Asset and motor finance recruiter Oakland Partnership grew by 52% year-on-year in its 2013-14 period, ending February, according to managing director Tom White.
Speaking to Motor Finance, White said the company’s results for 2015 had also so far surpassed those recorded in the same period in 2014, although he didn’t reveal specific figures.
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As the company has grown, it has seen its reputation within the industry increase. This has resulted in a change with how it acquires potential clients, says White."We’ve had new clients regularly approaching us this year asking us to work with them, which didn’t happen so often historically," he says.
This growth ran in parallel to a general growth in the motor finance industry, including a number of new players entering the market over the previous year or so.
White says: "A lot of new players have come into the market, and we’re working with quite a few of those. Companies which were in it, but in a small way, are now looking to grow even more substantially, and quite aggressively in some cases. And people who weren’t in the market at all are now seeing it as a good vehicle and a way to utilise their money."
Although a larger part of the company’s growth came from general asset finance, as opposed to motor finance, White said he had observed motor finance grow as well.
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By GlobalDataOne area where White has seen notable strong demand is for good-quality credit underwriters. While there is demand for people able to fill this role, there’s a lack of supply. According to White, a lot of this demand has come from smaller businesses where a lot of the underwriting is not computerised.
He says: "They want someone who can pull apart a set of accounts and look for what might be hidden, but it’s very difficult to find really good experienced credit analysts. This is because so many of the larger organisations, both in motor and asset finance, don’t train them that way now. They computerise so much of it that there aren’t many good people coming through having been properly trained in areas like credit."
As a result, recruiters such as The Oakland Partnerships are filling these roles with people from Australia, New Zealand and sometimes South Africa. And the reason is because in these countries people are still trained "properly", White says, adding: "The language is also not an issue, so as long as they’ve got the correct working visas then that’s quite a good source for us to find people who can be difficult to find in the UK."
Motor finance experience
While recruiters are having to look around far afield in order to fill certain roles, White tells Motor Finance people in the industry are often reluctant to hire those without direct motor finance experience. He says: "If somebody has sold print equipment or construction equipment they may struggle to break-in, because nearly every job spec will say "must have motor finance industry experience". So it’s a very insular industry, but there’s a lot of talent from outside who could very easily move across and bring their skills to the table."
If a candidate comes up for a role who is deemed an excellent candidate, with good general asset finance experience, Oakland will suggest this person to the company. However, often the reaction is that the new person needs to hit the ground running, so must have a motor background.
White says this is a short-term outlook: "The insistence on motor finance only pays dividends for the first three months or so, because after that, especially if they’ve done a different kind of finance, they’re basically up to speed. It means you don’t employ the best person – just the best person with motor finance experience."
As the industry is resistant to hiring staff without much motor finance experience, companies often look to hire from one another. White says: "A lot of the new players coming in are having to pay a bit more in order to get people from competitors. So if the standard salary for a good credit analyst was £55k, they’re coming in paying £60-65k. That’s generally what they’ve done, or they’ve been able to attract people drawn to the entrepreneurial part of it."
According to White the movement of staff tends to be from smaller companies to larger ones at a junior level, when the employee is able to improve on salary and benefits through the move, and also may sometimes receive a more formal training. At a more senior level he said the move is often back the other way, as people look to be in a situation where they can influence who they work for to a greater extent.
Beyond that, a lot of extra headcount often comes from internal promotion. One example White gives is of someone in a support role whose function includes downloading credit reports and forming an initial opinion moving into a role in credit, where he or she will be able to build up experience on the credit side.
He says: "Positions like sales co-ordinator or sales support can be recruited more easily, but in areas like credit or litigation they [companies] tend to grow their own."
One area where The Oakland Partnership has not seen as much movement as it anticipated is as a result of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Before the FCA came into force, there was a lot of talk about how it would force people out of the industry, and also lead to a huge demand for compliance officers. Although White says he has seen some effect as a result of the FCA, the impact was nowhere near as bad as first anticipated.
According to Finance & Leasing Association figures, the motor finance industry has grown so far in 2015, and most industry commentators appear to agree that this will continue for the remainder of the year, even if the rate of growth is debated.
The Oakland Partnership looks to grow alongside this industry. According to White, the team has grown "significantly" and he plans to grow headcount further in 2015. White says: "It’s a small tight-knit team and we’re going to be looking to grow in terms of staff numbers and in terms of turnover and financial results. n
