Just a quick note before you get started…

We know this post is a long one, however this is because we have got some exciting news and updates for you, and there is a ton of valuable content headed your way as we enter Lockdown 2.

So, if you are here, please stick with us until the end and learn more about what we will be publishing over the next few weeks, because it’s all aimed at helping YOU with your treasury career!

Pressed for time? Skip straight to the bottom to the chapter titled ‘Introducing Our Bounce Back Program’.

Lockdown 2: what has been happening?

As we find ourselves in Lockdown 2 or what we have now entitled “The Unwanted Sequel”, we have reflected on Lockdown 1 and what we delivered which generated the most value to you all and helped you prepare for life in 2021 in the world of treasury.

We predict you will see as last time a sudden rush of people becoming more active on social media channels, with LinkedIn being the main go to place delivering an array of content just to be seen and heard.

We have made a promise to ourselves that we shall, as we did last time, focus all of our efforts on ensuring we only post content that is of value to our clients and candidates and supports them through the challenges of this lockdown and into 2021.

We hope that those of you reading this who already know us will know that we are hellbent on adding value to our audience of treasury professionals around the globe. If we do not think a piece of content will add value to our audience in some way, we do not publish it. Simple as that.

Now here is what we are going to be doing: helping you however we can.

And to achieve that, we are going to start by answering the questions being asked daily to the team, the first of which is:

“Are there any treasury roles out there at the moment?”

The lockdown has come at a time when, historically the market is at its peak, post-summer, where we see it being more candidate-led movement rather than coming from companies themselves.

Why?

Usually over the summer, candidates reflect when they are on the beach or by the pool and decide that they finally need to make a move. This is often after they have spent a certain number of years in a role or with a company, or they do it simply for their own self-development.

As we go into it this time, we have seen a downward spiral of vacancies and this has only been enhanced by the recent lockdowns in several countries around the world where recruitment now takes a lesser priority than perhaps it did before and it means any recruitment processes and decisions have been significantly slowed down.

The other two questions we are frequently asked are:

“What impact do you think current events will have on the treasury recruitment market and on your business, The Treasury Recruitment Company?”

and

“What will you be doing to help your clients and candidates to ‘bounce back’ once this is all over?”

As a specialist treasury recruitment consultancy, fortunately, we have several factors we have built into our operating model which means that our business has some resilience in this new world order.

Firstly, we are a global recruiter. This was a planned business strategy from the outset. We recruit roles on a global scale covering markets from the UK & Europe, the Middle and Far East, and the America

As we have gone into Lockdown 2, we have been finding that UK, European and Middle East roles were still being recruited, but we know that we need to accelerate processes or run the risk of clients, candidates and us as a firm missing out on placements.

Vacancies that were at an earlier stage are getting cancelled / postponed, whilst those at later stages have thankfully gone through to completion.

The UK

Lockdown 1, we continued to successfully recruit albeit clients and candidates saw the need to adapt to remote inductions of new starters

As we entered Lockdown 2, whilst the market remains relatively buoyant it has clearly slowed down; roles, processes and decisions are being paused until the new year and individuals are now remaining in their roles until this “Unwanted Sequel passes

Going into Lockdown 2, we have seen more interim roles coming to market as opposed to permanent, which we predicted for this market during this challenging climate.

The UK market remains a candidate driven one due to several industries being hit hard by COVID-19

Our advice for you is to sit tight whilst we ride through this lockdown; it’s important to ensure your social media presence is strong and your CV and profile are up to date.

Europe

In lockdown 1, we saw roles continuing through the process and new roles coming through. We concluded that this could be due to the virus spreading at different rates across the continent, with different countries being locked down at different times.

Lockdown 2, we continue to recruit across Europe however the process is a lot slower, as companies are placing recruitment of roles a lot lower on the priorities and looking at whether they can spread the responsibilities across the teams for a couple of months.

The US

The US has taken a different approach to the pandemic by letting individual states to decide their approach although there has been a distinct shift to Working from Home.

It is not for us to judge their decisions, but we have seen a far more rapid recovery of the US treasury market BUT there has been increased pressure to use internal resources i.e. HR teams / internal recruiters to recruit positions.

Whilst this surge of specialist treasury LinkedIn advertised vacancies is welcomed by many in what has been a quiet market the danger of this ‘let us see who is looking’ approach means clients are only targeting a very small portion of the candidate pool as we explain in this article;

https://treasuryrecruitment.com/new-york-recruitment-campaign/

Rest of the World

Everyone else has carried on as normal! OK well not quite but we have carried on busily recruiting for one of our key clients, SABIC recruiting for them in both Saudi Arabia and in Europe and we are pleased to say that we are looking at helping them in other countries as well. Other clients are now reviewing activity with a renewed push to recruit as soon as 2021 kicks off so watch this space!

There you have it, a decent review of the current state of the treasury recruitment market and the current state of play globally.

Looking Ahead: what are our predictions?

We predict that as we come out of Lockdown 2, many recruitment plans will be paused. If someone is thinking of recruiting, either they or their CFO is about to head out the door for two to three weeks, meaning any recruitment process will be delayed until they can all be in the same place at the same time i.e. often not until the January 2021!

As January kicks off, and going forward to 2021, we see treasury professionals being in high demand, especially relative to other finance professionals.

Because when there are crises or challenging circumstances as we have faced in recent times, the CFO needs someone to help them chart the course for the company through uncertain and unpredictable waters. So, they seek out you – their treasurer.

Trust me when we say that in times like these, treasurers are the people CFOs want by their side.

So, what should you be doing as treasury professionals to prepare for the gradual reopening of the treasury recruitment market?

Well, this is where The Treasury Recruitment Company comes in.

In summer 2020 we launched what quickly became a phenomenal success, our candidate “Bounce back” Programme. This coaching course was 6 weeks of valuable content for candidates and it supported them in how best to self-market themselves to drive their career forward. More detail below….

We have also been busy launching a variety of video advice tutorials. These target our clients to explain to them how they should be recruiting in 2020. They focus on the candidate attraction experience and the techniques they should be using, helping to coach them in regards how to source candidates and the best way to treat them, etc.

Even though the world has changed again for the lockdown sequel. We are again changing with it………….

INTRODUCING OUR FREE “BOUNCE BACK” CANDIDATE COACHING PROGRAMME

We have created a “Bounce Back” candidate coaching program aimed at helping treasury professionals to:

• Assess their current skillsets
• Define their career aims, goals and target compensation packages
• Improve their CVs / resumés
• Develop their social media profiles – specifically LinkedIn
• Brush up on their interview skills and create their own job search strategies

This program is designed to help you increase your attractiveness to potential employers as we help you prepare for the reopening of the treasury recruitment markets!

Our aim is to get you ‘match fit’, ready to bounce into the 2021 job market with an advantage over the other candidates who do not take part in this program!

We set you goals and individual challenges.

• We support you with video content, both from existing sources and some brand-new videos we have recorded especially for the program
• We also talk to you on a regular basis to celebrate some of the wins and set the next challenges for you!
• We want to give you the tools you need to make your next treasury career move a successful one