, these coveted candidates aren’t always compensated in line with what they could receive at tech companies outside the banking sector. Also, compared to the culture of big tech firms, technologists are not always held in the same high regard.

This can depend largely on the role and skill set.

Stewart explains: “At the tech companies, technologists are largely responsible for driving the organization forward, both technically and strategically. In finance and banking, technologists tend to be viewed more as a function to support the business, as opposed to defining it.”

Skills development can also pose a concern for candidates. Technologists at the likes of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) work on leading-edge technology. But across banking and finance, they often work on legacy systems.

Stewart says: “Financial services firms are adopting some of these technologies, with a prime example being the use of Amazon Web Services (AWS). However, there has been an evolution of financial services firms developing their own systems.”

In this respect, not only is the day-to-day nature of the bank-tech role perhaps not as appealing, it also triggers a concern that specialist skills could fall behind.

In finance, demand for tech talent is accelerating

As the world of finance becomes increasingly digital, top tech talent is urgently required throughout the sector.

While the pace of change continues to accelerate, the big challenge facing this sector is how to attract top tech talent… and how aggressively to go about it.

Plans are already being rolled out at Goldman Sachs, where the trading division plans to urgently hire more than 100 engineers for tech-related roles. (See note 2.)

“You are going to see us very actively in the marketplace going after this kind of talent,” Adam Korn, co-head of engineering in the trading division, told Bloomberg.

“Historically, engineers were not seen as a part of the business. That’s obviously changed.”

This hiring sprint promises to bolster the number of engineers employed by Goldman Sachs. More than 9,000 engineers currently comprise 25 percent of their workforce. (See note 1.)

The appetite for tech talent certainly isn’t exclusive to Goldman Sachs.

“For the larger firms, there is a shift from wanting to be seen as a more ‘traditional’ financial services organization, into a more tech-driven company working on cutting-edge technologies,” Stewart says.

In short supply? These are the top tech skills needed in finance

Recruiting for tech talent requires fresh strategies.

To successfully entice candidates, you must have a genuine understanding of the industries you’re competing with for talent. You must be able to identify what makes them so successful at recruiting and retaining tech talent.

You need to be able to take this knowledge to business leaders, with a view towards addressing any barriers to entry facing talented talented tech specialists.

So, what are the skills that are in hot demand within the financial services sector?

There are three primary skills sets that tend to be in universal demand:

Pattern recognition
Historical context
Process automation

Across trading platforms, process automation is huge. Candidates who can demonstrate a track record of delivering improvements in this area are in great demand.

But it’s not always about tenure of experience, with Goldman Sachs alone demonstrating a willingness to hire 2,000 graduates per year. (See note 2.)

Employers are after skilled tech candidates who can reduce trading times. They need engineers who can help process more requests and spit out faster responses to queries. These skills help generate more trades and more business.

How the world of finance can secure top tech talent

Digital change is affecting the trading floor with unprecedented speed and urgency. Trading services require much more automation and lightning-speed forecasting.

Digital change also affects every day banking. More branches are closing as customers manage their accounts online or with apps.

With these transformations comes an impressive requirement for engineers and top tech talent.

Financial institutions need to overhaul the way in which they view tech talent. A radical shift in mindset is urgently required.

Here are our top tips for recruiting tech talent in the world of finance:

Hire a CTO and give this person a seat at the C-suite table
Embrace leading-edge technology, not proprietary, obsolete systems
Actively communicate to candidates that the culture is becoming increasingly tech-centric

Stewart says: “This has been an evolution over the last two to three years. There has been growing recognition of the importance technology will play in helping to drive an organization forward, both in terms of personnel and the tools that can help achieve this.”

Giving your CTO the respect of the business, helps set the tone for how fellow technologists are valued. A culture of innovation, embedded with agile leadership and methodologies, conveys the right message.

Addressing these points can help tempt even the most in-demand tech talent.

