Recruiters identify Scotland’s top post-lockdown career opportunities

SPECIALISTS in recruitment for Scotland’s financial services sector have outlined the top seven “trending” career paths. 

Based on statistics and industry insights from its annual salary guide, Core-Asset Consulting has pinpointed five areas that are experiencing surging demand levels.

In addition they highlight two reliable mainstays where demand regularly outstrips the number of candidates available. 

Roles comprising data analysis is the biggest growth area – and now accounts for 20% of all permanent vacancies listed by the Edinburgh firm, with salary growth outperforming the wider industry.

Louise Powrie, Director of Financial and Professional Services with Core Asset, said: “The pandemic has accelerated changes in the sector that were already in motion.

“We’ve seen a widespread adoption of tech – our clients need specialists across all areas of design, architecture and testing.

“This is all having a big impact on the “trending” skills and specialisms – and we can see clear areas where demand for candidates is growing at a rate the market can’t keep up with.

“If you’re looking to enter financial services, are mid-way through studying or have been made redundant, it pays to understand which roles are in demand and most likely to give you a raft of career opportunities.”

Core-Asset’s findings also show a major jump in demand for roles in “user experience or user design marketing”, as analytics and software improvements allow for more tailored experiences and firms seek to better understand client journeys and decision-making.

The third specialism identified is for roles linked to Agile methodology, which continues to be adopted at pace by financial services firms.

“Product Managers” and “Scrum Masters” with accreditations have seen a 10% salary uplift over the past five years.

Solution Architects and Software Engineers, equipped with skills such as cloud computing are another specialism where candidates can enjoy their pick of the market, as demand for roles in this field have increased by around 25% over the last three years.

The huge growth in ESG (environmental social governance) and expectations placed on investment businesses by customers and employees to be more ethical and sustainable is creating an unmet demand for analysts and fund managers with proven experience and accreditations.

While there have been a significant number of ‘new’ roles emerging, Louise is keen to shine a light on two ‘mainstays’; tax and audit accountants, and client services and relationships roles – which both held fast throughout the pandemic and have seen long-term job stability and opportunities.

As Scotland and the wider UK moves into economic recovery from the pandemic, Core-Asset is reporting that vacancies across all sectors have increased 123% in comparison to this time last year.

Now in its sixth year, Core-Asset Consulting’s “Industry Trends and Salary Guide” is a forensic review of industry trends across Scotland’s financial services sector.

Uniquely, all of the data is entirely Scottish and the report sets expectation for those who are awarding salaries, allowing them to benchmark against competitor organisations.

Core-Asset Consulting was formed in 2005 by Betsy Williamson.

Based in Edinburgh, the £14m firm employs 22 people and works across the entire financial services sector.