STRATEGIC HIRING - HOW TO GET AHEAD OF THE CURVE

Sharp Consultancy's Salary Survey 2025/26: Resetting the Landscape: Strategic Shifts in Finance Recruitment

It would be remiss not to start by addressing the elephant in the room — 2024 was a challenging year.While there were many reasons for this and numerous industries were affected, recruitment likely bore the brunt of it, particularly in the 6 months post-election(s).Whilst key roles and critical hires remained unaffected, certain head counts and processes were scrutinised and investment paused with internal restructures and automation utilised to reduce costs, in some instances, at the expense of employees. We subsequently saw an increase in candidate activity, with the talent pool strengthening. As those pressures eased in Quarter 4, recruitment processes saw improvement and green shoots have emerged. Optimism is on the rise in key hiring processes, albeit with a caveat. The cloud of additional cost increases in April, which is still dissipating. The senior finance and C-Suite market remains relatively unaffected, both regarding opportunities and candidates, it is the levels below that we have seen more change. In the evolving landscape of working dynamics, the volume of hybrid working is gradually waning despite sustained interest from candidates, presenting fewer job opportunities. While the blend of office and remote work remains desirable, it is no longer the predominant factor, indicating a notable shift in priorities for clients and candidates’ acceptance alike. Conversations with candidates underscore a growing desire around the importance of having a supportive mentor or manager and many professionals are increasingly open to a full-time return to the office if it guarantees enhanced guidance and avenues for professional advancement. "The salaries throughout transactional finance have stabilised across the region."Throughout the professional practice market, some similar trends have been observed but there have been noticeable differences in the past year. Salaries across the range of candidates in professional practice, from AAT to fully Qualified (ACA/ACCA) individuals are still rising and those firm’s able to offer competitive salaries alongside stronger training contracts are beating out the competition in a candidate market with a growing focus on study support packages and career advancement opportunities for Part-Qualified candidates, indicating an increase in demand from employers and the volume of available job seekers. The salaries throughout transactional finance have stabilised across the region, in what feels like the longest period of stability seen since Q4 2020 and we expect transactional finance salaries to remain stable throughout 2025/26, with anticipated salary increments to be moderate compared to the significant increases observed throughout the last 2 years. AI & Systems (process automation) continues to impact accountancy and finance, in particular, across larger functions but this has increased the need for wider interim support to assist with the transition and implementation especially with large, automated processes. Whilst 2025-26 will not be the same marketplace for recruitment as seen in previous years, there is certainly a growing level of optimism and whilst a more settled market may be seen as a negative in some areas, for those that have weathered the peaks and troughs over a longer period of time, it will feel very normal and a strong setting for both employees and employers to take advantage and thrive, with an increasing emphasis on growth and development.Download the full Salary Survey here!

Read article

Consensus. Normally it’s hard to get more than five people to agree on the time of day so it’s unusual to have such a wide consensus, consensus across hundreds of businesses and business leaders, but my anecdotal evidence is that we have just that. So what is the consensus I refer to? Just this; everyone agrees that no-one has any real idea what the next 12 months will bring. Forecasting is nigh on impossible and this would be highly amusing if it wasn’t so serious. A CFO friend of mine told me that the auditors had queried his going concern forecast. Fair enough. He asked them how they would do it differently and if they had further ideas or information that could make it more certain. The forecast stood.

And that’s the problem; how do you run a business when you really have no idea what is going to happen, when the variables are so great and there has never been so many ‘what if’s’. I can’t say I can answer that any better than anyone else.

I do know though that quality management teams nearly always find a way. Sometimes there is no solution to be found and that is terribly sad, but on the whole the best teams find a way forward. However, ‘good’ in a pre-covid economy may not be ‘good enough’ in a post-covid economy. The qualities needed to navigate a ship in calm waters may no longer be sufficient in one hell of a storm. This is praying on the minds of investors, lenders, owners and management teams a lot at the moment. I have heard of so many inspirational stories since March it just shows what is possible when the chips are down. I’ve also heard of some less inspirational stories too.

Strategic hiring is something we normally associate with a benign or growing economy, when the future looks pretty certain and rosy, where key people are tracked for some time before finally
being fitted in as the perfect peg in the perfect hole. Measured, thoughtful, careful, strategic hiring all as part of a five year master plan. Horizons are no longer five years. Or three. Three months more like and that’s stretching it on occasions.

If we accept that the only certainty is uncertainty that at least gives a business something to plan around. In turn that allows businesses to assess their capacity to cope with change, rapid and sometimes unforeseen change. You may not know what’s around the corner but you can know whether you have the capabilities to not only cope but also to extract every ounce of opportunity from whatever that ‘corner’ brings. In short, you can think strategically about your management team’s capabilities and you can and should make strategic hires before the need arises, in the knowledge that when the need becomes suddenly apparent it will already be too late to fit that perfect peg in the perfect hole.

Demand for many skills will change and for some reduce over the next year. Demand for those that can manage change and excel under stress though will be huge; supply is already diminishing.
Given the chance and a little time we at Sharp Consultancy almost always find that perfect peg. Give yourself the time to get ahead of the curve (or should that be corner) and give me a call.

Sharp Consultancy has a vastly experienced team of Executive Search consultants specialising in identifying, selecting and placing senior finance professionals in roles with owner managed
businesses, corporate plcs, private equity and venture capital firms and leading accountancy practices throughout Yorkshire, the North West and beyond. CONTACT UStoday to discuss your recruitment needs with a member of our team.