There is no question that hybrid and remote working is here to stay but does it create unintended challenges for those entering the workforce for the first time or those early careers roles that require on the job training and support?

Mark Beale, Director of Delivery and Engagement at Sanderson notes ‘The emphasis of our RPO solutions into the financial services sector has evolved over the past 18 months from the ability to deliver high volumes of hires to meet the post-covid surge in demand, to partnering with our clients to deliver strategies that help them retain and develop their early careers talent, creating sustainable succession pipelines for senior and specialist roles.’

A question recently posed to us was, ‘how do we provide a better employee experience so that we can engage and retain more of our early careers talent, particularly with the increase in hybrid and remote working practices?’

To get a deeper understanding of these challenges, Sanderson partnered with a variety of Banks, Building Societies, Insurance, Wealth & Investment companies to understand their approach to this challenge and we have shared our findings in a comprehensive and downloadable report.

Download your copy today via this link.

If you would like to discuss any of the issues discussed in this paper, or have any questions on your own early careers candidates, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Sustainability has long been hailed as a key component for many business strategies and touted as a key factor of importance when job hunters are reviewing their options.

But in 2024, is it now becoming increasingly important for companies to improve their sustainability efforts now that Millennials and Gen Z employees will make up the majority of our workforce over the next 10 years?

Our research suggests that this is certainly the way things are going, with data highlighting that between 2019 and 2023, the percentage of employees who were satisfied with their employer’s societal impact had decreased by 6% in Gen Z and 4% in Millennials, and even that 40% of Gen Z and Millennial workers would look to move organisations based on their environmental policies. With these trends set to persist, organisations will certainly need to continue to engage in sustainability efforts.

In this article we’ll be delving into the evolving sustainability trends and customer attitudes that we’ve been discussing with our clients and seeing in the industry, as well as providing you examples of strategic sustainability initiatives that businesses operating in the UK market should be looking to implement.

Sustainability Trends 

While we’ve been exploring the market and looking at what our clients have been doing around sustainability and improving their sustainable credentials, we’ve noted the following trends in sustainability habits:

The rise of the circular economy

We’re seeing an increase in practices around the concept of the circular economy, which emphasises minimising waste and maximising the use of existing resources.

The UN is even in the process of implementing a global treaty to end plastic pollution, which will have huge impacts on how products are used and produced. Businesses are therefore increasingly adopting practices such as product refurbishment, recycling initiatives, and the use of sustainable materials to reduce their environmental footprint.

Carbon neutrality commitments

Many companies are continuing to pledge to achieve carbon neutrality or to significantly reduce their carbon emissions. This is leading to the adoption of renewable energy sources, carbon offsetting initiatives and the implementation of more sustainable transport options.

Focus on ethical sourcing

Consumers have been demanding greater transparency and ethical sourcing practices from brands and companies. This is leading to increasing pressure on businesses to ensure fair labour practices, the removal of deforestation from their supply chains as well as the need to ensure they are supporting their local communities.

Tech-driven sustainability solutions

Technology continues to play a crucial role in driving sustainability efforts, with innovations such as blockchain enabling transparent supply chains. Data remains critical in understanding and analysing an organisation’s sustainability metrics and AI will potentially have transformative impacts on improving output efficiencies and therefore could even improve profit margins. Also, AI could support the existing push for the use of monitoring technology to help with the reduction of carbon emissions.

Customer attitudes 

When looking at how companies are approaching sustainability and their product offerings, we’ve noticed that today’s customer feels empowered to avoid brands and businesses that don’t align with their values, and sustainability is a key metric they look at here.

We’ve noticed this trend in particular having a direct impact on the recruitment industry as Sanderson has seen an increasing interest in sustainability through our RFPs.

Here are some of the current customer attitudes towards sustainability:

Growing environmental consciousness

There has been a notable shift in consumer attitudes, with an increasing number of individuals prioritising environmentally friendly products and companies that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. Gen Z and Millennials are known for supporting brands that demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability.

Demand for transparency

Consumers are now more informed than ever and expect brands to be transparent about their sustainability practices. They actively seek out information on product origins, environmental impact, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Preference for purpose-drive brands

Brands that align with consumers’ values and actively contribute to social and environmental causes are favoured.

What does this mean for businesses like yours? 

These attitudes and trends have shown that environmental policies and sustainability initiatives are of key importance to customer demand and favour. It is therefore imperative for organisations to protect present and future revenue by placing sustainability at the forefront of their identity and strategy.

Strategies your business could implement

Below we explore some strategic insights and suggest strategies that you could start implementing to ensure your business is taking your commitment to sustainability seriously and remains an attractive option for environmentally conscious candidates.

