2022: a record year for recruitment in UK financial services

January 18, 2023

Across the UK’s financial services sectors, we’ve pulled together a review of the live recruitment data we captured in 2022.

A consistent need for executive roles

2022 started with an explosion of hiring across the talent acquisition space – which increased month on month until the year’s midpoint.

“Executive recruitment remained fairly constant throughout the year.”

We then noticed more businesses hiring HR generalists across all levels – particularly HR Business Partners to help deliver HR strategies that drive performance, growth and commercial outcomes.

Alongside this, there was also an increased demand for specialist HR hires such as payroll and reward which continues to grow every year.

Executive recruitment remained fairly constant throughout the year with a record number of HR Director and Chief People Officer hires supported by Frazer Jones.

More diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) roles

We were pleased to see more hiring across DEI and wellbeing professions – two big-ticket roles that have accelerated since the pandemic across the financial services space.

“DEI professionals specifically focus on addressing bias, reviewing policies and enabling inclusive language.”

This increase in opportunities is mostly driven by the industry’s growing requirements to hire employees who specifically focus on DEI to address bias, review policies and enable inclusive language throughout their businesses.

More interim professionals across finance

Throughout 2022, we also saw more need for interim hiring – reaching another record.

“Professionals have step-changed or pursued less traditional careers due to the evolving world of work.”

This is likely caused by the growing popularity of interim careers where employees prefer flexibility over permanent roles.

This is another trend we’ve seen since Covid-19 where professionals have step-changed or pursued less traditional careers due to the evolving world of work.

Supporting disruptors in fintech

We were excited to launch our fintech, open banking and payment recruitment services last year, supporting specialist firms across this sector as well as our existing private equity portfolio tech clients.

“We’ve become part of a movement directly benefiting the consumer.”

Since entering this market, we’ve become part of a movement that is directly benefiting the consumer and enabling disruptors to drive forward.

Looking to the future

In 2023, we will launch our change and transformation recruitment services – working closely with our networks and industry influencers to help HR decision makers overcome their core challenges by transforming their culture and engaging their workforce. Watch this space for more.

We will also be running some network groups across a range of levels to discuss market challenges, insights and solutions. We are keen to talk with you if you are interested.

We look forward to another exciting year working with our networks of clients and candidates.