Mapping the Scottish recruitment landscape

​August 2021

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With restrictions across the country easing and demand for accounting and finance professionals strengthening – is now a good time to ask ‘what next’ for your career?

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The pandemic has had a seismic impact on how receptive people are to new roles. In short, there was enough uncertainty for many without adding more, especially risk-literate finance professionals. As such, many ambitions understandably entered hibernation mode.

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This looks set to change in the coming months as recruitment comes back onto the agenda, with the likelihood that opportunities will multiply as market confidence returns. Opportunities may be further increased with an anticipated movement by those disenfranchised by increased workloads due to redundancies and furlough seeking a fresh start.

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New working landscape

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Finance professionals who worked through the pandemic faced a new challenge: balancing work and life responsibilities when work unexpectedly ‘moved in’ with us all. Clocking off for the day was no longer a straightforward exit from the office, it became a live-in lodger, blurring the boundaries and balance between work and normal life.

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With this new work-from-home frame of reference - many of our priorities have evolved. Job-searchers’ questions for a prospective employee are now likely to include: What constitutes a healthy and productive work life balance? Also questions on: How often are you expected to be in the office? And subsequently a question to themselves: Should I consider working for a more geographically distant firm? thanks to enabling technology and decreased onsite expectation. The job market topography has changed, and people want to map and explore what opportunities this brings.

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Evolving career considerations

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Those entering the job market do so with newly formed priorities due to their experiences during the pandemic. Along with the changes to where and when you work, people are reappraising what is important to them from a professional and long-term career perspective.

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Recent times have seen other issues (beyond remuneration) become even more important to those considering a move. Factors such as diversity, social mobility, environmental impact, training and development structures and business culture – are all areas of consideration (and future articles).

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Navigating a job search

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Undertaking the search for a new role and weighing these new considerations is difficult, as applicants still only have remote interviews and company websites to go on. This offers less ‘flavour’ in determining if a new employer is to their taste. Forming an informed opinion on what’s right for your career is arguably now harder than before the pandemic, at a point in time where opportunities and choices are increasing.

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For those looking to progress their career after this period of career inertia, navigating this new terrain will be an important part of their search. Guidance on what paths are now open to them; where the potential dangers lurk; and how to best position their experience to be successful in interview, will be more valuable than ever.

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Investing time with a recruitment partner to give them a 'career narrative' - a thorough understanding of existing skills and experience, outlining career choices to date, motivations, and future ambitions - could give anyone entering the job market an advantage in matching the company culture best suited to your individual development needs.

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Candidate journey

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Putting the candidate experience at the centre of the recruitment process (rather than the employer) benefits everyone. This approach not only identifies the right opportunity, but builds the foundations for a lasting collaboration. A good recruiter partners people across the trajectory of their career, building greater knowledge along this journey. This can begin with a first move as a qualified professional through multiple other paths and positions available and potentially culminating in preparing for a panel presentation to secure a CFO or Board appointment.

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Placing what it right for the candidate as the guiding compass in any recruitment project is the surest path in helping someone achieve their potential and realising their ambitions. It also makes for a happy employer –allowing businesses to invest confidently in a well-prepared and engaged individual.

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Prospects for career development are built on solid terrain where the candidate understands the company culture, the trajectory of the role they are undertaking and the wider opportunity for development. A recruiter who knows the candidate as well as they know client can help both parties reach greater heights with confidence.

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Tenzing Recruitment – Chartered Territory.

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To discuss what options are open to your career and start the process of mapping opportunities please get in touch:

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John Docherty: john@tenzingrecruitment.co.uk or on 07920 779701 

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