Many recruiters don’t consider the psychology of how to approach different industries and verticals, even though they’re recruiting human beings, so psychology is going to play a role somewhere.
Here are 5 steps to understanding the psychology of candidates for financial institutions.
Step 1: Make sure you’re undeniably professional
While financial services are now embracing digital and mobile and tech overall, it’s still a traditional industry in terms of processes and behaviours.
And because salaries for early-stage career hires are higher than in many other industries, there’s an expectation of professionalism throughout the process. This means making sure you’re on time to all meetings, presenting well physically for any in-person appointments, and having strong grammar in any email correspondence.
Step 2: Make sure you communicate consistently and effectively
With top talent for a financial services role, they probably have three or four companies offering them potential six-figure employment. You need to be on their radar and be communicating with them about your process if you have any chance to land them.
Where most hiring processes drop the ball is via communication, and that’s been proven on countless surveys. Communicate. Give them updates on where they stand. Explain what the package could look like. Tell them what factors you’re considering. Be respectful and transparent with candidates: the best ones have other notable offers, and might make a selection in part based on how the process unfolded.
Step 3: Know the vocabulary
The vocabulary of financial services is very different than recruiting for other positions. These candidates are going to be more comfortable with acronyms (CAGR, EBITA, etc.) and likely view work through a prism of revenue-driven success.
While aspects like culture fit will be somewhat important, it’s going to be less important than filling a marketing manager position. So you want to make sure you understand the vocabulary they’re comfortable with – talk to hiring managers about terms and words and concepts to use and avoid – and you want to make sure that you frame up the dialogue around how the team is structured, how money is generated, work-life balance, and incentives and compensation. Those are going to be more important than for other roles.
Step 4: Leverage tech
Financial services is traditional industry in terms of process, but it’s been embracing tech for longer than most industries. They are more likely to be comfortable interacting with a chatbot, for example, or getting placed into a scheduling automation.
So lean on tech to save yourself time, and as long as you’re good on vocabulary and ideas and compensation, these candidates are not likely to pushback at tech.
Step 5: Evaluate the process
Once you convert a candidate into a new employee, ask them about the process:
- What worked?
- What didn’t?
- Did it seem like the recruiter understood the position?
- What was the reason you accepted?
- How important was culture? Work-life balance?
Do this with each new hire. Then eliminate what isn’t working and tweak for each new role and candidate.