Embed sustainability into your brand identity

Incorporating sustainability into your brand’s core values is key. Companies should then communicate these values consistently across all their marketing channels. Authenticity is key, so ensure that sustainability initiatives are genuine and aligned with your brand’s mission.

Educate and engage your customers

Look to provide transparent information about your sustainability efforts, including product sourcing, manufacturing processes, and your environmental impact. You can then look to engage your customer and community through storytelling and marketing campaigns to raise awareness and foster a sense of connection.

Collaborate for impact

Collective action is essential for addressing complex sustainability challenges effectively, so why not look to collaborate with stakeholders across your supply chain and industry partners to amplify your sustainability efforts and drive systemic change. We’ve seen that some organisations have chosen to run green challenges to improve engagement on environmental issues.

Innovate for sustainability

Embrace innovation and leverage technology to help you develop sustainable products, processes, and business models. You could even look to stay ahead of evolving consumer expectations and regulatory requirements by investing in research and development tools, or putting an emphasis on sustainability teams within your business which will help create exciting new career paths for graduates and the younger workforce.

Concluding thoughts

From everything we’ve discussed, it’s clear that sustainability has evolved from a niche concern to a mainstream priority in the UK market, and that there is a huge drive by younger generations to prioritise it.

It is also clear that businesses that proactively integrate sustainability into their business and marketing strategies stand to gain a competitive advantage, foster consumer trust, and contribute to positive societal and environmental outcomes. By embracing sustainability as a guiding principle, companies can not only drive growth but also make a meaningful difference in building a more sustainable future. We hope these strategy examples are useful and would love to chat about them further with you if you’re after some advice.

The Sanderson approach to sustainability

At Sanderson, we are committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050 and our corporate responsibility to climate change is critical to our future plans. You can find out more about our commitment to being a responsible business here.

Recently, the Sanderson Projects team attended an APM event on ‘Sustainability in Project Management’. This talk provided an engaging insight into layering sustainability into Project Delivery. It served as a reminder that Climate Change continues to have a significant impact on today’s world and we all collectively have a responsibility to improve our carbon emissions to create a better future. You can find out more about our key takeaways from the event in this blog.

Get in touch 

Should you be interested in hearing a little bit more about this, please feel free to reach out and we can connect. We would be very happy to put you in touch with one of our consultants to discuss your current sustainability policy and we can support you in finding ways to improve this.

We’d love to hear from you.

References:

[1] UK Government: Sustainability Policies and Initiatives

[2] Nielsen Report: Consumer Trends in Sustainability

[3] McKinsey & Company: The Business Case for Sustainability

[4] Global Reporting Initiative: Sustainability Reporting Standards

[5] Dyson: 2023 Gen Z and Millennial Survey

[6] PWC: How ai can enable a sustainable future

[7] HRD: Embedding sustainability into your organizations benefits in 2024

[8] PWC: Sustainability reporting 2024: What is coming and actions you can take

[9] SPGlobal: Key 2024 sustainability trends driving the year ahead

[10] PA Consulting: Green jobs of the future: Meeting the demand-supply gap

[11] SP Global: Key 2024 sustainability trends driving the year ahead

Here our Scotland based Senior Consultant Graeme Tainsh offers you his view on the current state of the Project Manager job market in the Change & Transformation space.

The Project Management job market within Business Change & Transformation was unpredictable in 2023. However, hiring demand in 2024 has shown more stability and consistency, albeit at lower levels compared to the hot market. Clients who are recruiting seem more confident in their recruitment needs and resource plans.

In recent months, demand in Scotland has shifted towards the contract market, as clients seek specialist, flexible individuals who can immediately contribute and drive projects to completion. This trend is expected to continue into Q3 and Q4. We have also noticed an increased demand for candidates with experience in data migrations, Artificial intelligence, and Finance Transformation.

The market remains client-driven, with a high number of applications per role and strong competition. However, we anticipate the job market will become more balanced in the year’s second half.

To find out more and to read our Project Manager Specialism Spotlight with an overview of talent pool location, salary ranges and gender splits, download your copy of our latest Change & Transformation Insights Report here. – https://www.sandersonplc.com/download/q2-2024-change-and-transformation-insights/

If reading this has sparked a need for insights into your market, contact our expert Talent Insights Team today. We use a variety of first-hand research techniques, tools and proprietary data to help you understand more about the trends and opportunities within your market.

There is a worrying trend beginning to come into the world of recruitment and that is the proliferation of AI bots doing the filtering. I get it, there is a need for more automation, more sifting, more ability to filter to get to the best candidate. But if you take the human element out of a recruitment process you risk alienating the lifeblood of your business, the thing that makes your organisation tick, and probably a subset of your potential customer base – your people!

