The year 2020 has been a challenging one for the treasury recruitment industry. Each and every one of our stakeholders has been affected in some way by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether as a candidate, client or both.
Regardless of the role you play in your treasury team and wider organisation, you will doubtless have been required to drastically alter the way in which you work and think when it comes to recruitment. Whether you’ve made an offer and on-boarded a remote hire into your team over the past year or been on the receiving end of a job offer, each scenario has come with its own unique set of challenges and complications that, typically, we’ve never encountered before.
There is no question that the pandemic has greatly impacted candidates this year and in particular their appetite to explore the market and consider a move to pastures new. With the uncertainty that COVID-19 has brought to the market, many candidates understandably decided to halt their job searches at the beginning of Q2, concluding that the safest decision was to remain in their current employment in order to guarantee job security.
It’s taken time, but with every week that goes by confidence among our candidates improves – fuelled by positive news surrounding the vaccine, the return of furloughed staff and the news that some of us will be returning to offices in the new year.
In recent months, we have seen a steady increase in the number of candidates we are registering, with many citing increased workloads and pressure in their existing roles. For many, those increased burdens are eroding their sense of motivation and leading them to question their future in their current roles.
Inevitably, the number of approaches will continue to increase following the Christmas break, which will put us in good stead to meet our clients’ requirements for new mandates come the start of 2021.
Regardless of COVID-19, we continue to operate in a fiercely competitive market. Top calibre treasury candidates won’t remain on the market for long.
Looking ahead to 2021, we will maintain that a swift and speedy remote recruitment process is key to attracting and securing top talent.
When it comes to our clients’ experiences over the course of 2020, again this can be summarised as one of mixed emotions and immense feelings of uncertainty, which has ultimately resulted in the halting of hiring for many. Sadly, this left numerous teams understaffed and overworked.
When it comes to larger clients, immediate hiring freezes and budget cuts unfortunately put an end to many of the hiring plans for 2020. Several of our clients told us of the challenges they faced with regards to key projects, such as TMS implementations, being placed on hold almost overnight. Alongside that came an instant need to cut ‘unnecessary’ costs, including a reduced need for experienced interims, which is why we saw such a dramatic dip in interim hiring in the early days of lockdown.
It is only since the start of Q4 that we are seeing an improvement in this area, and it appears the interim market is rebooting ready for the new year.
During the early stages of the pandemic, many of our clients voiced their concerns over making remote hires and on-boarding them successfully. Our team now sees these hiring strategies as the new normal and is well placed to assist any treasurer looking to make their first remote hire in the new year.
Laura Beasley is a manager at Michael Page Treasury