Closing theFinancial ServicesTalent Gap

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 2

Globally, the financial services industry faces a tremendous obstacle that is hindering growth. In a rapidly shifting recruiting landscape powered by new technology and changing candidate behaviors, many companies are struggling to attract and retain top talent.

Job seekers are searching for new opportunities in a market that is more transparent than ever, making it increasingly difficult for even the best-known financial services companies to compete in the search for top talent. Among the recruiting professionals that work for them, there is a prevailing consensus that the situation is getting worse, not better.

70% of financial services CEOs

see the limited availability

of skills as a real threat to

growth, according to a recent

PwC study.1

60% say that within five years,

candidates will be looking for

employment with companies

that align with their social and

cultural values.1

Attracting and retaining the most qualified individuals in a highly competitive market is difficult enough. The challenge of hiring employees who possess highly specialized skills, represent diverse perspectives, and aren’t easily lured away by a more enticing compensation package compounds the problem.

Will financial services

companies be ready?

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 3

Here we cover the most serious challenges financial services companies and recruiters face and offer some practical solutions

Recruiting candidates with a highly specialized skill set

Overcoming negative perceptions about employer brand and culture

Compliance with regulations in the financial services industry

Before expanding on each of these challenges, we introduce two popular strategies top financial service companies may find helpful in recruiting: employer branding and inbound recruiting

Public perception of the financial services industry continues to be low and, according to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer, FS is still perceived to have the lowest trust compared to other industries.2 To overcome some of these negative perceptions, successful companies take lessons from marketers, who have always faced the challenge of brand reputation and brand awareness. Research shows that nearly 70% of the sales cycle in most industries now takes place online, often before a prospect engages with a salesperson.3 This makes digital marketing essential to both sales and recruiting.

Key challenges include:

Developing a diverse workforce Recruiting Millennials

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 4

What is Employer Branding?Employer Branding is really about building your brand as an employer of choice

both inside and out, focusing not only on positive attributes of the company,

but demonstrating what it has to offer to retain existing employees and attract

future candidates.

Updating the company career website with a modern

design and clear, compelling messaging for candidates as

well as customers

Participating in social networks to highlight company

culture and shared success stories from employees

Encouraging positive feedback from both employees and customers in blogs, social networks and review sites

Publishing helpful content, focused on employee

challenges and success stories

This can be done in a variety of both active and passive ways:

Establishing a strong employer brand is just the first step to successful online recruiting.

Just as marketers must be proactive about reaching prospects with information that is most relevant to their needs, recruitment professionals must find new, creative ways to reach and engage with job seekers.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 5

Recruiters and marketers must communicate employer branding messages across multiple channels where potential employees interact ...

Such as company websites, blogs, social media, industry portals, news sites and career sites specific to the financial services industry. In addition, they need to present the most relevant information to candidates, at the right time through the right channels.

What is inbound recruiting?The challenge of employer branding requires that recruitment professionals adapt to

the new talent acquisition landscape with different skills and strategies. In the past,

it was sufficient for recruiters to be competent in sourcing and screening. Today, the

most successful recruitment professionals more closely resemble marketers.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 6

That means engaging with the communities where ideal candidates spend time, both online and offline. In the marketing world, this is known as “inbound marketing.”

HubSpot, a marketing automation software provider, coined the term to describe this strategy of attracting strangers to a company’s website, converting visitors into leads, closing leads into customers and continuing to delight customers so they become loyal brand ambassadors.

Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters

Attract Convert Close Delight

BlogKeywords

Social Publishing

FormsCalls-to-ActionLanding Pages

CRMEmail

Workflows

SurveysSmart Content

Social Monitoring

Using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention, by creating content specifically designed to appeal to your ideal customers

Using a strategic approach to attract, nurture and ultimately hire and retain top talent by providing them with the right information at the right time and gradually nurturing them into employment

Inbound Marketing Inbound Recruiting

Inbound Marketing

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 7

Together, employer branding and inbound recruiting can help financial services companies overcome many of the challenges they face in closing the talent gap.

To attract the best talent, recruiters can borrow some best practices from the inbound marketer’s toolkit Inbound recruiting views candidates as “leads” and adopts an approach that

involves attracting highly qualified candidates into the talent pool, converting

them into applicants, making the application process easy, hiring them and

turning them into talent ambassadors.