And if your business is in the early days of becoming tech-centric, use this to your advantage: entice candidates who are keen to be the co-creators of an exciting new chapter focused on innovation.

Learn more about Hudson RPO Financial Services recruitment.

Notes

1.) Natarajan, Sridhar. Bloomberg. Goldman Plans Hiring Spree in Trading (Only Coders Need Apply) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-21/goldman-plans-hiring-spree-in-trading-only-coders-need-apply Accessed 28 August 2019.

2.) Franck, Thomas. CNBC. Computer engineers now make up a quarter of Goldman Sachs’ workforce https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/computer-engineers-now-make-up-a-quarter-of-goldman-sachs-workforce.html Accessed 28 August 2019.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

The Hudson RPO Content Team is made up of experts within the Talent Acquisition industry across the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. They provide educational and critical business insights in the form of research reports, articles, news, videos, podcasts, and more. The team ensures high-quality content that helps all readers make talent decisions with confidence.

What is RPO?

Learn More

What is MSP?

Learn More

Multilingual recruitment specialists + tech = talent power

August 29, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles, Video

Multilingual recruitment specialists + tech = talent power

Content Team

August 29, 2019

Multilingual recruitment specialists know a little secret: The right combination of languages and search ability is pure magic. It puts the ‘talent’ into talent acquisition.

Watch our mini video to learn more about multilingual recruitment, or scroll down for more information.

Go for a global talent strategy with multilingual recruitment specialists based in the UK

Drawing on years of experience, our multilingual recruitment specialists can help you find the right talent in any market.

But the real advantage emerges when you pair fluent language ability with technological know-how.

Cutting-edge search technology enables multilingual recruiters to elevate your talent strategy.

We do this by mapping candidate pools in your market, for example.

By creating a talent pipeline, we can identify exceptional candidates who may otherwise remain off the radar. Big data technology helps us understand how candidates and competitors operate across markets.

Discover 3 big reasons to invest in multilingual recruitment

Of course, there are many compelling reasons to explore a multilingual approach to talent acquisition. But here are some of the top considerations, based on decades of industry experience:

Not everyone uses an English-language CV. Yet, many international candidates do know business English. Reaching out in the native tongue can lead to suitable candidate-employer matches, even when English is a requirement of the role.
Candidates often leave a digital trail in their native language. Multilingual recruiters can identify the trail for a better talent search.
In a highly competitive market, the personal approach matters. Local language drives engagement, increasing response rates.

Skilled candidates are in high demand. Do your opportunities stand out to them?

Fuel your domestic or international talent acquisition strategy with multilingual talent sourcing

Our flagship Centre of Excellence features a uniquely talented team of multilingual recruiters who can help you compete in the race for global talent acquisition.

The team is led by service delivery director George McRobbie, who offers more than 13 years of industry experience.

With the ability to scale up or down, our multilingual talent sourcers help teams expand into new markets. We can also access foreign language speakers who are already based in your country of operation.

While the team continues to expand month-on-month, we’re ready to support your requirements and add specific capabilities as needed.

Our multilingual recruitment specialists speak:

Cantonese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Latvian
Norwegian
Polish
Russian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Ukrainian
Urdu

So, what are your requirements? Let’s start a conversation, in any language.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

Learn More

What is MSP?

Learn More

Benefits of RPO solutions: discover 5 advantages praised by leaders

August 27, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles, Video

Benefits of RPO solutions: discover 5 advantages praised by leaders

Content Team

August 27, 2019

Competitive advantage and business results depend on access to the best talent in the market.

Through the implementation of ‘fit for purpose’ outsourced recruitment solutions, smart organizations are positioning themselves for increased organizational performance and growth.

The benefits of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) are significant.

This is true whether you’re planning to outsource all aspects of recruitment, or selecting individual components of the end-to-end recruitment process.

The advantages of RPO also ring true if you’re focusing exclusively on selected business-critical role families.