The rise and risks of Automation in the interview process

But worse still….the AI bot that is dehumanising the selection process is being counter punched by the AI generated cover letter and CV. These can be cleverly structured in 10 minutes by a large language model on behalf of a candidate who is gaming the application of AI at the other end of the process.

This can even roll over into online interviews. Some interviewers in a quest to reduce time and thinking could look to ask AI to generate a series of interview questions for the job role they are hiring for, only then to also be met by responses that are being real-time generated by AI by the candidate at the other end of the call to deliver the best possible response.

A worrying future of AI in recruitment processes?

Research conducted by Bright Minds indicated that 38% of applicants are now using AI to enhance their applications. Let’s face it – that number is only going to increase as AI becomes more ubiquitous and available.

And whilst my framing may be slightly glib, how far away are we from regular instances where AI assessment bots are assessing AI generated applications as a matter of course. Where does this end?

As I referenced in my previous post the recruitment word has changed. The expectation of feedback on a CV has gone, in fact CV feedback that is richer than an acknowledgement is an absolute rarity. More worrying, increasingly interview feedback is disappearing unless you are successful. And whilst AI can definitely reduce the admin burden on both sides of the process, it should be used to free up more time to be spent on human interaction – not less. And I fear that we are into a worrying cycle of less human interaction.

Breaking the AI cycle

The ultimate impact is that the candidate keeps swiping (much like one might when using popular dating apps, only to apply for jobs); and then more successful interviews end in rejection because something better came along for them.

Meanwhile the client keeps swiping too – letting AI assess more and more candidates. This results in more candidates being ghosted, and so the loop becomes a spiral, and the spiral becomes habit and things just simply get worse – until someone breaks that cycle. I believe we need to re-insert high quality human interaction into critical stages in the recruitment process.

I would say this though, wouldn’t I?! In a specialist, talent scarce, sector where human interaction is critical – many stones must be turned over to find the right person for the roles that we engage on. Yet at the same time we are increasingly being asked to comply with processes that have elements of what I have discussed above – because organisations think this works for volume hires – but for me it’s a slippery slope.

There is no substitute for high quality conversations, the building of relationships irrespective of outcome, and professional engagement at every stage of the process.

At Sanderson Government and Defence, we value building long-term relationships and owning the problem through to completion. We know from over 20 years in the talent solution business that this approach builds better teams and makes for a more resilient and cohesive workforce.

If you’d like to chat more about your recruitment needs and the bespoke solutions we could provide you in your recruitment processes, please do get in touch.

With a busy start to Q2 in the Business Analyst market, Sanderson have been having promising conversations with clients in several industries who are looking to hire candidates with these skills into their teams. With a lot of good candidates on the market, is now the time to secure your next Business Analyst? Our Principal Consultant David Awde shares his thoughts.

The Business Analysis job market is showing encouraging signs of becoming much busier over the second half of the year and we are actively engaged with clients across various sectors, including Life and Pensions, Wealth Management, Insurance, Utilities, Retail, and Automotive.

We have noticed a trend, especially in the contract space, where clients are looking for Business Analysts with niche experience working on specific types of projects. Within Financial service, for example, outside of the constant demand for Business Analysts with regulatory experience, we have seen multiple redress roles in the Motor Finance and Wealth space and an increased demand for Business Analysts with experience building new financial services products.

While candidate availability is good, strong candidates on the market are starting to obtain multiple interviews and offers when looking for work. As a result, clients may need to expedite their hiring processes to secure top talent and avoid disappointment.

If you’re interested to find out more as well as wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Change & Transformation job market as a whole this quarter, click here to download your copy of our latest Change & Transformation Insight Report today. https://www.sandersonplc.com/download/q2-2024-change-and-transformation-insights/

Our Talent Insights team are available to help you to understand more about talent trends, challenges and opportunities to make data-driven hiring decisions. Get in touch today if you would like to discuss the production of a bespoke report.

In one of our recent Talent Insights Reports, we highlighted the trend that a number of global businesses had opted to relocate their business services teams to the North, and specifically Manchester, as a step towards lowering the cost of hire, whilst maintaining a high calibre workforce.

In this article, we look more closely at these trends UK wide and across a wider spectrum of skill sets, whilst looking at where some of these decisions originate from.

The rise of ‘near shoring’

“North shoring” is a term that really became popular in the early 2000s, in 2004 the BBC announced plans to move out of London with the current Salford Quays site being announced in 2006 – this then fuelled the growth of Media City.

