FinTech: Why More Strategic Recruiting is Essential

Fintech accounts for about 50 per cent of venture capital in the UK. As macro-economic conditions usher in a slowdown in the number of deals and level of capital investment more broadly, investment in Fintech grew 24 per cent in the first half of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021 (Source: FT advisor).

With the increase in funding cuts and layoffs in 2023, FinTech’s, like other businesses, must find ways to stay innovative at a lower cost. As always, hiring the right talent is paramount to staying ahead of the competition; however, with the increased financial pressures, how should companies face this challenge?

In the first five months of 2023, more than 168,000 people lost their jobs in tech. Some of the biggest names in FinTech, including Stripe, PayPal and Klarna, are just a few who have made mass redundancies to cut costs.

The battle for innovation, profitability and growth are all being juggled; however, without the right people on board who can develop, launch, market and sell services, no company can survive. 

With the increase of new payment systems, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and B2B adoption driving transactions, FinTech’s are facing increasing regulatory demands. With fewer resources in terms of people, FinTech’s could be faced with growth implications. 

The FinTech industry is not the only sector being implicated by the current global economy; however, the scale of job losses is likely to directly impact the speed of innovation and development of new technology.

Why do Fintech companies need to consider specialist recruitment assistance?

There are over 27,000 recruitment companies in the UK alone. The tech world has an abundance of choices when picking a recruitment partner; however, the FinTech Recruitment sector is faced with a shortage of specialised knowledge and talent from the recruiters within it. Generic recruiters lack the essential expertise, network and understanding to fill complex technical roles that FinTech’s require, especially in the technical fields, which are some of the most in-demand roles in 2023.

Another issue FinTech’s face from generic tech recruiters is that they are primarily localised with limited global coverage, which is needed to find talent where it needs to be. Specialist FinTech recruiters will better understand the screening process and be able to actively seek out the right profiles you are looking for, regardless of the location.

Many companies work with multiple recruiters to find talent in different locations or roles, such as technical and sales. However, working with one recruiter with specialist knowledge and the capabilities FinTech’s require will streamline the recruitment process and increase recruitment success.

Other benefits of working with one specialist recruiter include better business representation, which equates to a better business reputation and much more leverage to negotiate better fees. 

The cost of a bad hire

Cost is a significant consideration for every business this year; however, companies must make better investment choices when choosing a recruitment partner or hire. 

A bad hire can cost companies 10x an individual’s annual salary, including hiring fees, interview time, onboarding, missed revenue and deadlines. These costs will likely increase further if businesses work with multiple, wrong or unspecialised recruitment partners. 

This then leads to the cost of an open headcount and implications such as sales losses, development delays and missed opportunities. You can download our ‘Cost of an open headcount’ white paper, which contains more information.

Strategic hiring for FinTech’s

As technology advances, FinTech’s need to keep pushing boundaries and innovating. Even more importantly, they need to have the right people on board to drive this.

FinTech’s are taking more consideration when spending, which also presents the need to consider their hiring strategies carefully to create more transformative and productive teams rather than simply producing larger ones.