Recruitment Sector Salary Benchmarking Now Available

<ul>
<li>New micropaper surveys 150 recruitment leaders on sentiments and business confidence in the sector</li>
<li>Provides a short summation of leaders' expected non-sales and consultant hiring trends expectations in the sector</li>
<li>Expects the sector to see 'Green Shoots' of opportunity into 2025&nbsp;</li>
<li>Provides insights from sector thought leaders from RSM and Azlan Advisory</li>
</ul>
<hr>
&nbsp;
London, UK - A new micropaper report released by Camino Partners, the recruitment sector's leading consultancy for supporting other recruitment companies' hiring requirements for 'non-sales' personnel, is now available.
The paper, titled: "The Recruitment Sector Temperature Check" was compiled by surveying 150 recruitment leaders - CEOs, NEDs and Finance Leaders from across various consultancy companies in the recruitment sector.
It is a series of infographics that show a variety of stats from leaders surveyed and provides a digestible and current micro-summation of where leaders believe the sector is, moving into next year (2025).
Key findings suggest that although the sector has experienced a mercurial outlook since COVID, leaders are hoping for 'Green Shoots' and new opportunities into 2025, with recruitment companies expecting to grow their operational functions based on current business confidence.
The short paper, which was researched, compiled and released in Q4 of 2024, explores:
<ul>
<li>Recruitment leaders' business confidence based on their company headcount growth aspirations</li>
<li>Sentiment relating to the temp/contract and perm performances of their businesses against expectation</li>
<li>Breaks down how recruitment businesses of different sizes expect to grow their front vs. back office functions</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
The paper also invites contributions from Azlan Advisory's Sohail Ahmad, providing a short insights into opinions on the M&amp;A market for the sector and Neil Thomas, Partner and Head of Recruitment Sector, for RSM UK.
There's also a foreword from Camino Partners' MD, Matt Newman, and an afterword on opportunity from technology recruiter's perspective, Interex's Group Finance Director, Rob Slaney.
You can explore and download the report below in the viewer.
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Camino Partners Launches 'Recruitment Sector Temperature Check' Micropaper

An Overview of 2024 so far:
A visible sense of optimism is gradually coming back to the recruitment market, particularly within the finance function. Drawing upon recent results collected from our &ldquo;Outlook 2024&rdquo; survey, where we engaged with 200 c-suite recruitment leaders, a clearer understanding of the industry&rsquo;s 2024 trends has begun to emerge.
Among the results, 66% of those who took part were senior finance professionals, with the remaining responses being made up of CEOs/MDs and other business leaders. From the results, the overall sentiment regarding the initial months of this year, can be seen as cautiously optimistic, on track with, or just below budget expectations.
Conversations with finance leaders further support this sentiment, indicating that the first two quarters have served as pivotal re-building phase for their businesses by recruiting only essential hires thus compensating for the unanticipated setbacks experienced during the challenging economy and overall market in 2023. As confidence grows, evident trends signal a hopeful rise in hiring activities, and buoyancy across the market set out for H2 this year.
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/ti49o09cl4prbhq0qh3ufu7x6qrs" alt="Outlook 2024" width="1130" height="194">
Finance Hiring Trends:
Shift in Role Demand: Since the start of 2024, there has been a noticeable increase in roles within the transactional finance function. Positions such as Credit Control, Pay&amp;Bill Administrators/Managers, Payroll Administrators, and AP/AR Assistants are emerging as the most sought-after hires within recruitment businesses. The need for transactional based finance hires positively reflects the overall market picking back up and more so, reflects on contractor books beginning to grow once more. As well as this, during the market downturn many senior finance professionals were recruited when income was low to try improve processes and decrease the overall spend whereas, transactional hires are being made now to maximise on income brought into the business.
2023 finance hire trends: Comparing 2024 to 2023, there has been a shift in hiring needs, where a predominant focus was on recruiting finance professions from at the Management Accountant level right through to c-suite level. The current shift towards transactional roles highlights a switch in priorities within the finance function, driven by evolving market dynamics and more senior candidates not being as open to moving on from their current roles.
Senior Candidate Retention: Despite the change in the market, with many senior finance professionals I have spoken with, there is a notable reluctance among them to actively pursue new opportunities. From discussions, the reasons behind this are working in conjunction with market uncertainties, which are leading senior professionals to exercise caution, as well as wanting to assist and play their part in the regrowth of the business. This contrasts with 2023 where a higher volume of senior candidates moved on from their roles in 2023, because they had more money tied up in equity/shares when the market was strong in 2021, and with the dip in market in 2023 and exits being pushed back, many senior finance professionals sought out higher base salaries/bonuses for more immediate gratification.
Conclusion:
To conclude, as we continue into 2024 and as we are learning more about the market, the finance function and recruitment as a whole has begun to show signs of green shoots and optimism throughout. We predict to see hiring needs continue to increase in H2 of 2024 and a growth for businesses throughout the sector. The resilience shown by these businesses and the willingness to &lsquo;think outside of the box&rsquo; as we navigate through and adapt to the new market in which we operate highlights a collective commitment amongst businesses to keep building and capitalising on emerging opportunities in the ever-evolving recruitment space.
Keep a look out for my next blog: Outsourced vs Inhoused Finance Function
&nbsp;

