75 per cent of private capital funds are facing recruitment and talent retention difficulties in areas including automation and cybersecurity, a recent Intertrust Group study has found.
The report, ‘Introducing the Halo Framework’, collected data from interviews with 150 senior figures in private capital firms, hedge funds, and private wealth managers with US$12.5 to $29.5 billion in assets under management.
Furthering these recruitment concerns, 44 per cent of participants cited a widening skills gap due to evolving demands as a considerable concern and 60 per cent of private capital fund managers believe that the gap between the skills they require and the number of candidates that can provide these will widen over the next five years.
As a result of this issue, many fund managers are looking for candidates with more general backgrounds, who can be reskilled or upskilled to meet their demands, rather than those with specialised skills. 40 per cent stated that their training programmes will need to be upgraded over the next five years to facilitate this new hiring culture.
Beyond skill-based recruitment issues, 41 per cent of those interviewed said that DEI-related challenges were having an impact on their recruitment processes. 43 per cent added that the demand for remote working will mean that more than a quarter of their staff will be working outside of the office in the future, with the construction of a hybrid working model an urgent agenda item.
Chitra Baskar, president of fund solutions at Intertrust Group, says: Most private capital firms are struggling to recruit into highly competitive technology-related roles and are increasingly seeking support from their strategic outsourcing partners to combat this. Sophisticated service providers invest a substantial amount in ongoing training and competency building within their teams and are well placed to plug in-house talent shortages.
“Our Halo Framework highlights the importance of ‘empowering your people’ as one of its core areas of focus – encouraging firms to recruit from all backgrounds, develop skills and knowledge with a tailored talent management strategy, rotate jobs so staff experience different value streams, and build a knowledge exchange system.”