Attract Engage Hire Delight

TalentProspects Visitors Leads Employee Advocates

Career Site

Blog Posts

Social Media

Employer Brand Content

Partner Sites

Calls-to-Action

Landing Pages

Talent Conversion Forms

Email Campaigns

Talent Lead Tracking

Nuture Workflows

Analytics

Social Inbox

Smart Content

8Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap

Five important challenges facing employers and recruiters

Let’s take a closer look at several specific talent acquisition challenges

and how smart financial services companies are addressing them and how

employer branding and inbound recruiting can help.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 9

In their place, to meet more stringent compliance regulations, concerns about information security and the growth of financial technology, companies are creating a greater demand for positions with these specialized skill sets. Recent regulations—including laws against money laundering, Basel III risk management regulations5 and the Federal Reserve’s Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR)6—have brought compliance and risk management to the forefront.

Recruiting candidates with highly specialized skillsMany of the traditional positions for which financial services companies recruit

are dwindling or vanishing altogether. Stock traders, loan officers and many back-

office employees are increasingly being replaced by technology.

“Throughout the second half of 2015 and moving into Q1 2016, model governance has

been the most vital area of coverage for a number of tier-one financial institutions.

Banks are under a tremendous amount of regulatory pressure, and [prior to] CCAR

deadlines [in] March, teams [were] going full throttle with hiring permanent employees,

as well as seasonal consultants.”

—Kareem Bakr, Head of Credit Risk Recruitment, Americas, Selby Jennings7

Challenge 1

are expected to be eliminated in the next 10 to 20 years.4

80 million jobs in the United States

15 million jobsin the U.K.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 10

Solution 1

Some of the hottest jobs in the industry now include7:

Attract high-potential candidates before they are looking Traditional methods of recruiting tend to overlook opportunities to engage with the estimated 75% of candidates8 who aren’t actively looking for a job and are instead seeking to manage their careers more closely. We call them “career managers.” These potential candidates are typically engaged in their career, consuming content and keeping up with the news and evolution in the industry. Their reputation is well-established, and they feel relatively secure in their positions and careers; however, if the right opportunity presented itself, they could be persuaded to move.

Companies can attract these career managers using tactics similar to the way inbound marketers prospect for leads: give talent prospects opportunities to take small steps that allow recruiters to gauge interest without requiring too much commitment. Social media posts that direct prospects to specific areas of a company website (such as the company career opportunities blog) are ideal places to begin this engagement. Blogs that tackle the most salient issues in a non-promotional way and seek feedback from experts stimulates conversation and introduces thought leaders to one another. Blogs can pique curiosity, build brand awareness and direct professionals to learn more if they are interested.

Challenge 1

Associate and VP-level investment bankers

Credit researchers and analysts

Chief compliance officers and chief risk officers

Asset and wealth managers

Risk and compliance professionals

Data analysts

Internal auditors

Information technology experts (including machine learning, cybersecurity, user experience designers and data scientists)

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 11

Goldman Sachs maintains a careers blog

featuring everything from advice and news

about employee achievements to job openings

and information about its recruitment process.

Just as inbound marketers identify a target audience and score prospects based on demographic information and behaviors, recruitment professionals should take the time to identify ideal candidates. By talking with current top performers and using a candidate persona template as a starting point, inbound recruiters can outline the competencies, characteristics, motivations and preferred channels of ideal candidates for highly specialized positions. They then can develop messages based on what they know about these candidates and begin to engage with the potential candidates through their preferred online channels.

Example 1

The Goldman Sachs career blog

Blog posts are shared through Goldman Sachs’

social media outlets and draw attention to the

company’s careers page.

The business case for using blogs in recruitment

Company blogs are often overlooked or underutilized, but they can be an extremely effective recruiting tool when used well. This is especially true when they are part of an employer’s career site.

Blog posts give employers an outlet to tell their employer brand stories while directing fresh traffic to their website. Each published blog creates a unique page that is indexed by search engines, allowing prospects to discover a company more easily when they search for topics covered in the blog. They also assist with the recruitment process, since the majority of job searches begin online, and provide valuable content companies can promote on social media channels.

