interview with a FinTech intern

who am I?

My name is Jack Barclay, I am an s6 pupil at Portobello High School  who is currently working as an intern at FinTech Scotland. I have been given the opportunity to write a short blog post discussing my thoughts and opinions towards the FinTech and tech industry, as well as my aspirations and plans for my internship.

Are you interested in working in tech?

Yes absolutely. Technology is such a huge part of the current landscape and the influence it has will only increase each year and that’s why I’m interested in it. In my mind it is one of the few industries that will only continue to grow, develop and evolve as we use it to solve issues and problems we face in everyday life.

Do you feel curriculums include enough tech subjects?

Yes and no. I feel that when I went to primary (school) the consensus was not one that overwhelmingly supported technology in the learning environment but moving into secondary school the general attitude seemed to have changed. The school (Portobello High School) was incredibly supportive of technology, going as far as to provide an iPad to every pupil. This came with an education too, teaching us how to use a variety of systems and software’s such as the Microsoft family of products (OneNote, teams, PowerPoint and excel.) As well as this we are given the opportunity to study various subjects relating to the technology umbrella, such as computing. I studied computing and the skills taught were quite wide, such as python, html, CSS, and JavaScript. So overall I would say my experience is that schools now more than ever are striving to educate students on technology and get them excited about it at a younger age.

Had you ever heard of FinTech prior to this internship?

Prior to this internship I had not, the whole industry is quite new to me. But I am excited to learn more. And use my existing knowledge to adapt to a new climate, full of unfamiliar problems and new experiences. 

What do you think it is about?

Well, the current consensus I am getting is that fintech is an industry full of innovation & collaboration that has one main goal, which is to support growth and evolution of new technologies in the financial sector. I absolutely connect with that. 

What skills do you think are needed?

I would imagine one skill that would be useful is problem solving, being able to produce solutions quickly and efficiently to problems you may never have faced before. As well as this I think having an open mind would be incredibly useful, being open to the latest ideas and innovations. Also, collaboration, I think the ability to work in a team is necessary within not just fintech but in the technology sector, the ability to listen to others, give feedback, and evolve ideas as a community is a super useful skill to have. 

Do you think your female friends would be interested in a job at fintech? 

I would certainly think so, but they probably don’t represent the majority. I imagine the majority wouldn’t,  It is an industry overwhelmingly populated by men and does not necessarily market itself toward women. More must be done to advertise the technology sector to girls/women.

Why did you want to get work experience at FinTech Scotland?

Well  the team reflected a number of the ideals that I have, And the company’s mission to make a better world for all through innovation, collaboration and inclusion really resonated with me.

What do you hope to learn?

I hope to learn skills that will enhance and develop my ability in the workspace, I want to gain experience from those who are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the industry. and I want to improve the skills and ability I have by using them and in an atmosphere I have not worked in before. And i

am optimistic about what I can get out of the internship as I have already started learning. Over my first week I learned that there are so many ways to get jobs/roles in this industry. You do not need to spend 4yrs of your life getting a degree,  there are other routes, and each route will suit every person differently. 

If nothing else I hope this blog post works as a lite introduction into my mind. As well as  my skills, abilities, and my ambitions for my time here at FinTech Scotland. 

The Talent Solution Most Enterprises Are Missing Out On

The societal and digital disruption brought about by COVID-19 has changed the way we work. Enterprises are having to reassess how they can develop, hire and invest in talent in their workforce as we move into 2022.

At the same time, employees’ views on career success, mobility and even the meaning of work itself have undergone a seismic change.

In fact, data shows that in the UK alone, the number of job vacancies is at an all-time high, reaching 1,219,000 in November 2021 ”” an increase of 434,500 from pre-pandemic levels.

Against the backdrop of the so-called war for talent’, businesses that want to maintain a competitive advantage over others need to find new and innovative ways of not only attracting top talent, but retaining it as well.

The traditional model

Traditional human resource management relies on a number of accepted ideas about how organisations work. Namely, a person is hired to do a particular job, and answers to a manager, who is in turn managed by someone else ”” all the way up to the top of the traditional hierarchical structure.

On the traditional career path, employees may eventually be promoted and climb the ladder within their chosen profession. A marketing assistant might eventually work their way up to becoming a marketing manager ”” but not an accountant.

And herein lies the problem: an employee is not just a CV. Placing someone in a box based on their job title alone ”” not on their actual skills, experience and personality ”” isn’t useful to anyone.

And while agile talent mobility might be relatively common within a job function (HR, marketing or sales professionals may jump from project to project fairly frequently), it’s rare for people to cross those boundaries and work on a project under a different discipline entirely ”” even when the skills and competencies needed for the role massively overlap.

