For many companies, recruiting top treasury talent is less than straightforward. Respondents to The Business of Treasury 2024 survey, published by the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT), identified recruitment and resource planning as their second greatest internal concern. So how is the treasury recruitment market shaping up in the second half of 2024?

Katie Hardie, Executive Consultant at The Treasury Recruitment Company, says that following a slow start to the year, activity has picked up in the second quarter. “We’re seeing more movement at the senior level than we’ve seen for the last 18 months,” she observes. “That’s often due to people moving on or retiring from the most senior level.”

At the treasury analyst and treasury manager level, Hardie notes the market is also quite buoyant, with high demand for candidates with operational skills meaning that such candidates are able to cherry pick the positions they want.

But recruiters in other markets report a somewhat different picture. Eileen Tham, Consultant for Banking & Financial Services at Robert Walters Singapore says there have been few hires in the treasury space in the last couple of years, noting that treasury functions in many companies have been incorporated into other finance functions. “The majority of clients within the finance space will hire someone who is able to cover not just one finance function, but multiple functions,” she says.

Recruitment priorities: from diversity and inclusion to hybrid working

Where recruitment priorities are concerned, “There is also a lot of focus on diversity when we are being briefed on roles,” Hardie says. “A lot of businesses are looking closely at their gender balance, with the goal of bringing more women into treasury departments, especially at the senior level.” According to Hardie, this has become increasingly prominent across Europe, the UK and the US, particularly in the last six months.

Nevertheless, it’s clear there is still room for improvement in the areas of diversity and inclusion. Treasury Today’s 2023 Women in Treasury Global Equity Study highlighted the continuing challenge of pay equity, for example, with 46% of female respondents saying they are paid less than their male colleagues .

Meanwhile, hybrid working continues to be a key topic, with Hardie noting that companies should be offering no more than three days per week in the office in order to get the best talent. And a further trend is the rise in demand for people at the management level who have experience of implementing treasury management systems, or automating certain processes and procedures. “The split between doing the operational side of things and having experience of strategic forward thinking is still quite strong for positions at all levels,” she adds.

Gen Z and junior treasury professionals

Speaking about the specific challenges faced by Thomas Cook India Group, as well as those encountered by other treasurers operating in India, Amit Baraskar, Vice President & Head – Treasury, observes that a “challenge fast approaching” is that of meeting the expectations of Gen Z employees. “In a global environment, how does one run a multi-country treasury and meet the new generation’s expectation of a work-life balance?” he comments.

At the same time, he notes that Gen Z is known to prioritise growth prospects and medium-term development over instant gratification in terms of current salary. “This is a marked change compared to millennials, who have been known for their window shopping of salaries and quick leaps for small increases in salaries,” he adds. “Gen Z would demand time and commitment to carve out their plans.”

For junior treasury professionals looking to develop their careers, he says it is natural to get caught up in the daily chores and pressures, “and eventually become just another treasurer who goes with the flow.” To achieve success in treasury, he recommends setting career goals and consistently spending at least 20 minutes a day taking steps to reach that goal.

As well as emphasising the importance of a mentor or role model, he suggests junior treasury professionals should also “have the guts to experiment, also to bring in new, revolutionary ideas to the table and take them to conclusion with conviction.” He concludes, “Great professional discoveries and attainments happen only after sustained trial and error, and warrant significant time investment and commitment to excellence.”