Research from HubSpot shows companies that prioritize blogging generate 55 percent more visits to their websites and are 13 times more likely to see positive ROI compared to those that don’t.8 Just as blogging helps marketers attract leads, it can help recruitment professionals attract prospective candidates to company career pages.

Blogs live on long after they have been published, providing a steady stream of search traffic to a company’s website and serving as digital ambassadors.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 12

Example 1

Quick Tips for Recruitment Professionals

Small actions add upOnce ideal candidates begin to take small actions, such as signing up to learn more at a webinar, subscribing to a blog that offers career tips, visiting your careers page or downloading a whitepaper on a topic that interests them, inbound recruiters can begin to track their behavior, gauge their interest and start to connect via email, social media and eventually, through live calls and visits. Inbound marketers do this by leveraging marketing technology and customer relationship management (CRM) software such as Salesforce and HubSpot. Similar technologies distinct from applicant tracking systems and designed specifically for fostering ongoing relationships with prospective talent prior to application have been launched over the last several years. They include Taleo, Oracle’s cloud-based talent management platform, and Bullhorn, which combines talent management software with other technologies that automates staffing and recruiting.

Have conversations with top-performing team members to help define ideal candidates across multiple functions within the organization

Create ideal candidate persona templates based on the different functions within your organization, for example, sales, marketing, management, etc.

Identify communities where these potential candidates spend time online and offline, and begin to engage with them there. Search engine marketing expert Rand Fishkin recommends looking at search engine results, surveying your target audience and identifying websites where your content can be shared9

Encourage employee referrals (even if those referred are not actively seeking a new position) and gauge interest using “soft sell” tactics

Create blogs, whitepapers and other online content specific to the needs of your ideal candidate, and monitor their interactions with it

Provide opportunities for potential candidates to take the next step when ready, such as submitting a resume or scheduling a call to discuss the opportunity

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 13

Challenge 2

Recruiting in a highly regulated industrySocial media and blogging allow financial services companies to interact with both customers and candidates in an unprecedented way. They also have helped to improve customer service, humanize brands and enhance customer loyalty. Despite recognizing the potential importance of these strategies, many financial services companies are understandably cautious about using them.

Regulatory agencies have issued rules and guidance designed to protect consumers and safeguard them against market manipulation and fraud. These rules govern everything from product fact sheets, “About us” collateral, website content to endorsements via social media platforms, blogging and native advertising.

Agencies in various nations have issued guidance, including, but not limited to:

Unfortunately, social media and online marketing regulations vary by country, making it

difficult and time-consuming for global financial services professionals to make sense of

them. Additionally, many of the rules are open to interpretation.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)

Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

National Futures Association

International Organization of Securities Commission

Financial Conduct Authority (London)

The Monetary Authority of Singapore

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority

The Banking and Financial Regulatory Committee (France)

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 14

Consult with legal and use technology to safeguard against problemsRecruitment professionals can mitigate risks by taking appropriate precautions, including coordinating with the marketing/communications teams responsible for managing social media and consulting with the legal and compliance departments to develop a workflow for approving posts.

According to Amy McIlwain, an expert on social media in the US financial industry, social media content falls into two main categories under FINRA and SEC guidelines: static content and interactive content. Most social media posts are considered interactive, meaning they are similar to speaking in front of a live audience and don’t require pre-approval (although they must be archived and reviewed later).10

Social media monitoring and publishing tools or marketing automation platforms allow financial services companies to meet common compliance concerns by vetting posts prior to publication and responding appropriately when comments or reactions are posted. Many flag posts containing certain words not permitted by regulatory authorities, such as

“guarantee” or “free,” before they go live and issue alerts when potentially harmful responses or questions are detected.

Solution 2

Additional Suggestions for Financial Services Companies

Publish comprehensive social media guidelines for employees within the employee handbook (refer to guidelines from regulatory agencies such as the American Banking Association and the Financial Conduct Authority in London)

Provide appropriate training to employees engaging with customers and job candidates on social media

Use a rigorous process for selecting and managing third-party platforms, including social media management tools, to ensure they comply with financial services industry standards

Determine who is responsible for legal and compliance oversight and monitoring of social media content and response

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 15

Three-quarters said company culture and reputation are “very important” factors when researching new job opportunities

81% said a company’s good reputation increases their likelihood to apply, with half saying it increases their likelihood a great deal

65% of respondents said they would accept a lower salary to work for a company with a good reputation

One-third of those respondents said they would be willing to accept 6 to 20% less pay if they were satisfied with a company’s reputation and culture

Overcoming negative perceptions about brand reputation and company cultureWhen it comes to attracting and retaining talent, culture and perception matter.