We’ve since had the phenomenon of “near shoring”, with businesses choosing places such as Manchester, Bristol and Leeds to base their business support operations away from the prime locations of London.

Moves to the Northern Powerhouse

New entrants to the UK market are starting to pit the likes of London, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester against each other to balance the quality of available candidates, cost of hire, cost of offices and quality of life. Whilst many are still laser focused on London as the only viable location to set up shop, Manchester is often coming out on top.

These trends are backed up by the “quality of life” stats provided by Numbeo, with London and Manchester achieving similar scores and both locations appealing with regards to purchasing power, healthcare availability and, perhaps surprisingly, property price to income ratio (www.numbeo.com, May 2024).

There has also been a real push in a focus on investment for businesses based outside of London, with some specifically set up to focus on investing in companies in the North of England. This is also backed by the recently launched Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Our research has shown (as per the table above) that there are a large amount of people who are leaving the capital and moving to other cities, with Manchester being the most popular.  Interestingly the amount of people heading to Manchester is almost double that of Bristol, home to the second highest number of professionals leaving London. A clear indication that Manchester is becoming a hot spot for talent.

The appeal of Manchester for candidates and companies

We spoke to Deborah Walker, Head of Inward Investment for Financial, Professional and Business Services at MIDAS for her take on why Manchester and the surrounding areas in the North are becoming so appealing. She commented that:

“Greater Manchester continues to be a magnet for global firms looking to consolidate corporate or shared services or scale operations, particularly when access to qualified professionals, technology or cyber skills are a prerequisite.  These businesses want to be sure that as well as choosing a location which makes good sense economically, their workforce will be happy, so Manchester’s investment in talent is especially appealing.  We’re seeing almost 50% of its diverse, young and multi-lingual graduates – for whom lifestyle is just as important – choosing to stay here beyond their studies. Manchester is a creative and collaborative city and new investors quickly discover that here is where they can enhance the customer experience through leveraging skills and talent from the creative industries that surround them.”

Commenting on the rise of companies moving to Manchester to open offices along with the rise in competitiveness and desirability in Manchester office space, Joe Averill, Managing Director and Founder of Level, a company that provides bespoke workspace solutions for tenants across various sectors and size, noted:

“There is a “flight to quality” in Manchester’s office market right now (an increasing trend in real estate whereby businesses are willing to pay higher prices for premium spaces) as businesses look to select office spaces with higher levels of amenity and flexibility. We’re seeing this happening across start-up’s/SME’s, scales ups and enterprise clients. Due to demand, there is over 200,000sq ft of new flexible workspace launching in Manchester between now and the end of 2025. Businesses here are adopting more hybrid and flexible working models, and so want spaces where they can connect with others in a community, receive a high level of service, take the hassle out of moving offices, work in diverse and collaborative ways and operate in a building that offers high levels of amenity for their people.”

Talent Growth in the North

Data from LinkedIn Talent Insights shows us that there has been growth and migration across multiple industries for Manchester, with many of these candidates coming from London.

This table shows the increase/decrease in the number of professionals within each of the key markets over the past 12 months between London and Manchester.

Here we can see that there has been significant growth within Cyber Security, Data and Cloud & Infrastructure, with many of these candidates are now based in or working from the North.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear to see that many talented individuals across multiple professional sectors are relocating to the North from London, with a specific focus on Manchester and its surrounding boroughs as a place to work.

The increase in available investment, office space and out of work activities in the area makes it a desirable location for companies and candidates alike, and I expect to see these trends persist and the continuation of the rise of Manchester as a talent hot spot.

As the Regional Director for the North at Sanderson, I am passionate about Manchester and the surrounding areas as offering viable opportunities for many businesses.

Could Manchester be the place for you to set up your next regional office? If you would like to discuss talent opportunities in the North for you and your business, please do reach out to me at [email protected].

With an increase in digital and technology candidate availability this quarter, we’ve been paying special attention to the rise in demand for Artificial Intelligence skills, and with that, the emergence of specialist AI roles.

Growth of AI roles

Our data has reported that UK job adverts asking for AI skills have doubled over the past year, with more than 7000 adverts on LinkedIn asking for these in the UK. We have even seen a remarkable 16-fold increase in job adverts asking for generative AI skills in general.

So where does this leave the tech and digital job landscape?

The emerging skillset of AI Engineers

With this rise in the need for AI skills, we have seen the demand for AI Engineers in the UK surge in beginning of 2024, reflecting a broader global trend towards the integration of artificial intelligence across various sectors.

Businesses across the UK are undergoing rapid digital transformation, spurred by the need to remain competitive in an increasingly digital economy. AI technologies are at the forefront of this shift, enabling companies to enhance efficiency, improve customer experiences, and innovate products and services.

