Financial services firms set to face hiring difficulties as impact of recruitment freezes begins to show

A sustained slowdown in financial services hiring activity could have long-lasting repercussions on firms’ ability to attract talent, with employers set to experience similar difficulties to those noted after the 2010 financial crisis. That’s according to the latest insights from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).



In newly published data, provided by Veritone Hire, APSCo revealed that financial services employers have reined in hiring activity, with permanent and contract vacancies declining by 30% and 13% respectively between September 2023 and September 2024. This trend is reflected in data from APSCo member, Morgan McKinley, which found that vacancies have dropped by a quarter year-on-year since July 2023.



However, APSCo has warned that a continued slowdown in permanent hiring in particular, could have a significant impact on organisation’s ability to attract skills in the future once the market does rebound. This is already being noted, with application numbers for permanent roles 49% lower last month than in September 2023.



Ann Swain, Global CEO at APSCo, commented:



“The financial services sector has seen a significant freeze in hiring over the past year due to broader economic conditions and uncertainty in the market, which is reflected in our data. However, this slowdown could have significant ramifications, and potentially put future growth at risk. As we saw in the global financial recession in 2010, it took firms several years to rebuild workforces, with the sector losing so many professionals as a result of redundancies and hiring freezes. Many employers may face similar recruitment challenges when economic conditions improve in the coming months.”





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Vickie Collinge

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About APSCo

The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) is the trade association for the professional recruitment market. APSCo Global comprises APSCo Asia, APSCo Australia, APSCo Deutschland and APSCo United Kingdom as well as APSCo OutSource, the trade body for the RPO and MSP sectors.

Find out more: www.apscouk.orgwww.apscouk.org