Our 2016 eFinancialCareers Ideal Employer Survey11 quantified the characteristics that financial services professionals desire most in a prospective employer.

Challenge 3

Trust is also crucial to creating a positive perception. Employees tend to have faith in their own companies, with 80% saying they trust them, according to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer.2 Yet among the general public, the perception is far more skeptical, with only 52% viewing these companies as trustworthy, the lowest percentage among all industries surveyed.

The Survey Showed

Culture and Perception Matter

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 16

To attract and retain new talent, financial services companies must take steps to change this perception.

Trust in own company General sector trust

Challenge 3

Lowest trust outside the industryPercent trust in own company within each industry by employees, and trust in that

industry sector among the general population

Avg. Trust All Employed

Manufacturing

Energy Retail Tele-communication

Entertainment Fashion Technology ProfessionalServices

FinancialServices

Transportation Healthcare Food and Beverage

Automotive Consumer Packaged

Goods

Education

Lowest General Sector Trust

73 70

74

75 7577 77

78 79 80

70 71 73 74 74 7467

57

66

60

64 6275

63

52

6461

6361 61

65

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 17

Taking time to discuss these questions and develop a strategy to define employer branding serves to

further a positive reputation of the company and build brand awareness among potential employees.

Challenge 3

Build trust with contentfocused on employer brandingFinancial services leaders responsible for overseeing hiring should work closely with their marketing teams to define the company’s brand story and the value it offers potential candidates. They must examine the company from a job seeker’s point of view and determine key benefits for them. Other key stakeholders, including the C-suite and employees, should be involved in this conversation to ensure employer brand attributes are grounded in truth.

Mission: What is the larger purpose of our company? (Why do we exist, and what are we doing to inspire others?)

Core values: Which values do we believe in that guide us through every decision we make and how we treat our customers?

Brand attributes: What do we want people to think about when they hear our company name? If our brand was a person, how would we describe him or her?

Employee value proposition: What can we offer to prospective employees? What makes our company an attractive place to work?

Vision: What is our promise to customers? To our employees? To the world?

Which employer brand stories can we tell? What are we doing that makes others excited to work here? How are we helping employees achieve their goals? How are we helping the communities we serve achieve theirs?

Who can tell our brand story? Make an inventory of all the stories employees can tell and find inventive and creative ways to tell them. Encouraging employees to tell the stories themselves, through blogs, videos and social media posts, will make them more believable and credible.

Questions to Consider as Companies Build Their Employer Brand

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 18

Solution 3

Some Practical Ways to Engage Employees

Encourage employees to post on their personal channels if they choose, after they have reviewed social media guidelines and attended some basic training.

Involve employees in voluntary community service initiatives. Offer incentives to encourage involvement, and share photos and videos from these events on social media.

Offer employees the opportunity to submit guest blog posts on topics where they have demonstrated expertise or experience. Sharing these posts on their own social media channels can help employees build their own personal brand in addition to building your brand.

Allow employees to “take over” a social media account for the week with specific parameters from your legal team and appropriate oversight. This allows them to share a personal perspective of working at your company that candidates may find valuable.

Designate trained employees to monitor and respond to comments on social media.

Once a company has developed a strategy, it should find ways to encourage employees to become brand ambassadors

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 19

Example 3

The blog helps to foster a sense of pride among employees while highlighting a positive

company culture and values to potential candidates.

UMB’s company blogConsumer and business banking company UMB recognizes the importance of putting its

employees in the spotlight, both online and offline.

The company’s leaders and employees frequently contribute to a blog where they share updates about what they’ve done within their communities. They recently sponsored the UMB Big Bash® event to raise awareness of homelessness in Kansas City and raise funds to help combat the problem.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 20

Challenge 4

Developing a diverse workforceIn financial services, as in any industry, having diverse perspectives is critical to

innovation and maintaining a competitive edge.

