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Financial Services CEOs cite skill shortage issues
Financial services business leaders have identified skill shortages as one major barrier to growth in the future. How can this problem be solved?
Financial services businesses are suffering through skill shortages.
New talent and skills are vital for the global financial services (FS) sector. As well as offering new practices and techniques, the world's ageing population demands that businesses start hiring for the future.
Skill shortages slow progress
PwC press room: Skills shortage & speed of technological change of key concern to Financial Services CEOs https://t.co/wOkukAQt9p #CEOSurvey
— PwC Press (@pwc_press) February 15, 2016
As part of its Shifting Demands, Competing Priorities: Adjusting to the New Talent Realities in Financial Services report, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) polled close to 500 FS CEOs from around the world. Based on the results, the widespread skill shortages in this recruitment market are threatening growth - cited by 70 per cent of respondents.
In fact, a lack of available skill sets and technological change were cited as the biggest threats to expansion.
PwC's FS HR consulting leader Jon Terry explained that, while many industry leaders recognise that new skills are key for the years ahead, there is still conjecture about the best way to progress.
"There are no clear-cut answers within this complex and fast-shifting talent landscape," he said.
"However, a combination of innovation and pragmatism can help to broaden options for addressing skills needs and enable FS to respond quicker to changing demands."
Wider recruitment strategy changes required
In recent years, the way FS enterprises recruit has changed considerably as a result of technology. This issue has taken recruitment managers away from the fundamentals of what type of talent is required, how these skills can be assessed and then retained over a long period of time.
As such, PwC suggested FS business leaders go back to basics and form a recruitment strategies that identify key skills and talent needs. Part of this may include focussing on the needs of the next generation - millennials.
Generation Y vital for progressive future
According to Deloitte, those born after 1982 will make up three-quarters of the world's workforce by 2025. However, since the consultancy group noted that 50 per cent plan to switch jobs within the next 24 months, businesses across many industries will need to work hard to firstly recruit, and then retain their services.
"Leadership skills can and should be developed at every level of an organisation."
Based on its fifth annual Millennial Survey, Deloitte Sustainability Services partner Paul Dobson explained that 69 per cent of respondents would leave a business if their leadership skills weren't being developed.
"Leadership skills can and should be developed at every level of an organisation," he said.
"With the shift from positional power to personal power the importance of being able to influence and lead others is important for everyone in an organisation, irrespective of generation."
If your financial services enterprise is looking to recruit for the future, the strategy and focus taken needs to be flawless. This is where our expert recruitment team can be of assistance.
Ethos BeathChapman is an Executive Recruitment Specialist focussed on the mid-senior candidate market across Asia, Australia and EMEA.
By Andrew McPherson