From talking with clients around the world, we’ve identified the top 5 benefits of RPO. They include:

Cost reduction
Ability to flex and scale
Quality of hire
Reduced vacancy time
Enhanced employer brand

To learn more about them, watch this mini video, or read the details below.

1. Cost reduction

Many organizations spend a significant amount of money on recruitment through a heavy reliance on agencies. They also tend to have a high use of online job boards, coupled with significant investments in underutilized recruitment technology.

The indirect costs of recruitment pertaining to poor quality hires, lengthy vacancy periods, and high turnover are the invisible but arguably higher costs to the organization.

RPO reduces costs by leveraging three business objectives. Cost savings are achieved by developing efficient robust recruitment processes, driving direct proactive sourcing strategies, and focusing on quality of hire for every hire.

2. Ability to scale and flex

RPO provides a recruitment model that can be scaled up or down in line with an organization’s recruitment demands.

The client benefits from a core team of recruitment experts during business as usual hiring. They also enjoy access to additional skilled consultants from RPO talent pools or shared services centers during peak hiring.

The RPO model adapts to fluctuating recruitment needs without compromising speed, quality, or brand.

3. Quality of hire

Attracting and sourcing talent comprise an RPO’s core expertise.

With centers of expertise across technology, sourcing, recruitment process design, employment branding and reporting, RPOs are optimally positioned to attract, source, and assess quality talent for every role.

Through the application of rigorous assessment and selection methodologies, paired with strong HR partnerships, RPO providers are able to positively impact retention and performance of all new hires.

4. Reduced vacancy time

The longer a vacancy remains open, the greater the impact on an organizations performance. Reducing time to fill is a key deliverable under an RPO model.

Driving efficiencies in the recruitment process and developing superior talent attraction strategies delivers significant reductions in the time a role is vacant.

The RPO provider is adept at balancing speed of hire with quality of hire to ensure the right outcome every time.

5. Enhanced employer brand

RPO solutions have a powerful impact on an organization’s employer brand.

This is achieved through excellent management of all aspects of the recruitment process. This includes ensuring core messages to the market are consistent. Fundamentally, they should drive high levels of candidate satisfaction.

The candidate experience is critical to driving the perception of an organization as a place to work. Done well, an RPO solution positions an organization as a magnet for prospective talent.

Recruitment process outsourcing is an ideal solution for organizations wanting to access the best talent in an efficient, professional, and cost-effective way.

Organizations reap the benefits of having an expert partner manage the administration of recruitment. Meanwhile, they retain control of all hiring decisions.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

Learn More

What is MSP?

Learn More

10 signs your business could grow faster, stronger, with RPO partners

August 22, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

10 signs your business could grow faster, stronger, with RPO partners

Content Team

August 22, 2019

RPO partners can support a variety of business landscapes.

From pharma to finance, manufacturing to media, and many industries beyond, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) supports business leaders through transition and growth.

Could your enterprise work smarter, more efficiently, with an RPO partnership?

Discover 10 telltale signs that RPO partners could help your teams scale more effectively.

1. Sudden hiring disrupts HR operations

Perhaps more than ever, hiring functions as a moving target.

Talent needs rise and dip. They sometimes move in tandem with a shifting marketplace, but not always.

The unique requirements and opportunities of your enterprise drive the pace of hiring.

When hiring needs fluctuate, does your HR department sometimes struggle to stay on top of routine tasks?

RPOs scale up and down by design, making them ideal partners for unexpected talent requirements and sudden-need hiring.

2. There’s high turnover among your recruiters

Day in, day out, recruiters sell the opportunity to work for your company.

Ideally, they should be with the business long enough to develop the deep understanding that comes with time and commitment.

Whether your RPO partners work in-house or remote, they get to know your business over the long term. This enables the key insights that help drive effective, tailored hiring.

3. You need niche skills outside your main focus

It takes industry-specific knowledge to attract top talent.

