Double Materiality and Its Growing Impact on Recruitment

Demand for financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professionals continues to outpace supply. Across private equity, asset management, fintech, and corporate finance, businesses are competing for talent that blends data fluency, strategic thinking, and commercial awareness. But while FP&A has become a top hiring priority, the recruitment process is getting tougher.

This article explores current hiring trends, the most common barriers to attracting FP&A talent, and actionable solutions to help talent acquisition and hiring managers secure high-performing professionals in a tight market.

FP&A is no longer a back-office function

FP&A has moved beyond budgeting and variance analysis. Today’s teams are embedded in business decision-making, advising on product launches, market expansion, pricing strategies, and operational efficiency.

The brief has expanded and so have the skill requirements. In-demand FP&A professionals:

• Build multi-scenario financial models from scratch
• Translate data into actionable insight for C-suite stakeholders
• Collaborate cross-functionally and act as business partners
• Operate fluently in Excel, Power BI, ERP platforms, and SQL
• Understand how to drive value in commercial and operational contexts

In short, businesses are looking for analysts who think like strategists - and they’re hard to find.

What’s making FP&A recruitment harder?

1. The market is candidate-short

Experienced FP&A professionals are rarely on the market for long. Most are already employed, often passively open to new roles - but not actively applying. At mid-senior levels, hiring pipelines quickly dry up without a proactive sourcing strategy.

2. Candidate expectations have shifted

Salary expectations have moved upwards, particularly in high-cost markets. Experienced FP&A professionals now expect hybrid work as standard. Many ask about reporting lines, exposure to business units, and opportunities for progression early in the process. Firms not ready to speak to these points risk losing top candidates.

3. Speed matters

In a market where the best candidates have multiple interviews running, time-to-offer is critical. Processes that extend beyond three interview stages - or take more than 2-3 weeks - lose momentum. Good candidates drop out or accept elsewhere before offers are made.

4. Skills gaps within the talent pool

Businesses increasingly want FP&A hires with data fluency - particularly in BI tools, SQL, or predictive modeling. But many finance candidates come from accounting or reporting backgrounds without this layer. That narrows the pool. It also pushes up salaries for hybrid-skilled professionals.

High-impact strategies to improve FP&A hiring

Tighten your brief

Misalignment between hiring teams and internal stakeholders is one of the most common causes of hiring delays. Agree upfront on:

• Must-have skills vs. nice-to-haves
• Reporting lines and decision-making responsibilities
• Whether commercial acumen or technical proficiency is more important
• Salary range, including room to flex for top-tier profiles

Clear prioritization shortens the hiring cycle and improves candidate quality.

Calibrate against the market

Hiring budgets for FP&A roles are often set using outdated data. In the last 12-18 months, base salaries have shifted significantly - especially in major financial centers. If your offer sits below the market average, strong candidates won’t engage.

Use our salary benchmarking guide or speak to a talent partner with real-time insight into current ranges by role, sector, and location.

Define your EVP (employee value proposition) early

Top candidates will assess you as critically as you assess them. They’ll ask:

• Is this a business where FP&A has strategic influence?
• Will I be in the room with senior decision-makers?
• How does the company invest in finance capability (tools, upskilling, exposure)?
• Can I see a path to leadership from this role?

Be ready to answer these questions in interviews. Job descriptions alone aren’t enough - your hiring team needs to communicate what makes this opportunity compelling.

Don’t overengineer your hiring process

Long assessments, back-to-back panels, and slow approvals all increase drop-off rates. Aim for:

• One initial screen
• One or two interviews with hiring stakeholders
• A short case or scenario discussion, if needed

Where modeling or business partnering is critical, ask candidates to walk through a real-life example instead of assigning a case study. Keep the process lean and decisive.

Broaden your sourcing strategy

If you rely solely on inbound applications or LinkedIn search, you’ll miss top-tier candidates. Consider:

• Engaging passive candidates through specialist recruiters
• Targeting candidates from adjacent roles (e.g. finance business partners, strategic FP&A within portfolio companies)
• Looking beyond your local market, especially for remote-eligible roles

FP&A professionals are open to conversations - but they rarely respond to generic outreach. Tailored, informed engagement makes the difference.

Upskill where needed

If your internal team lacks key FP&A capabilities - particularly in data tools or business partnering - consider building from within. Many organizations now:

• Cross-train accountants or finance analysts into FP&A roles
• Run internal training on Tableau, Power BI, and financial modeling
• Bring in contract specialists while permanent staff ramp up

This won’t solve short-term hiring, but it reduces dependency on external hires in future.

When to bring in a specialist recruiter

Complex hiring requirements, short timelines, or tight candidate markets are all good reasons to partner with an FP&A talent specialist.

At Selby Jennings, we support hiring managers by:

• Providing calibrated shortlists aligned to technical and sector requirements
• Benchmarking salary expectations in real time
• Reaching passive candidates through global talent networks
• Reducing time-to-hire with end-to-end support

We recruit for FP&A roles across private equity, asset management, fintech, and listed corporates - covering analyst to C-suite level.