2024 And The Finance Function

<h5>​Register your interest in receiving our salary benchmarking document for the recruitment sector.</h5>
Compiled from data gathered throughout 2024, the salary benchmarking document will be released at the end of H2, 2024, in time for incentivising and rewarding your teams into to 2025 with packages, pay reviews and bonuses. Register your interest below to receive a copy of the benchmarking document.

Into 2025: The Recruitment Sector Salary Benchmarking

This is a topic that is by no means a one size fits all approach, and a lot of the factors at play may vary business to business. However, after speaking with hundreds of recruitment businesses to understand when, why and how they decided to invest in L&amp;D, here&rsquo;s an initial steer that may help answer the question of, when is the right time for you to invest in an in-house L&amp;D team?
One early factor to consider is the growth imperative your business has. Agencies are no strangers to fast growth, whether that be expanding existing client bases, entering new markets or diversifying your service offering. Growth often demands more than just hiring into your sales teams, and also requires you to up-skill your current employees, develop the leadership abilities of those from the top down and to ensure that you have the right technology in place to tackle new challenges.
Signs that it might be time to invest:
1. &nbsp; &nbsp; Increased employee turnover
If you are starting to suffer from an increased level of employee turnover, especially within those high-performing recruiters, this can be a sure sign that they are lacking something in their current company. Those in fast paced roles with fast progression routes usually crave constant development to support this growth.
While external trainers can fill some of this void, an in-house L&amp;D professional or team can dedicate time to developing those top performers to help them achieve their potential and enable your business to become more profitable and enjoyable to work at.
2. &nbsp; &nbsp; The appearance of skills gaps
As time passes and client needs become more niche, you may find your teams beginning to lose some of their initial training knowledge and lacking the necessary skills to meet the demands. Investing in L&amp;D is a sure way to enable you to deliver targeted programmes that will enable you to bridge skills gaps efficiently and effectively.
3. &nbsp; &nbsp; Key ratios not being met
KPIs and Ratios are a highly debated topic within recruitment, but however you approach them, they are a necessary part of being able to track what &lsquo;good looks like&rsquo; within your business and how to track back to the inputs roughly needed to reach success.
If you&rsquo;re finding that consultants are consistently missing the mark when it comes to hitting ratios and KPIs, this is something that an in-house L&amp;D leader can help with. They are experts at finding the root cause of issues, laying out a clear plan towards success, setting achievable targets and enabling change to take place.
4. &nbsp; &nbsp; Maintaining an edge over competitors
Differentiating from competitors in the agency space can be tough, but L&amp;D can help with keeping your teams up to date with the newest offerings and enabling them to be ahead of the game in front of clients. Being that stand out recruiter, while being able to do all the basics right every time, will allow for better client retention and higher chance of winning pitches against the competition.
5. &nbsp; &nbsp; Embracing new technology
Time is of the essence in recruitment, with it becoming more present in recent years that the rise of new AI led tech tools is enabling recruiters to faster complete those menial admin tasks and focus further time on those so called &lsquo;money-making activities&rsquo; that revolve around contact time with clients and candidates to provide you with constant market insight.
Making the Move to in-house:
Transitioning to an in-house L&amp;D might seem like a large shift when first taking the step, but it doesn&rsquo;t need to be. It can start with having internal learning champions or partnering briefly with external experts to enable a seamless transition.
Investing in your teams growth isn&rsquo;t all about meeting the demands of the market today, but about being proactive and preparing for the challenges and opportunities that you business may face tomorrow, next week, next quarter or in the coming years.
An in-house L&amp;D team isn&rsquo;t a luxury reserved for large companies, it&rsquo;s a strategic move that can drive success, innovation and longevity for your agency in an ever-changing landscape. After all, nurturing those you have already decided to hire seems a much wiser investment than hiring a whole new cohort of people and hoping some make it work.
If you&rsquo;re thinking that some of these issues ring home and you want to consider what an in-house L&amp;D professional could look like for you, reach out to me by completing the form below, so that we can further discuss where your business is currently up to, what your goals look like and what L&amp;D could do for you.

