The wider UK market is cautious. The Low Pay Commission describes today's labour market as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, and vacancies sitting below pre-pandemic levels Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK. That backdrop shapes how firms in banking and financial services plan their hiring, because it changes who moves and when.
Even so, demand hasn't disappeared. The Office for National Statistics reports that in the three months to October 2025 the largest volume increase in vacancies came in professional, scientific and technical activities, which rose by 5,000 ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2025. Professional advisory work sits close to that demand, and firms that plan ahead pick up the strongest people first.
Private client advising is a senior, relationship-led role, and the hiring dynamics differ from entry-level recruitment. Across the wider economy, entry-level hiring has fallen faster than senior hiring: in engineering, for example, entry-level hiring sits at -19% against -10% for senior roles, a nine-percentage-point gap GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. Experienced advisers with a portfolio and a track record stay in demand.
Specialist skills are the story of the current market. Computer Weekly's recruitment outlook notes that against a subdued 2025 backdrop, businesses took a cautious approach to hiring but there were clear demand hotspots for specialist skills Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026). For private client teams, that specialism is regulated advice paired with genuine client relationships, and that combination is scarce.
Start with the capability you actually want to back. For a private client adviser, that means qualified, regulated advice experience, a portfolio of client relationships they can retain and grow, and clear judgement under scrutiny. Define those must-haves before you write the advert, so screening tests the right things from the first conversation.
Then move quickly. In a 'low hire, low fire' market Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK, the strong people you want are rarely on the market for long, and a slow process loses them to a faster firm. Keep your stages tight, brief interviewers on the same capability framework, and give feedback within days rather than weeks.
We built our AI recruitment agent to find the right adviser and manage the whole process for you, from a ranked shortlist through to a booked interview. We search a database of 15 million candidates to surface people who match the capability you've defined, so you spend your time with the strongest few rather than reading every CV.
Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. If you're hiring a private client adviser, tell us the capability you want to back and we'll get to work today.