Unfortunately, there is a lingering perception that financial service companies are primarily “male, pale and stale.” Discrimination may not be consciously perpetuated, but as one female Goldman Sachs employee stated, men still have a competitive advantage when women take time away for maternity leave.12

This perception is created despite banks taking proactive steps to provide strong benefits for families, as well as flexible working options and initiatives for transitioning back to work. Although it may not be intentional, the numbers do illustrate a gender gap in financial services.

“Having babies makes it hard

for women to stay close to

markets and to the deal flow.

This often happens between

the ages of 27 and 35—the

senior vice president to junior

managing director ranks,

which are just when you should

be building rapport with clients

and starting to make a name

for yourself at the bank. When

women take maternity leave,

their male counterparts often

mop up in their absence.”

—Emilia Pearson, Goldman Sachs employee, in a July 2016 blog

post on eFinancialCareers12

Consider these statistics:

Globally, 4% of CEOs of financial firms are women13

Less than 10% of all US fund managers are female14

Women exclusively run about 2% of the industry’s assets in the United States, while men exclusively run about 74%14

Though Canada ranks higher than the US for gender diversity, women’s average weekly wage in financial occupations was C$1,236.88 compared to C$1,495.52 for men14

In UK financial services companies, 14% of executive committee members are female, and 23% of board directors15

More than half of companies surveyed in a biennial Board of Directors survey by the Singapore Institute of Directors had no female directors16

There are far fewer women in US fund management than there are female doctors (37%), lawyers (33%) or accountants and auditors (63%)14

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 21

While more than 40% of employees in the global financial services sector are non-white, according to Forbes,17 the numbers are substantially lower even in areas where the general population is more diverse. The most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows only 28% of those employed in financial services in the US are non-white. African-Americans represent just 6.4% of that, despite making up more than 13% of the general population.18 In the global financial services industry, the news is somewhat better, although there is still much work to be done. Seventy-eight percent of UK companies have senior-leadership teams that fail to reflect the demographic composition of the country’s labor force and population, compared with 91% for Brazil and 97% for the United States.19

Challenge 4

When it comes to leadership positions within financial services, the wage gap

between male and female executives is even greater. Another report found only

20 female chief executives of S&P 500 companies, and only 14% of the top five

leadership positions are held by women at these companies.15

There are also gender differences in the financial positions for which women typically apply. As the chart below shows, they are more likely to seek sales, marketing, compliance and legal positions compared to private equity and IT.

Where do woman typically apply11

31%

31%

31%

30%

28%

27%

25%

34%

Investment Banking

Graduates & Internships

Private Banking Wealth Managment

Research

Information Technology

Private Equity

Equities

Others

43%

43%

35%

35%

35%

34%

33%

32%

Sales & Marketing

Compliance/Legal

Corporate Banking

Accounting & Finance

Operations

Asset Management

Risk Management

Consultancy

Women represent nearly half of all employees in the global financial services industry, but hold only 25% of senior management roles

Only 4% of 150 global financial institutions have female CEOs

Additionally, According to Catalyst15

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 22

Implement and promoteinclusive initiativesIn recent eFinancialCareers global research to understand what is important to financial services, we found that women in financial services place a high emphasis on manageable working hours and workplace flexibility when seeking an employer, as reflected in the eFinancialCareers 2016 Ideal Employer Survey.11 They rated these attributes as more important than opportunities for promotion, opportunities to travel and competitive bonuses.

In response to these desires, financial services companies have developed programs to promote a greater work-life balance. A number have developed workforce re-entry programs to position themselves as the employer of choice for women. Others have increased paid family leave, vacation time and added perks such as on-site workout facilities and even summer camps for employees’ children.

Having these policies in place and promoting them through tailored content both on the company’s website and wider career networks and social media channels can go a long way toward improving public perception and engagement around these employer brand initiatives.