​When is the right time for a recruitment agency to invest in an in-house L&D team?

Earlier in March Camino Partners invited 25 financial controllers (FCs) from a variety of different recruitment sectors to attend our &lsquo;Pathway to CFO&rdquo; workshop, held in conjunction with Saffery accountants at the company&rsquo;s London offices. Four CFOs; Seim Munif - Gravitas Recruitment Group, Bala Shanmugam - Majar Group, Rebecca Horne &ndash; Leathwaite and Sue Lewis &ndash; Petroplan, conducted roundtable mentor sessions with the FCs, to provide tips and answer questions around stepping up into the &lsquo;number one&rsquo; seat in accountancy.
Following the workshop, we asked our financial controllers to position a series of key questions to our CFOs, conducted in a Q and A style interview with Camino Partners&rsquo; Managing Director, Matt Newman (MN).
Responding in the interview, below, were Bala Shanmugam (BS), CFO, Majar Group, Rebecca Horne, (RH) Leathwaite, Seim Munif (SM), Chief Financial Officer at Gravitas Recruitment Group.
​Matt Newman (MN) What do you think are the key differences between a Finance Director and a CFO?
Seim Munif (SM) A CFO role versus an FD role can sometimes just be semantics. A &ldquo;CFO&rdquo; is more of an American term but has become the norm in the UK. &nbsp;As the Chief Finance Officer, you should really have other directors reporting into you too. &nbsp;
In my experience, FDs are often a very safe pair of hands, excellent at stewardship and operational processes, accurate in what they do and confident in their delivery. &nbsp; A CFO will be expected to be a catalyst for change in an organisation, willing to speak truth to power and provide a different point of view. &nbsp;They are a business partner to the CEO and key stakeholders providing insight, identifying risks and mitigations. They are expected to add value in strategic projects across the organisation ranging from finance, systems, legal &amp; operations to leading M&amp;A and office openings. &nbsp;
The step up from an FD to a CFO can often be about elevating yourself from your current position through focus, prioritisation, stakeholder management &nbsp;and, importantly, effective delegation and empowerment.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/efphd3wuexmjmme1z6rasyjsrrp0" alt="The Pathway to CFO event" width="1000" height="750">
<h6 class="xxmsonormal">The Pathway to CFO event earlier in March was a great success for finance leaders seeking to step-up into the number one position in the accountancy department. The event was held in conjunction with Saffery, at their London office.</h6>
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(MN)From your own experience, what three key learning points should future finance leaders keep in mind when stepping up to become a CFO?
(SM) Don&rsquo;t become the CFNo. &nbsp;There are so many more collaborative ways to disagree on a matter than saying &ldquo;No&rdquo;. &nbsp;Indeed, it is often better to agree with the positives from what is proposed and then overlaying with &ndash; &ldquo;have you also considered the following&rdquo;
Empowerment is fundamental to success. Provide a vision and clear goals, provide the &ldquo;why&rdquo; for the work that is being requested and cultivate a culture of transparency where people are open about their mistakes.
Relationships, attitude and networks can become more important than your own skills and knowledge.
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/ti49o09cl4prbhq0qh3ufu7x6qrs" alt="outlook" width="1130" height="194">
(MN)What do you notice as some of the key differences between performing a 'controllership'-type position in the finance function and a senior leadership position in the finance environment?
Bala Shanmugam (BS)&nbsp;A senior leadership position such as a CFO has a broader scope that goes beyond stewardship of the reporting numbers and management of the&nbsp;balance sheet to include responsibility for things such as;
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal">
strategic financial planning - such as&nbsp;fund raising, forecasting methodologies, developing and maintaining banking/finance partner relationships and so on
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
commercial analysis - to help identify actions that&nbsp; improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the business
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
developing financial/commercial&nbsp; policies to ensure clear positive management of the business
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
partnering with senior stakeholders and working on cross functional initiatives that require leadership and collaboration in equal measure
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
decision making becomes a critical skill and involves taking consistent, considered and evaluated decisions in what is on many occasions a &lsquo;grey&rsquo; area that will affect the entire business
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
strategic input to guide the long term success of the business - usually as part of a Board.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
investor management - maintaining strong relationships and credibility with key investors to ensure they have the information to be sufficiently updated on the state of play and understand with sufficient visibility any challenges the business might face or investment the business may require to meet its objectives.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