This is particularly true for fiercely competitive roles. From software engineers to data scientists to project managers, RPO partners speak the language of hard-to-fill roles—a must-have for engaging and retaining the best in any industry.

4. Recruitment costs are climbing

Companies can easily overspend on hiring. This is particularly relevant in today’s volatile market.

Reactive recruitment results in poor hires and lower retention rates, which leads to more spending. It’s a costly cycle, which RPO can help stop.

Talent management, a cornerstone of RPO, combines role-specific, unbiased pre-hire assessments with post-hire career development.

This reduces the cost of employee turnover and training. It also helps prevent low morale and lost productivity among existing employees. These are the unfortunate, yet common, consequences of poor hiring.

5. Employer brand is lacking

Does your employer brand appear outdated, unpolished, or non-existent?

Effective employer branding competes with an evolving strategy. The best employer brand strategies vary by industry.

Dedicated employers ensure their employer value proposition (EVP) remains market-leading. This often involves teaming with an RPO partner for market insights on how to compete effectively for top candidates.

Of course, positive candidate engagement is the precursor to employer brand engagement. It’s worth exploring how effectively technology or Leadership and Development drive great candidate experiences in your workplace.

6. Diversity goals aren’t being met

Diversity improves business outcomes and innovation. (See notes 1-3.)

But moving the needle on diversity and inclusion goals takes strategic talent management. This often starts with targeted job description keywords, and continues through to long-term professional development.

RPO partners engage diverse candidates and improve the retention of diverse employees with best practices on inclusion.

7. Recruitment tech is outdated

Chatbots. Video interviewing. Predictive analytics. The list goes on.

It’s impossible to maintain deep market intelligence on the latest recruitment tech while running your primary business.

High-performing RPO partners act as subject matter experts in this space. They can advise you on best-fit HR tech, helping evaluate which offerings are right for your organization. They can also point you in the direction of HR tech that streamlines implementation.

8. The big picture is out of focus

How does your recruitment function stand up against competitors?

From quality of hire to employee referral rates, a third-party RPO partner can help you complete this critical assessment.

9. On-boarding processes are inconsistent

Without guidance, thorough training, and one-to-one attention, new employees disengage quickly.

Unfortunately, many companies lose sight of this vital function during high-growth phases.

An RPO partner can design consistent and effective on-boarding processes across departments and regions, and manage the process for companies whose HR departments don’t have the bandwidth.

10. Patchwork use of agencies

Managing hiring across regions and time zones can be ungainly, particularly when global functions lean on local recruitment agencies.

Who is tracking hiring spend, quality of hire, and recruitment timelines? Who is accountable for outcomes? An RPO partnership can take on the management of these services, and the accountability for hiring results.

When to consider RPO partners

Do you identify with one or more of the situations above? It might be time to seek extra support.

If one or more of these signs apply to your company, an RPO partner can help. Recruitment processes can be uniquely designed based on your requirements.

And, RPOs are prepared to hit the ground running. They can support your business with a single recruitment challenge in a short time frame. They can even refresh your entire talent acquisition function, if requested.

Want to learn more about RPO projects, recruitment technology, and more? Click through for more information on our services.

Notes

McKinsey, Why Diversity Matters. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters. Accessed 22 August 2019.
Deloitte, The Diversity and Inclusion Revolution. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/4209_Diversity-and-inclusion-revolution/DI_Diversity-and-inclusion-revolution.pdf. Accessed 22 August 2019.
The Harvard Business Review, How and Where Diversity Drives Financial Performance. https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance. Accessed 22 August 2019.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

Learn More

What is MSP?

Learn More

Benefits of RPO: discover 3 ways your HR team can reduce costs

August 21, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Benefits of RPO: discover 3 ways your HR team can reduce costs

Content Team

August 21, 2019

For most businesses, recessionary periods tend to trigger significant changes in hiring demand and requirements.

