General Observations
Following a year of heightened caution in terms of recruitment activity and a spotlight on cost control across the Financial Services landscape , 2024 has begun with more optimism, confidence and fluidity in the market, both in terms of job flow and employees’ appetite to move. That said, we are nowhere near the levels of the post-Brexit years, but can feel a corner has been turned.
There is certainly more confidence in the market and generally a positive sentiment on behalf of job seekers to move roles. However, we caveat that with the fact that the top talent on the market will generally look for a pay rise in the region of 15% – 20% and/or increased flexibility on their current situation.
There is also certainly a general sentiment across the profession that teams are under resourced with many candidates now being asked to do more with less. We certainly see this as a push factor for many individuals to consider moving roles. Increasing regulatory burden with the likes of IAF and heighted CBI supervision across many firms is a further factor in this regard.
We are still in a candidate short market across the Risk & Compliance professions, particularly in niche sectors of Financial Services such as Fund Management. As a result, employees often hold the upper hand in negotiations. However, we are now beginning to see companies sticking more rigidly to budgets and to specific days in the office, 3 still being the most common but with 4 days in not uncommon now.
Skills in demand
- Monitoring / Risk Assurance
- Multi-jurisdictional experience
- Financial Crime
- Regulatory Change/Horizon Scanning
- Third Party Risk
- Enterprise Risk
- Business Resilience
- Risk modelling
Advice to candidates
The market has been in a state of flux over the past 12 months with demand not at the levels of previous years. There is, however, still a shortage of highly qualified and experienced Compliance & Risk professionals, and firms are now being more cautious when it comes to their hiring.
With this in mind and when considering a move, it is important to understand what technical and soft skills you can offer an employer and tailor your search to firms who can cater to those skills. It can be easy to accept a role which offers more money or more flexibility, however, a key question to ask is whether that role is going to help you achieve your overall career objectives.
We urge a focus on continued progression and becoming a subject matter expert in your chosen discipline. We also urge caution when setting your salary expectation and hydrid working requirements as you can preclude yourself from certain roles if you are rigid around these requirements.
Advice to employers
We remain in a market where employees are cautious about jumping ship, so employers need to be aware of this when going to market. Employees are no longer jumping at the first opportunity to come their way and we still have relative low supply of suitably qualified Risk & Compliance professionals, particularly in niche areas.
With this in mind, our advice to employers is to be as flexible as possible in regard to the technical requirements of a role, budgets and your hybrid working arrangements. It can be wise to focus on potential and attitude rather than technical knowledge, particularly for junior roles. Consider the transferable skills that an individual may have and actively promote the reasons why someone should join your firm at interview stage.
Read our latest blog about how the Individual Accountability Framework will impact staff attraction and retention here.