(MN) What leadership lessons have you learnt since stepping up to your CFO position and what advice would you give more &lsquo;junior&rsquo; team members who aspire to becoming a C-Suite leader, to develop their finance leadership skills?&nbsp;
</li>
</ul>
(BS)&nbsp;I&rsquo;ve probably learned more lessons from making mistakes than I have from getting it right the first time - but some of the key pieces of advice I would give are;
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal">
Ensure you build strong relationships at all levels of the business so that you have a thorough understanding of the challenges faced from the ground up - as in my experience - this leads to more practical and effective solutions that will have impact.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
Don't be afraid to make decisions - take responsibility and back your decisions, you would have evaluated the situation as thoroughly as possible and can showcase your leadership skills by explaining your decision making process and taking responsibility for the outcomes.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
Ensure Finance are a value added team not just a cost centre - your team are critical to your and the businesses success - ensure you invest significant time into developing and guiding the team, giving them a bigger picture understanding, giving them earned responsibility as early as possible, encouraging business partnering with appropriate counterparts and allowing them to make mistakes along the journey. Involve your team in your decision making process wherever possible.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
Plan head - look as far into the future as you can with any reasonable level of certainty and plan for eventualities - many actions take time to be implemented - as a leader you need to be able to ensure these actions impact when they are needed not when they are too late. This requires, strategic thought, clear forecasting abilities, scenario planning, networking and influence skills.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
Embrace change - ensure you cultivate an environment where change is the norm rather than the exception. From continual incremental improvements to step changes such as technology implementations - a business that can be ahead of the curve or as a minimum quickly adapt to changing environments will generally be more successful than reactive businesses.
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">
Data is king - every recruitment business gathers a significant amount of data - I have found that utilising your data effectively and creating a data culture within the business leads to better strategic decisions, improved profitability and the ability to make quicker decisions.
</li>
</ul>
MN:&nbsp;How do you see the role of CFO changing in the recruitment sector in the next ten-to-20 years
Rebecca Horne (RH).&nbsp;I think the term&nbsp;&lsquo;CFO&rsquo;&nbsp;can be used for so many different types of roles,&nbsp;CFO&nbsp;in a 20-person organisation will be different to a 20,000 person organisation, but overall the role should continue to develop in its consultative aspects and the &lsquo;toil&rsquo; elements should continue to dissipate.&nbsp; My hope would be technology helps to support greater assurance around compliance (as above and before removing some of the toil). &nbsp;The one element I don&rsquo;t believe will change is that all good finance roles (and more so a&nbsp;CFO) are about building relationships (whether that is tax managers with advisers or HMRC contacts or management accountants with their respective business leads they are business partnering) &ndash; the more we can continue to build relationships and trust in organisations to be able to share opinions supported by wide and varied data points that support effective and relevant decision making the greater the space we have at any table we are invited to. To me the role will continue to play a hugely important part in any organisation, continue to be hugely consultative, but able to rely on much more timely and varied information to feed opinion.
MN:&nbsp;What's the latest in finance automation and what are your thoughts around the future of AI?
RH: I don&rsquo;t have a specific answer around the &lsquo;what&rsquo; in relation to automation and AI, but across all organisations, and functions within organisations, we need to constantly be striving to remove &lsquo;toil&rsquo; from within organisations. I believe that is where organisations will benefit most in the short to medium term. More efficient transactional activity delivered more accurately. That said I am more mindful of how this is deployed against &lsquo;value add&rsquo; more &lsquo;nuanced consultative activity&rsquo; so my personal belief is that the provision of good quality data, delivered in efficient timeframes in an easy to use format will continue to be transformative for the finance functions, but for me the more consultative elements being replaced by AI have a healthy level of scepticism about. I don&rsquo;t think there is anything unique to the finance function or commercial organisations in the above, but it is the general tech enabled trends we are all dealing with day in day out.
<a title="outlook" href="/blog/how-do-200-recruitment-leaders-think-2024-started-for-the-sector"><img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/4turlijlgzotcitbtwckisncvti4" alt="Micropaper" width="1000" height="759"></a>​

​The pathway to CFO: Three recruitment CFOs share their thoughts on ‘stepping up’ into the number one position in accountancy.