These trends spur many companies to reevaluate their recruitment processes and cost structures, particularly as they pertain to talent acquisition.

Of course, it doesn’t take a recession, or even signs of one, for a business to evaluate talent models.

High-performing HR leaders regularly consider the pros and cons of all possible hiring strategies. They are keen observers of workplace signals for outsourced recruitment, in-house, or a blend of both.

Each strategy is worthy of review, but cost is always a driving factor.

How much financial risk does your business want to accept? How much long-term investment can it reasonably support?

Let’s talk more about cost, and how recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) helps manage it.

Discover three benefits of RPO, in terms of business cost management.

1. Cost reduction through shared risk

When a business downturn hits and recruiting needs suddenly drop, so does a company’s need for recruiting staff.

Likewise, when the business is expanding into another product category or region of the world, recruiting needs may suddenly spike.

Outsourcing the recruitment function allows a company to pass along the cost risk of those resources to the business partner. Recruitment outsourcing partners accept the responsibility of efficiently adjusting resource levels when hiring fluctuations happen. As a result, the client does not bear the burden of carrying unnecessary staff.

Similarly, the client faces a lesser chance of being short-staffed when greater resources are required.

2. Faster time to hire

Time is money and hiring new professional level employees takes a lot of both. From sourcing resumes to conducting interviews and negotiating offers, acquiring a new employee taxes your internal resources.

Plus, each day a job requisition remains unfilled, your business loses the benefit of that employee’s contribution. Recruiting and budgetary resources are pulled away from other high-value initiatives.

Outsourcing all or part of your internal recruitment function can dramatically reduce your time to hire.

3. Streamlined recruitment processes

One of the most common problems we see with the recruitment life cycle is that it’s a disjointed and uncoordinated multitude of practices—good and bad—across organizational functions, departments, divisions and regions.

Often, this causes overlap in advertising purchases, training and on-boarding procedures. It leads to poorer hiring decisions and higher operational costs.

Piloting an RPO project gives you the opportunity to rethink these processes. The RPO vendor will help examine your recruitment process workflow(s) to determine where overlap, excessive cost, and inefficient practices may exist.

Then, an outsourced model can be custom designed, providing you with service levels and success metrics that exceed the status quo.

These practices yield increased efficiency and satisfaction with the recruitment life cycle, resulting in overall cost reduction for your company.

All of these factors contribute to achieving lower cost per hire – your ultimate goal.

There are many reasons to consider the benefits of RPO. Among those reasons, greater operational cost efficiency is always an organizational imperative.

In sum, a collaborative RPO partnership provides:

A global database of thousands of screened, specially skilled professionals and sourcing channels that significantly increases your talent pipeline.
Access to a greater amount of recruiting and screening professionals than you can carry on your own staff, who can scale their volume of work with the requisition load.
Vendor and process management that allows you to focus on making hiring decisions while leaving the less strategic administrative duties to your RPO partner.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

Learn More

What is MSP?

Learn More

Weighing outsourced recruitment, versus in-house or blended models

August 20, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Weighing outsourced recruitment, versus in-house or blended models

Content Team

August 20, 2019

Outsourced recruitment vs. in-house recruitment, or indeed even a blend of both: what makes the best sense for your business?

In some cases, the answer lies somewhere in between, via a blended talent model.

There isn’t one right answer. What we can probably all agree on, however, is that attracting the best talent certainly requires an agile approach.

Recruitment must be as flexible as any other business function, if not more so.

Perhaps your business has found itself at a hiring crossroads. Or, perhaps HR is undertaking a cyclical review of the wider talent acquisition and management functions.

Notably, more business leaders are incorporating outsourced recruitment (also known as recruitment process outsourcing, or RPO) into their talent strategy. The global RPO market is expected to produce a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.1% from 2019-2027, according to industry reports. (See note 1.)

