5 ways to fill your financial services vacancies more efficiently.

Want to fill your financial services vacancies quicker? Here are some best practices we have gleaned over our years of experience to achieve this

We have worked tirelessly with a number of very high profile wealth management organisations over the years. As the world continues to evolve, we are also now seeing a huge uplift in recruitment drives from smaller burgeoning businesses who have a target for growth and expansion. What we have learned from our experiences is that no two businesses are the same and there are a lot of nuances in their approach to recruitment. We do, however, see a theme of where good practices deliver a timely and successful fulfilment and that this can ensure that those expansion plans are implemented quickly and can start to deliver the strategies that are finely honed to meet the requirements of the financial services recruiting environment. 

1). Have a clear brief online and between a recruiter so they can complete accurate vetting of candidates before putting them forward.

Having a very clear brief in terms of what roles you want to fill is essential. This should be documented to demonstrate the key skills and experience you are seeking, but also, really importantly the type of candidate you would want to bring to your business. What values do you want them to possess? What personality attributes will fit well within your teams? Using a methodology such as Talent Dynamics, you can identify how to create a cohesive and fully complementary team based on individual attributes. Too many chefs in the kitchen can create tension, so if you identify what attributes will work well with your existing teams, you can be very specific in terms of who you are looking for. At Aspire, we feel this element is vital to the success of a fulfilment, as finding a candidate who will perfectly complement a business ensures that the recruitment is done well and only once for that role, thus saving time and energy finding a replacement if the fit is not quite right.

2). Craft a proposition that is competitive to ensure candidates are attracted to the role.

Especially within Financial services, there are different approaches to wealth management – restricted or unrestricted products, a self employed or employed role, different levels of support available, access to a client book or self generation. How a package and proposition is built can open out your potential talent pool, equally, it can make it quite small if there are narrower remits or a remuneration package that is below the market offering. We have a huge amount of insight into what other clients are doing for potential candidates so understand what is an easy sell. We are very happy to discuss your proposition and where potential changes could generate a wider attraction to a higher calibre of candidate.

3). Consistent and transparent dialogue between you and your recruiter.

If you want to expedite your recruitment activity succinctly and without having to screen numerous CVs before even getting to an interview stage, the relationship with a recruiter is key. Creating a relationship of transparency and honesty can deliver huge benefits to your business. We have seen time and time again, clients coming back to us as the relationships are solid and built on openness. If there are changes within your business, or a need to change the proposition, having a direct line into your third party supplier will ensure that the very latest information is being transmitted. This relationship will also underpin the process throughout the recruitment activity. From understanding what your business brief is, to discussing the potential candidates for selection, through to the interview feedback and offer negotiation – your recruiting partner can provide an invaluable source of insight as well as the additional bandwidth leaving you free to concentrate on other activities.

4). Timely and insightful feedback – if it’s not quite right, then why?

As with everything – time is our most valuable commodity. In a recruitment world, things can move quickly, markets change in response to the outside forces, other propositions from competitors pop up, so it is imperative that you have a clear idea on how quickly you want to move. This is to understand how long you want to advertise your role for, how long you want to spend on interviewing and when you ideally would like to have a candidate join your business. In some cases, these timescales can be so protracted, we have seen candidates remove themselves from the process entirely as it just takes too long. It is indeed also a reflection of your own business (which you are selling to potential candidates), on how good your internal processes are. If the perception is one of slight disorganisation and incoherent timings, this will not reflect positively on the image you want to attract new talent. 

There are of course, no hard and fast rules between elapsed timings at each stage of the recruitment process, but we would typically expect progression between CVs receipts to interviews to be within 1 week, with 2nd interviews the following week – any further assessments concluded soon after and offers being made within 4 weeks of initiating the process. Factoring in the notice periods of potential candidates may mean you want to move quicker if logistically possible. We have also seen how assessment centres, psychometrics, presentations, case study reviews can add into the length (and stress) of a recruitment process, often causing some candidates to drop out as this is too onerous. We understand that this may be in itself a characteristic you would like to bring into your business, someone who is not afraid of vigorous analysis, but, we would also suggest there is a balance to be had to ensure the methodology used is absolutely the right one to deliver your best candidate selections.

5). Slick on-boarding processes and administration - the candidate experience is paramount

As a final golden rule, understand that bad publicity travels further than positive news. If candidates start to have an unfulfilled, slow, protracted or unprofessional experience, they will share this. Your proposition becomes harder to fill as news travels. Sadly, it is true that mud can stick and we have experiences of candidates who hear a name of a firm and recoil as they have a colleague/friend/acquaintance who did not have a pleasant recruitment experience.