n 2022, HW People achieved many things: we moved to more modern offices in Leeds and Manchester due to expansion, grew our team, which included internal promotions, and worked extensively on a variety of roles from a range of different sectors; from Financial Services, Retail, Healthcare to Manufacturing. This resulted in a delivery of over 40 senior level assignments, covering both interim and permanent hires across the £70k – £120k range, 98% of which were successfully delivered. We are excited to continue our success, and, in this article, we highlight some of the most in-demand fields according to insights from LinkedIn, to help provide an overview of what to expect in 2023.
Technology requirements are among the fastest growing in the last five years. A key contributor to this is continued growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within many different business sectors. One sector in particular that is noticeably taking advantage of AI is Financial Services, which has led to an increase in the need for technology skills within the sector.
The Financial Services industry is expected to be unrecognisable in the next 10 years due to the recent advancements in AI and companies within the industry are more aware of the many benefits the technology has to offer. One way in particular AI can help strengthen the industry is through fraud prevention. Reports state that global losses from fraud payments are expected to hit £40.6 billion by 2027. Companies such as Deutsche Bank are utilising AI to help prevent such losses. They recently partnered with a Visa-owned company Cybersource to create an automated fraud detection system dubbed “Decision Manager”. The system uses AI to calculate the risk values for each individual transaction, helping prevent the possibility of fraud. Companies like Deutsche are continuing to utilise the AI benefits, which has coincided with the rise in technology talent demand.
HW People has partnered with extensive financial services clients, placing candidates predominately across the finance, treasury, and IT disciplines. Our Leeds office is heavily focused on this particular industry as we have worked on an increased number of recent searches, with companies embarking on restructuring and enhancing their technology capability.
Another field with increased demand for talent is within sustainability. Insights from LinkedIn suggest that roles in sustainability are amongst the fastest growing, with companies facing more and more pressure to support in providing a greener economy.
Sustainability is a theme on the rise in many different industries, with a huge influence coming from COP26. The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, at COP26 world leaders gathered to discuss the issues with climate change and how to battle the matter at hand. Plans were outlined for UK companies to become net zero by 2050, with reports suggesting that companies in the energy industry need to recruit around 400,000 people to meet this target. This topic is now high on most organisations’ strategic agenda.
At HW People, we have developed collaborative working relationships with several companies that look to continue their talent requirements in sustainability. We look forward to helping support candidates that will contribute to a greener economy. In terms of candidates’ requirements, we are also aware that ESG is high on their agenda when choosing who to work for.
Along with Technology and Sustainability, Human Resource is also among the fastest growing disciplines, with reports suggesting growth of 8% from 2021 to 2031. Human Resource plays a key role in the operational and strategic direction of an organisation. With a greater awareness and emphasis on mental health wellbeing, it is no surprise companies are improving the ways they support their people in a variety of ways. Both recruitment and retention and the ability to engage more authentically with employees is paramount.
Companies like EY have a “Better You” program in place to help support its employees financially, socially and emotionally. The program offers assurances such as counselling, mindfulness training and meditation sessions. Fresh research has also shown empathy to be an efficient way of improving positivity and production in the workplace. It was reported that 86% of people felt able to navigate their own workload when shown empathy by company leaders. With strong evidence suggesting that improved mental health wellbeing increases productivity, it is clear why #humanresource is on the rise. The field plays a major role in focusing on the real core of the business, the #employees.
At HW People, we are aware of the ongoing struggles with mental health and continually look to support candidates in roles, helping to improve their overall wellbeing by sharing transparency on the #culture, #values, and #environment. To help support our own employees, we do regular socials and provide a work-life balance with #hybrid working in order to keep our staff #happy and #healthy. We also have access to an on-site gym to support our team and enable them to spend time away from their desks at lunchtime – and come back energised!
Part of the HW Group, HW People partners with clients to help overcome talent challenges across the emerging leader’s arena, providing a service-led approach and market insight. If you would like to discuss any of these topics in more detail or gain further insight into HW People and how we deliver our specialised searches, please get in touch at hello@hwpeople.com.