In the first blog surrounding L&amp;D in March, I discussed how key it is for recruitment companies to stay ahead of the game in the current market and being setup to be agile in an ever-changing economic environment. L&amp;D is one of those functions that can help most here, spotting trends, facilitating new training, driving consultants to find their weaknesses and be able to level up across the board. But which L&amp;D approach is best for your agency to enable you to find success in today&rsquo;s recruitment market. I&rsquo;ll be exploring the benefits of different approaches you can take as a business leader in recruitment.
&nbsp;
In-House L&amp;D: Cultivating a learning culture from within
1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cost Efficiency:&nbsp;While having an internal L&amp;D trainer/leader may seem costly when looking at it initially, it often proves more cost-efficient over time and allows you the opportunity to continuously refine, improve and reuse training materials without incurring a cost every time.
2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tailor to your needs: Having somebody in-house allows them the chance to observe, learn and take-in the culture and approach of your business. This will allow training programmes to be designed to match and will likely lead to a better uptake of information and a more open approach from employees in wanting to learn from someone within, rather than someone they don&rsquo;t really know.
3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Reinforcing Values:&nbsp;Training from within gives you the opportunity to consistently reinforce your culture and values, helping to keep a close-knit environment, driving belonging and dedication and naturally leading to higher retention rates, a well-known challenge in recruitment.
&nbsp;
Hybrid L&amp;D: Getting the best of both worlds
1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Allowing for adaptability:&nbsp;As earlier mentioned, being forward focused and ahead of the game is key. This model allows for a flexible learning culture where you can implement those internal touches to training whilst also drawing on external wisdom which often could be missed or not known internally.
2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cost flexibility:&nbsp;Having an internal trainer and being able to use external support allows you to be cost-flexible, where you can spend where needed on further support but cut back in times where not needed. You&rsquo;ll be aware of your baseline cost for L&amp;D but you can set out a further budget to be accessed when required at different points in your businesses journey.
3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Customise external insights: Blending internal resources and external expertise will allow you to create customised training programmes with top-tier content. It allows for relevance to company objectives while benefitting from industry wide best practice.
&nbsp;
External L&amp;D: Tapping into expertise outside of your company
1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Utilising specialists:&nbsp;While you might not have that internal touch to your training, you have the opportunity to choose from many options and know that what an external trainer is providing will be top tier and gives you access to new techniques and insights.
2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Time-efficient:&nbsp;If you need a rapid fix on a focused issue, then L&amp;D programmes run by external trainers are the way to go. While their training modules might not be personalised, they are always ready to go and ready to deliver. This agility can be crucial in fast-changing market conditions.
3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Networking opportunities:&nbsp;Having your employees attend external workshops, courses or events will expose them to wider industry networks. This can open up new partnerships, business opportunities and potentially give a better understanding of market trends outside of your business.
&nbsp;
While it&rsquo;s obvious that many factors will adjust what direction you take when it comes to L&amp;D, these few reasons should help point you in the right direction as to what your need is. Usually coming down to Time, Quality or Cost, L&amp;D can be flexible across the three but requires you to sit down and look at what you need, and why you need it before taking steps to implement it.
Ultimately, investing in an L&amp;D strategy is not just something that can be done overnight and takes proper planning and preparation. By investing in the right L&amp;D strategy, recruitment companies can empower teams, drive client satisfaction, drive long-term growth and most importantly, help to increase company profitability and revenue per head.
If you&rsquo;re interested in learning more about how your business compares to other agencies we have helped support in finding the right L&amp;D person for them, drop me a message on LinkedIn.
​
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Finding the right L&D approach for your recruitment company: In-House, External or Hybrid?

OUTLOOK 2024, our first 'micropaper' study of the recruitment industry will be released in April, 2024.
We've surveyed 200 leaders in the recruitment industry to find out their feedback and thoughts on how 2024's started for the recruitment sector. The focus of the micropaper includes:
<ul>
<li>A digest of data compiled from how 200 leaders in the recruitment industry think 2024's started for the sector</li>
<li>Additional thoughts, opinions and commentary on what could be ahead, with input and introductions from sector experts and financial professionals</li>
</ul>
Register your interest to receive your copy.
To receive your copy of this micropaper, please leave your details below. Your data will be stored in line with our privacy policy. Submission of the form also means you'll receive marketing updates from Camino Partners.

HOW DO 200 RECRUITMENT LEADERS THINK 2024 STARTED FOR THE SECTOR?

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