How Have Family Office Hiring Needs Changed in The Last 12 Months?

Agreus is a full resourcing and recruitment company that works exclusively with Family Offices. What this means, besides the fact that we help Family Offices find the top talent across the professional services spectrum, is that we have access to first hand primary data relating to Family Offices. How they compensate their staff, how big their teams are and of course, who they hire.

We analysed our database over the last 12 months to determine why Family Offices got in touch with us and by doing so discovered that hiring needs have changed drastically. From a focus on organising teams and transactions in an era of uncertainty, to increasing risk and the demand for investment analysts, preparing for impending regulation and onshoring with the help of in-house Trust professionals. Family Offices have spent the first three months of the financial year looking for Investment, Trust and Legal professionals in a way they never have before.

Looking back at May 2021 and the most in-demand type of professionals was operational and support staff. More than 55% of inbound inquiries for new roles fell into this bracket while a joint 20% sought investment staff and accounting professionals. Just 5% of all Family Offices who reached out to Agreus were looking for in-house Trust professionals.

Fast-forward to May 2022 and this has entirely changed. Just shy of 30% of all inquiries were relating to an investment hire. A further 27% sought finance roles such as Accountants and Chief Financial Officers and 11% were looking for in-house Trust roles. More than twice as many inquiries for this mandate than the year before, reflective of what is happening in the market today. As the appetite for investment grows, so does the need to hire accordingly.

So what does this tell us?

While 2021 was all about organising teams and transactions in an era of uncertainty, 2022 is all about finding Investment, Legal and Compliance staff to deal with their increased investment appetites, potentially impending regulations and ongoing professionalisation.

In the last year, Family Offices have required Legal Counsel to professionalise and move towards transparency in a post-Archegos era. They are seeking the help of Compliance Managers; both internally and externally, to safeguard against impending regulation particularly in the US and Investment Analysts to deal with increasingly diversified investment portfolios, something more than 60% of Family Offices have moved to since the coronavirus pandemic. While new and niche asset classes require new investment analysts, Family Offices continue to invest in areas with precedent and a history of high returns.

With more regulation being teased in the US and potentially the UK, further taxes being brought against the wealthy in the USA and a clamp-down on mobility in much of Europe, what can we anticipate in 2022?