Employer branding messages are just one aspect of a comprehensive plan to promote workplace diversity. Recruiters should also consider taking steps that include:

Solution 4

Promoting job opportunities through diverse networks, both online and offline

Ensuring job descriptions are written in a way that is culturally sensitive

Training team leaders and employees to use inclusive practices, particularly when working in global or cross-functional teams

Seeking employee referrals from a diverse group of current employees

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 23

Morgan Stanley workplace re-entry programMorgan Stanley offers a Return to Work Program, a 12-week paid internship for participants looking to update their skills and return to work after an extended absence. Participants may receive an offer of employment upon completion of the program. The global program has opportunities available in New York, London, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Budapest. After completing the inaugural program in 2014, 60% of the graduates were placed in positions at Morgan Stanley.

Example 4

“It is a good feeling to know there’s a force behind you that wants you to succeed.

I wanted to come back. I just didn’t have a natural path to get back to the workforce.”

—Kristen Marx, VP, investment management at Morgan Stanley, who returned to work after a 10-year absence

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 24

Recruiting MillennialsMillennials (those between 18 and 34 years old) will make up nearly half the global

workforce in the next five years.

Financial services companies need to take them seriously, not only as employees but as future leaders. Millennials are looking for new opportunities. However, they have different expectations of their employers compared to their older counterparts. They are looking for specific qualities in potential employers and have unique development needs. The eFinancialCareers Ideal Employer11 research shows

Dealing with high turnover among Millennials can be costly

Challenge 5

What Millennials Value in Employers

1. Challenging/interesting work

2. Opportunities for promotion

3. Competitive salary

4. Positive culture

5. Strength of firm

What They Want at Work

1. Good work-life balance

2. Opportunities to advance

3. Flexible work

4. Sense of meaning from work

5. Professional development and training (63% say their leadership skills are not being fully developed1)

A popular critique of Millennials is that they’re job-hoppers. And Millennials don’t deny it—44% of the participants in the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey stated they planned to leave their current employer within the next two years.20

Therefore, it is in an employer’s best interest to find Millennials who, in addition to being highly qualified, are a good fit for the company culture. Once they are on board, it is essential to foster high engagement and invest in their professional development.

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 25

Foster and promote aMillennial-friendly workplaceHere are four proactive steps financial services companies can take to attract

Millennials and other employees with similar needs.

Solution 5

1. Fosteracollaborativeandflexibleworkenvironment

Give employees the chance to interact casually and spontaneously—for example, a collective work area where staff can escape their cubicles.

Offer the option for employees to work remotely when possible, provided they follow appropriate security protocol and aren’t dealing with sensitive customer information.

2. Provide opportunities for professional development and career progression

Establish a career path for each employee that clearly outlines objectives as well as indicators of success and failure.

Assign SMART goals—Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-sensitive.

3. Ask supervisors to give regular, constructive feedback

Scheduling performance reviews once or twice a year won’t work with Millennials.Supervisors should have informal one-on-ones with their employees each month and then meet for a more formal review quarterly or annually.

4. Use up-to-date software and technology

Millennials came of age during the tech revolution and are accustomed to newer software. Consider investing in software that is compatible with new devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

89%of Millennials

prefer to choose

when and where

they work21

27%of Millennials

state “career

goals don’t align

with company”

as the reason for

leaving their job20

60%of Millennials say

“good cultural

fit” is the primary

reason they’ve

stayed at a job21

26Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap

The tactics highlighted in this whitepaper don’t occur spontaneously or in isolation. All are part of a comprehensive strategy of employer branding and inbound recruiting. These are not mere fads; they represent an approach to hiring and retention that is here to stay because of the way technology has irrevocably altered the recruiting landscape.

Today’s talent acquisition professionals need to be proactive about engaging with candidates where they are—often before they are looking—or risk losing them to competitors. Fortunately, they do not need to do this alone—nor should they.

Where to go from here: developing effective recruiting strategies

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 27

Contrary to a top-down initiative or one that happens in a silo, developing a strong

employer brand is a collaborative approach that requires feedback from multiple

departments and functions, including:

Executive team—Sets strategic goal and corresponding company values (with input at all levels)

Marketing/PR—Assists with developing brand story and value proposition to candidates (as well as customers) and supports content creation

Internal communications—Reinforces company values and assists with initiatives

Human resources—Aligns hiring processes accordingly and coordinates with internal and external recruitment professionals

Sales and customer service—Offers insight the employee skills and competencies required to ensure customer satisfaction

Information technology—Implements technology required to support inbound recruiting and talent relationship management

Take the Next StepCompanies ready to deploy these strategies can start with this

short, step-by-step resource, Implementing an Inbound Recruiting

Strategy: A Guide for Financial Services Companies.