For example, a data analyst working within a company’s IT department might make a fantastic addition to the team working on marketing analytics ”” but this is rarely the way it works.

The invisible talent problem

When companies need to staff a new project or build a new team, they’ll usually look to bring new talent on board ”” despite the fact they may well already have the skills they need in house.

As Gigged.AI’s CEO Rich Wilson explains: “Because of remote working and a largely distributed workforce, a lot of enterprises have no idea what talent they have internally. There’s so much money wasted by hiring new employees when actually, they’ve got that talent in house”.

Essentially, because of the silos the traditional company structure inevitably creates, enterprises have always found it difficult to understand exactly what skills and talent they’re sitting on.

The internal talent marketplace and the future of work

There are signs, though, that this mindset is beginning to change. Coca-Cola is just one big enterprise that’s starting to do things differently, and actually analysing the skills they have in-house.

These are skills that might not appear on a CV, that might have been picked up in a previous job ”” or a previous career ”” and that might otherwise have remained invisible. By bringing these skills to the surface, Coca-Cola hopes to identify opportunities for employees to have new experiences at work.

More importantly from the company’s perspective, this can help to retain talent as well. As Rich says, “There’s this sense right now that if somebody can make more money elsewhere, they’re going to leave. But people don’t just leave jobs for money ”” they leave because the project they’re working on’s not exciting, or because they’re not utilising certain skills.”

And it’s true: The Work Institute’s 2020 Retention Report found that compensation and benefits was only the sixth most common reason employees gave for leaving their jobs in 2019 ”” the first was career development.

By identifying their workforce’s core skills ”” and linking these with opportunities for employee development and the chance to work on new projects ”” companies can lower not only their staffing costs but their attrition rates as well.

And there are other big benefits to be had from implementing an internal talent marketplace too.

A broadened perspective for managers and employees

Coming into contact with different members of an organisation, either on a short-term basis or through a permanent job move, can broaden perspectives and help employees and management alike to develop positive traits such as empathy. An increase in empathy was the key theme of LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2020 report, which also suggested that employees stay at companies with high levels of internal hiring 41% longer than at those with low levels.

Elimination of bias and increased DEI

In the current model, when projects are staffed internally, this is often done on a who-you-know basis ”” according to the LinkedIn report above, 50% of internal recruitment happens because a manager reaches out to an employer they already know.

Naturally, unconscious bias plays a role here, as people are much more likely to refer people who resemble themselves. It can also leave out talented employees who don’t have a strong network ”” but whose skill sets might be a good match for the project. By using an internal talent platform based on a comprehensive skill classification system, you can eliminate that bias and focus on the best person for the role.

Access to a broader talent pool

One of the biggest advantages of using an internal talent marketplace is that it can bring talent that might otherwise have been overlooked to the forefront. Like in the case of Coca-Cola above, enterprises can access skills that their employees may have picked up in previous roles, or transferable skills that could make a person a great fit for a role they might otherwise have been dismissed for due to lack of job-specific experience. As an added bonus, companies can also see a reduction in onboarding and training costs when new hires are already familiar with the business.

Drawbacks and pitfalls

Of course, there are problems with this approach too ”” most notably that it requires significant buy-in from management, employee engagement and a sizeable investment in tech.

Management buy-in

Surprisingly, according to Deloitte’s 2019 Global Human Capital Trends report, 46% of managers resist internal mobility, which can create a talent-hoarding culture ”” a big problem when it comes to implementing a successful internal talent solution.

Companies that want to adopt this approach to talent management, therefore, need to help managers understand that it effectively removes the need to jealously hang on to their top performers because it provides real-time transparency into the skills available within their organisation ”” and the opportunity to build and develop their team’s skills.

Hiring managers need to move away from the traditional talent acquisition model, which simply involves recruiting a candidate to do a particular job, and instead focus on fractionalising’: thinking in terms of projects and the knowledge and skills they require ”” knowledge and skills which may well be present within the organisation already.

Staff buy-in

The second problem is employee engagement, as employees (plus freelancers and contractors) usually need to manually input their details into their organisation’s internal talent platform to appear in searches. Although this might only take a few minutes, there needs to be some encouragement to motivate them to put themselves forward.

Team leaders can start by leading by example and entering their own skills and experience into the system. There should also be some education around the opportunities that the short process of filling in a profile could lead to ”” after all, only 28% of millennials surveyed in 2015 felt that their employer was making full use of their skills.

