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Finding talent for the Financial Services Industry: Your six-step guide

Skills have become a powerful currency, with 77% of employers reporting difficulty in finding the talent they need. Organisations across the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) industry are no exception.
 
Communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills are in high demand, teamed with demonstrable financial expertise. Mounting pressure to deliver a technologically enhanced, hyper-personalised experience to customers creates a need for digital proficiency and an aptitude for learning, amid ongoing digital disruption.
 
We’ve teamed up with industry leaders, the Everest Group, to provide you with an in-depth analysis of the current climate, along with an action plan to secure, manage and retain the talent you need.
 
In this blog, I dig deeper into some of the steps we recommend to ensure your business remains bold – and crucially, ahead of the curve . To access your six-stepworkforce strategy, download our latest report now.
 
 

Key workforce strategy #1: Adopt agile recruiting methods

 
Digital transformation is leaving no stone unturned. As a result, BFSI organisations are competing for talent not just with ‘challenger’ FinTech companies, but also leading healthcare, technology and renewable energy firms who can promise big benefits and exciting career opportunities.
 
In response, we’re seeing more organisations explore ‘non-traditional’ methods such as direct sourcing. Already hugely popular as part of a permanent talent strategy, direct sourcing leverages the authority of your brand to attract candidates, shaping a faster and more flexible hiring process.
 
Your next steps:
 
  • Build your pipeline of pre-identified candidates, widening the net to include boomerang employees and referrals.
  • Enhance your employer brand by aligning to candidate desires, such as a commitment to innovation and sustainability, as well as evident career development opportunities.
  • Define your KPIs for additional sourcing methods, such as time-to-fill.
 

Key workforce strategy #2: Foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)

 
Today’s challenges can’t be solved with ‘traditional’ talent networks. Businesses will need to shape a DE&I roadmap that attracts previously untapped talent sources, enhancing their employer brand to ensure they are first choice for future talent.
 
Bringing together a broader spectrum of skills, experiences and opinions will also benefit organisations who are tasked with implementing new technologies amid a complex (and often unforgiving) regulatory environment.
 
Here’s our top tips to kickstart your DE&I commitment:
 
  • Conduct a thorough examination of the current state within your organisation, with a focus on identifying shortcomings.
  • Create a comprehensive DE&I roadmap, with defined end goals against which to measure your performance.
  • Consider the diversity of your supply chain – do you use female-owned, or minority owned businesses?
 

Key workforce strategy #3: Reimagine the candidate experience

 
In a tight talent market, first impressions matter. An automated, intuitive and consistent candidate experience will be critical in the battle for skills.
 
Workforce solution providers such as Hays can support organisations in optimising the candidate experience – at each stage of the hiring process or as part of an end-to-end review. Chatbots and satisfaction surveys are readily available, ensuring convenience for candidates and clients alike.
 
The key areas of focus:
 
  • Find ways to facilitate communication and engagement between candidates and their hiring managers.
  • Remove ‘excess effort’; implementing intuitive technology that allows candidates to submit vital information with just a few clicks.
  • Streamline the admin associated with timesheets, expenses and approvals.
 

Bank on our expertise

 
A growing number of organisations are partnering with workforce solutions providers to leverage cost-efficiencies, tap into relevant geographical regions and adopt new technologies. We’ve given the BFSI industry ‘major adopter’ status of Managed Service Programme and Recruitment Process Outsourcing models, owing to the need for scalable and specialised solutions.
 
Talent is an organisation’s foundational and most vital asset. Invest in your future, today.
 

 

AUTHORS

Nigel Kirkham
CEO of Enterprise Solutions at Hays

Nigel Kirkham has spent the last 30+ years driving growth in major global businesses. A strong, transformative Chief Growth Officer, he brings a Big 6 Consulting Partner background as well as large-scale BPO and outsource business experience. A blend of strong business acumen and C-level operating experience help deliver high revenue growth and business expansion. His most recent positions include TMF Group, the global Financial Services business where he sat on the ExCo as Chief Client Officer; Avanade, the JV between Accenture and Microsoft, a global tech giant and largest implementor of Microsoft technology in the world, where he was Global Head of Sales; CSC (Computer Science Corporation), the tech giant (now DXC Technology), where he ran several Industry Verticals, including Financial Services, Retail & Consumer Goods, Transport and Technology. Prior to this he ran Xansa’s consulting business in the US, where he was based in New York. He also spent 12 years in KPMG Management Consulting, the last 5 years as a Partner in KPMG Consulting in the UK. In this role he also spent c 4 years in the Middle East, setting up and running KPMG’s business in the Lower Gulf, where he was based in Abu Dhabi.

Outside of work, he spends his time between houses in Hampshire and Cornwall in the UK, with his partner Daisy. His son Toby works as an Account Executive for Sony Entertainment, and his daughter Milly has recently started a Graduate Management Training programme with tech giant DXC Technologies. .

 

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