Each of these departments contributes important elements to the overall strategy

and should meet regularly during its development. Consulting with a third-party

partner with expertise in employer branding and inbound recruiting can streamline

the development and execution of these initiatives, ensuring they lead to successful

talent acquisition.

Download Now

Closing the Financial Services Talent Gap 28

eFinancialCareers, a member of the global DHI Group, is the world’s leading career site for financial services professionals and recruiters, with 1.5 million visitors every month.

We strive to connect busy recruitment professionals with the data and insights they need to make the best hiring decisions. In addition to managing thousands of global, industry-specific job postings daily, we help large and successful mid-sized financial services companies develop strong employer branding assets and manage talent using inbound recruiting tactics.

For more hiring insights and best practices, visit efinancialcareers.com.

1. 19th Annual Global CEO Survey: Key Talent Findings in the Financial Services Industry. PwC, 2016.

2. “2016 Edelman Trust Barometer.” Accessed October 23, 2016. http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2016-edelman-trust-barometer/.

3. Heuer, Megan. “Three Myths of the “67 Percent” Statistic” SiriusDecisions. July 3, 2013. Accessed October 21, 2016. https://www.siriusdecisions.com/Blog/2013/Jul/Three-Myths-of-the-67-Percent-Statistic.

4. Bank of England Annual Report 2015. June 10, 2015. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/annualreport/2015/boereport.pdf.

5. Basel III: A Global Regulatory Framework for More Resilient Banks and Banking Systems. Report. Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, 2016.

6. Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review 2016: Assessment Framework and Results. Federal Reserve, 2016.

7. Butcher, Dan. “Where Financial Services Firms Will Be Hiring in the U.S in 2016.” eFinancialCareers. December 22, 2015. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/228422/financial-services-firms-2016-hiring/.

8. HubSpot State of Inbound 2014–2015 Report, 2014.

9. Fishkin, Rand. “Discovering Which Sites Your Target Audience Visits -- Whiteboard Friday.” Moz (blog), March 4, 2016. Accessed October 21, 2016. https://moz.com/blog/discovering-which-sites-your-target-audience-visits-whiteboard-friday.

10. Aynsley, Michael. “How the Financial Industry Can Embrace Social Media and Remain Compliant.” Hootsuite, April 25, 2016. Accessed October 21, 2016. https://blog.hootsuite.com/financial-industry-social-media/.

11. eFinancialCareers Ideal Employer Report 2016. Report. September 2016. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://recruiters.efinancialcareers.com/ideal-employer-report-2016/.

12. Pearson, Emilia. ““Don’t Tell Me You’re Being Discriminated against by Goldman Sachs.” eFinancialCareers, July 21, 2016. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/250586/discrimination-investment-banks/.

13. Ritholtz, Barry. “Where Are the Women in Finance?” Bloomberg, February 24, 2016. Accessed October 21, 2016. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-02-24/why-don-t-more-women-hold-top-jobs-in-finance.

14. Morningstar Research Report Fund Managers by Gender. Report. June 2015. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://corporate.morningstar.com/US/documents/ResearchPapers/Fund-Managers-by-Gender.pdf.

15. “Women in Canadian, US, and Global Financial Services” Catalyst. Accessed October 23, 2016. http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-canadian-us-and-global-financial-services.

16. Singapore Board of Directors Survey 2015. Report. October 2015. http://www.sid.org.sg/index.php/web_surveys_awards/board_survey.

17. Diversity & Inclusion: Unlocking Global Potential Global Diversity Rankings by Country, Sector and Occupation. New York, NY: Forbes. 2012. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/global_diversity_rankings_2012.pdf.

18. U.S. Census Bureau, July 2015

19. Hunt, Vivian, Dennis Layton, and Sara Prince. “Why Diversity Matters.” January 2015. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters.

20. The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey Winning over the Next Generation of Leaders. Report. 2016. Accessed October 21, 2016.

21. Millennial Branding. “The Cost of Millennial Retention Study,” August 6, 2013. Accessed October 21, 2016. http://millennialbranding.com/2013/cost-millennial-retention-study/.

References

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