Tech investment

The last and perhaps most notable problem with implementing an internal talent marketplace at the enterprise level is the tech side. Building a platform in house will almost certainly be a time-consuming, complex, and ”” yes ”” astronomically expensive undertaking.

Thankfully, there is a solution available.

Introducing the Gigged.AI internal talent marketplace

Fresh from a successful pilot with The Data Lab, the Gigged.AI internal talent marketplace launches officially in the summer of 2022 ”” and can help large enterprises, universities and public sector harness the power of internal talent sourcing problems at the enterprise level.

Designed to meet the evolving business needs of companies in the post-COVID world, our white-labelled, data-driven solution allows managers at large enterprises to create a detailed and accurate statement of work using our innovative conversational AI chatbot. Our unique skills-matching algorithm will then use this to find the best people for the job from within your organisation.

You can run a quick check to see what talent you have internally within about 22 seconds ”” 22 seconds that could save your enterprise the thousands of pounds and months of lost time that typically comes with sourcing talent externally.

Gartner predicts that by 2025, 20% of large enterprises will have deployed internal talent marketplaces to optimise their utilisation and agility of talent.

How Platform Sourcing can help Fintechs win the War for Talent

Current State 

The War for Talent had a ceasefire in early 2020 due to COVID-19 but is now back in full swing. The War for Talent is not new, the term was coined by McKinsey and Company way back in 1997. However, this war has evolved due to the increase in digital initiatives and the rise in remote work smashing down the usual geographical barriers. The most in-demand tech roles for companies across the UK are software developers, web designers and data analysts with AI skills quickly catching up. According to Adzuna in April 2021 there were nearly 10,000 vacancies for software developers, compared to 5,630 at the same time last year. Furthermore, the Gartner 2021 CFO survey found that 74% of CFO’s plan to permanently shift employees to remote work after the Covid-19 crisis ends. Many Fintechs including Revolut have rewrote policies to include fully remote work.

The old solution

Historically when skills are in demand there are a number of tactics large organisations deploy which include but not limited to:

• Post more (and more and more) jobs on Linked In
• Create a new Preferred Supplier List (PSL) of agencies
• Hire contractors from PSL when perm hiring stalls
• Referrals schemes
• Recruitment open days 
• Host tech meet ups (obligatory beer and pizza post)
• Expensive PR Campaigns to hype up culture and opportunity
• Increase Salaries

Now these are all perfectly good solutions if you have lots of time and money. However, most digital initiatives have an end goal to generate revenue. With a lack of key talent then projects start to delay and so does the revenue. This is when most CEO’s and CFO’s start to get interested. This is usually when the big digital consultancies get brought in.

The new solution

There is another way. There is so much talk right now about the “future of work” and there are many debates of what that means. That is for another day, lets focus solely on the platform sourcing element of the future of work. There has been a rise in companies using talent platforms to complete projects using platforms such as Toptal, Freelancer, Innocentive and Upwork. Even NASA use platform sourcing for major software development projects. This has been largely in North America with the UK slow to this model.

A recent Harvard Business School report about building the on-demand workforce states: 

“COVID-19 has only accelerated the move away from traditional, pre-digital-era talent models toward on-demand workforce models.” 

Also, the well-regarded University of Oxford Report on Platform Sourcing stated there will be rapid growth in the next 5 years on how companies use Platform Sourcing including crowdsourcing and outsourcing platforms. The report focused on research around how Fortune 500 firms are adopting online platforms. The report author Greetje Corporaal found the following benefits:

1. Providing easy access to a scalable source of manpower, skills and expertise 

Platforms provide access to freelancers with highly specialized skills and expertise, making them an attractive option for organizations to quickly and flexibly complement the capabilities of their in-house employees on an on- demand basis. 

2. Reducing start-up and transaction costs 

Compared to traditional outsourcing vendors and contracting agencies, platforms substantially lower the start-up and transaction costs of a contract. This allows enterprises to quickly hire freelancers to address project needs. 

3. Eliminating conventional hiring barriers 

Platform technologies eliminate or at least reduce geographical, informational, and administrative barriers in the hiring process. This allows their use for projects of shorter length and scope. It facilitates the hiring of freelancers on a more flexible, on-demand basis, and allows managers to bring in new skills and knowledge to the organization that would otherwise have remained outside. 

There are factors to be aware of when using platform sourcing:

• The work needs to be well defined with milestones and outcomes
• Time zones need to be factored in
• This does not replace your team but can enhance

In conclusion, the next time you are worrying about the impact that losing the war for talent will have on your projects and ultimately revenue then consider a platform approach. There are a number of UK platform companies including Distributed and the Gigged.AI (I am biased as the CEO). Start small and define your outcomes and this could be game-changer.