Perfect Storm Hitting Recruitment Market

Businesses hiring staff in today’s buoyant software recruitment market will not succeed in finding the right candidates if they don’t invest sufficient time, money and expertise in the process, warns an industry specialist.

Tristan Heywood, divisional director at expanding Poole-based global software and fintech executive recruitment consultancy Oakstone International, says a rapid growth in demand allied to a shortage of qualified talent is creating a highly challenging market for companies wishing to expand.

“I’ve spent 21 years at Oakstone and I can’t remember a time when we have been busier. Literally every tech company is hiring at scale, which is not only driving salaries up, but also challenging candidates to make the right decision – and that situation is unlikely to change in the near future.”

“There are simply not enough qualified/experienced resources to deliver against the demand across every function – whether that’s technical, marketing, consulting or sales – the average candidate is overwhelmed with offers and for many, the primary metric for measuring an opportunity is on the salary rather than a holistic focus on earnings, culture and genuine career prospects.”

Tristan, who joined Oakstone in 2000, pinned some of the challenges on the volume of recruiters in the technology segment, ultimately diluting the recruiter-candidate-client interaction, with candidates receiving significantly more cold approaches over the past 12-18 months.

He added: “Rather than work on the basis of volume (and throwing as many moderately suitable candidates at a client), our role is to apply thoroughness and detail to the process of attracting quality people. We don’t cut corners and invest time in finding and qualifying the right profile for each respective position. Introducing poorly qualified candidates damages our reputation, wastes the time of candidate & client and also delays the process.”

Tristan, who recruits mostly tech salespeople, said the recent rise of remote recruiting, initially driven by the pandemic, had sped up procedures by around 25 per cent even though companies had also built in 25 per cent more layers and touchpoint through heavy investment in recruitment in an attempt to secure the right people.

Software is now driving everything…

He said: “Software is now driving everything – new banks are essentially technology platforms – and traditional industries are being fully automated by tech and therefore the demand for staff is constant and is only getting bigger and greater and more difficult.

“Companies will also have to think about how to sell their brand to attract the right people. Packaging your opportunity based on earning scope, leadership, personal development and culture will be critical. Otherwise you are in a straight salary shoot-out and if you don’t sell a vision then the risk is that highest payer will win”

Oakstone International divisional director Dan Hammond-Smith, who looks after FinTech and technical recruitment, said: “As we continue to move towards a hybrid working model, most clients who we partner with have adapted and adjusted.

“Those that haven’t – and those that aren’t willing to – will lose candidates because employees are more than ever calling the shots about when they want to be in the office. People’s priorities have changed.

“There is probably a 20 per cent increase in terms of base salaries within senior technology roles from even where we were last year – coupled expectations of bonus, decent pensions, investment in people’s betterment, learning and well-being – and you have a pretty competitive landscape.

“At the start of 2021, the standard interview process within technology was 27.5 days – now, for most of my clients, it’s 14 days. That’s because they have now got to be even more competitive in the market to succeed.”

Oakstone International, founded by current Chief Executive Officer Paul Rayner in 1995, is an executive search firm delivering recruitment solutions to software, technology, telecoms and mobile communications sectors globally.

The consultancy reported record 61 per cent growth in revenue year-on-year in 2021, increased global hires for clients by 41 per cent and saw its financial technology (FinTech) software division grow by 50 per cent in six months.