What does financial services hiring look like right now?

The wider UK hiring market is tight, and that shapes what finance teams pay to recruit. The KPMG/REC UK Report on Jobs KPMG and REC's UK Report on Jobs showed permanent staff appointments fell at the quickest rate in four months at the end of 2025, extending the downturn to 39 months. When confidence dips, employers slow down, roles stay open longer and the cost of a vacancy climbs.

Demand isn't disappearing, though. The latest ONS figures the ONS Vacancies and jobs in the UK bulletin put total UK vacancies at 712,000 for April to June 2026, with 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy. There are candidates in the market. The challenge is finding the right regulated, qualified person before a competitor does, and doing it without a heavy fee attached.

Which finance roles are hardest and most expensive to fill?

Professional and technical roles, the category most finance hiring sits in, remain a pressure point. Earlier ONS data the ONS vacancies bulletin recorded the largest volume increase in vacancies in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, up 5,000 in August to October 2025. High demand in specialist areas keeps salaries and agency fees high.

At the same time, the entry pipeline is thinning. techUK reports techUK's analysis of Adzuna data a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT launched, with graduates facing the toughest market since 2018. For finance firms, that squeezes both ends: fewer junior hires coming through, and stiff competition for experienced, compliant talent. Every mis-hire or slow process costs more.

How can financial services firms hire well and spend less?

Start by fixing what you can control: speed and precision. In regulated hiring you're screening for qualifications, certifications and clean compliance history, not just a CV keyword. AI now handles a lot of that first pass. It reads the whole candidate profile, matches against your must-haves and surfaces a ranked list, so your team spends time on the shortlist rather than the search.

• Define your non-negotiables up front: FCA-relevant experience, qualifications and location, so any tool ranks on what actually matters.
• Move fast on outreach: the strongest finance candidates are often passive and get contacted quickly.
• Swap percentage fees for outcome-based pricing to cut cost per hire without cutting quality.
• Use automation for the repetitive steps, screening and scheduling, and keep human judgement for the final call.

Skills-based routes matter too. Government data the GOV.UK AI Labour Market Survey 2025 shows apprenticeships rose from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025. Building talent through apprenticeships and internal development eases the pressure on expensive external searches over time.

How much can AI recruitment save a financial services firm?

The biggest saving is on fees. A typical recruitment agency charges 15 to 25% of first-year salary. On a £60,000 compliance or analyst role, that's £9,000 to £15,000 per hire. With Reed.ai you pay 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost: on that same role, roughly £4,800, and it's free for the people looking for work. We search a database of 15 million candidates and return a ranked shortlist in under 30 seconds, so you see suitable finance talent fast and only pay when you hire. Try your first role today and see the shortlist before you commit.