No longer confined to tech giants and research labs; AI is being widely adopted across industries such as healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing. From automating complex tasks to providing predictive analytics and personalizing user experiences, the applications of AI are vast and growing.

The UK government has even recognised the strategic importance of AI and has invested heavily in AI research and development. Initiatives like the National AI Strategy aim to make the UK a global leader in AI technology. These efforts are stimulating the growth of AI startups and innovation hubs and ultimately leading to an increase in demand for AI Engineers across many industries.

The UK as a hub for AI Engineers

Our data suggests that the UK actually has the largest talent pool of AI Engineers in Europe, boasting 18% of the total talent pool.

This compares to 15% of the talent pool being based in Germany, 13% in France, 8% in Poland and 7% of the talent pool based in Spain.

Where in the UK are AI Engineers based?

When focusing in on the UK, a whopping 79% of this talent pool are based in London.

However, if you’re looking to hire this skillset across other areas of the UK, other significant talent pools include 5.7% of AI Engineers being in Bristol, 5.6% in Edinburgh, 2.8% in Manchester and 2.7% in Glasglow.

Interesting statistics on UK AI Engineers

We’ve rounded up some key stats for you on UK based AI Engineers:

• 7% of these are male
• 8% have been in their current role for less than 2 years
• The most common job titles are now AI Engineer, AI Research Engineer and AI Software Engineer compared to the previously common titles of Data Scientist, Software Engineer and Machine Learning Engineer.

Conclusion

With such appetite in the global market for specialist AI skills, we expect demand to continue its rapid increase to the extent that the AI Engineer job title is widely seen across the tech sector. In the face of this demand, employers will need to hire based on transferable skills until the talent pool matures.

For further information on digital and technology talent trends and predictions for this coming quarter, download our latest Technology and Digital Insight Report today.

If you would like to discuss how best to get hiring and building out your AI skill sets, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Sanderson team. We’re ready to help.

At the end of January, the Projects team extended an invitation to all of our Associates to join us at the South-West APM Event around ‘Sustainability in Project Management’ with guest speaker Will Masters.

APM is the only chartered membership organisation representing the project profession in the world, so we’re really excited to be a part of their events. In true Sanderson style, APM also believe that project delivery is all about achieving our clients desired outcomes but is also about so much more than process alone. They challenge the status quo and champion the new to help the project profession deliver better.

At this event, speaker Will Masters was incredibly engaging and provided a clear and insightful approach to layering sustainability into Project Delivery. It was a stark reminder that Climate Change is happening all around us, and we all have a responsibility to flatten the steep curve, both in our day to day lives and through the project lifecycle.

What did we learn?

The biggest take home for us as a team was around culture, and that being the biggest driver in positive change.

Following the event, we as a team have been exploring ways we can reduce our carbon footprint, personally and professionally with an initial focus on travel to work.

We are collating data from within our Community and will be taking travel impacts into account for new Associates throughout 2024.

Coming up next

Over the course of the year, we’ll be offering more APM events out to our Projects Associate Community, so keep an eye out and let us know if you would like to join us!

As ever, if you would like to chat more about our Associate Community, or about our Projects offering, please do reach out at [email protected]

With a strong talent pool in the UK, the software and manual Testing market has seen it’s fair share of fluctuations over the years. As we move through Q2, Sanderson Senior Consultant Elias Ofosu shares his thoughts on the Testing job market.

After a quiet Q1, Q2 has seen a steady rise in Testing vacancies, particularly for contract positions. Automation testing skills are in high demand, with companies seeking candidates experienced in tools like Selenium WebDriver, Cypress, and Specflow.

While there is still demand for manual testers, it doesn’t compare to the market for automation testers, which is in line with most industries shifting away from manual testing roles.

Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a trend in the number of organisations offshoring their QA function while keeping the Development team onshore. There are several potential reasons for this, including increased efficiencies, cost reductions and access to talent in job markets such as India and Central Europe.

However, the UK has an extensive and talented Testing talent pool, so this trend leads to an interesting question. How do engineering departments view QA in 2024? Is it an essential function with an equal voice in software engineering? Is it a job that should sit embedded with a software engineering team? Should developers take responsibility for end-to-end quality, or is it simply a cost centre that gets in the way of producing features at pace?

To find out more and to read our Test Automation Engineer Specialism Spotlight with an overview of talent pool location, salary ranges and gender splits, download your copy of our latest Technology & Digital Insights Report here.

If reading this has sparked a need for insights into your market, contact our expert Talent Insights Team today. We use a variety of first-hand research techniques, tools and proprietary data to help you understand more about the trends and opportunities within your market.