Market trends are worth considering. But, on a more local level, how do you know whether outsourced recruitment could benefit your talent strategy?

We’d like to help you launch a healthy conversation with your fellow business partners. Let’s start with something relatively simple, a snapshot of the conditions that can help justify each talent strategy:

Outsourced recruitment (RPO)

Hiring niche roles beyond the core competency of your business
Moving into new global territories
High agency costs because of low retention
Facing compliance issues
Sudden, high-volume hiring
Recruitment tech implementation challenges

In-house

Steady recruiting needs across your organization
Primarily recruiting for roles in your company’s wheelhouse
Sudden recruiting demands don’t disrupt essential HR functions
Geographically contained hiring

Blended (RPO and in-house)

Short-term volume hiring to launch a new location
New hiring projects that disrupt HR’s daily activities
Growing use of a contingent workforce
Compliance knowledge shortfall
Recruiting for a mission-critical job category is falling behind (sourcing can help)
Need to re-envision your employer brand
Existing in-house team or RPO partner lacks industry expertise for role category

Evaluating outsourced recruitment and all options

Of course, the line between each of these models is dotted. They’re never hard and fast.

Best practice reveals that the ability to pivot between them at any point is essential. And, from what we see, the most powerful recruitment benefits from open collaboration across your business and often between multiple providers.

In today’s fast-changing marketplace, many companies are re-envisioning their talent strategy. There are many reasons for this, from the rise of remote working to the proliferation of uncertain political environments.

When it comes to designing a talent strategy that suits your long-term goals while meeting your current needs, the best path forward isn’t always obvious.

Outsourced recruitment, in-house recruitment, or a blended strategy?

What works for one enterprise, may not suit another.

There will be many internal and market-wide factors to consider. The decision will ultimately depend on much more than a snapshot list of factors, but the bullet points can help spark a healthy debate with business stakeholders.

Want more insights on how to evaluate talent models? Be sure to read Mark Rogers’ views on how to select the best talent delivery model. With a track record that includes client-side recruitment, Mark knows well what it’s like to sit in the HR decision-maker’s hot seat!

Notes

1.) The Insight Partners: Recruitment Process Outsourcing Market to 2027 – Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type and Industry. Accessed 20 August 2019. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/4762285/recruitment-process-outsourcing-market-to-2027

Archives for August 2019

Finance recruitment: the race to hire top engineers and tech talent

The challenges with hiring technologists in finance

In finance, demand for tech talent is accelerating

In short supply? These are the top tech skills needed in finance

How the world of finance can secure top tech talent

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Multilingual recruitment specialists + tech = talent power

Go for a global talent strategy with multilingual recruitment specialists based in the UK

Discover 3 big reasons to invest in multilingual recruitment

Fuel your domestic or international talent acquisition strategy with multilingual talent sourcing

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Benefits of RPO solutions: discover 5 advantages praised by leaders

1. Cost reduction

2. Ability to scale and flex

3. Quality of hire

4. Reduced vacancy time

5. Enhanced employer brand

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

10 signs your business could grow faster, stronger, with RPO partners

1. Sudden hiring disrupts HR operations

2. There’s high turnover among your recruiters

3. You need niche skills outside your main focus

4. Recruitment costs are climbing

5. Employer brand is lacking

6. Diversity goals aren’t being met

7. Recruitment tech is outdated

8. The big picture is out of focus

9. On-boarding processes are inconsistent

10. Patchwork use of agencies

When to consider RPO partners

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Benefits of RPO: discover 3 ways your HR team can reduce costs

1. Cost reduction through shared risk

2. Faster time to hire

3. Streamlined recruitment processes

All of these factors contribute to achieving lower cost per hire – your ultimate goal.

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Weighing outsourced recruitment, versus in-house or blended models

Outsourced recruitment (RPO)

In-house

Blended (RPO and in-house)

Evaluating outsourced recruitment and all options

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Download our Latest Guide