EP137: LMAX Group - How They Upskill for Rapid Industry Change

All-In Recruitment is a podcast by Manatal focusing on all things related to the recruitment industry’s missions and trends. Join us in our weekly conversations with leaders in the recruitment space and learn their best practices to transform the way you hire.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

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Lydia: Welcome to the All In Recruitment podcast by Manatal, where we explore best practices, learnings, and trends with leaders in the recruitment space. If you've liked our content so far, please subscribe to our channels on YouTube and Spotify to stay tuned for our weekly episodes. 

I'm your host, Lydia, and joining us this week is Aaisha Knights-Ihediwa, Chief People Officer at LMAX Group. Welcome, Aaisha. It is a pleasure to have you with us.

Aaisha: Thanks, Lydia, for having me. It is a pleasure to be here.

Core Principles for Thriving in Any Industry

Lydia: So what has kept you in the people space, Aaisha? You've had vast experience so far. So, walk us through your journey and maybe some pivotal moments in your career that have kept you in this space.

Aaisha: What has kept me in the people space is actually people I enjoy, which is that I enjoy working with people and trying to solve problems. I'm very much a thinker. I'm someone who solves problems with my words versus, let's say, someone who's an accountant. They solve problems with numbers, while I solve them with my words and how things are delivered to people.

It is also the people's experience and impact that my role can have on people's everyday lives. So, whether it is about the topic of this podcast being hiring, or whether that be developing talent, or even down to benefits that we can support people with, so they can have a better quality of life. That has kept me in this space. 

In terms of pivotal career moments, I have worked in many industries, from professional services, global banking, to commercial property, retail, talent in entertainment, and now FinTech, so many different industries. A pivotal moment for me would've been the COVID time when people leaders had to rethink how we engage with staff, support line managers with remote workers, and just being able to adapt over the years. 

There is a different way that the people teams have to work with the business and be very much working with the pulse of that business and what's going on. Change is a constant. So, I think that is what I would say the pivotal time was: COVID. There was a lot of change, and being able to keep up with the change and deliver for whatever business I was in was something to be really proud of.

Lydia: Moving from the industries that you talked about so far, they are far from each other. It is completely different from entertainment to fintech. With those changes in the talent space and managing that shift to a different industry, what has really kept you grounded in making sure that “yes, this is the direction for people” in an industry that has shifted?

What are some ways to shift that mindset to make it more adaptable to a different industry?

Aaisha: I think understanding that wherever you go, essentially, people want the same things. It does not matter what industry you are in; people want a job that fulfills them. People want to be paid well. People want to be developed throughout their careers, and most of the time, they want stable employment. And they want to, in a way, self-actualize in their roles. 

So, wherever you go, as long as you keep those principles true to your heart when you are going to work, you can adapt to most industries. All you need to do is learn the industry. I thrive off learning something new, a new industry, understanding what they do, how they do it, and then I can still apply those core human resources fundamentals or recruitment principles to that industry. 

Every industry will have a nuance. At its core, people are similar. They want the same things. When we talk about diversity, think about what we have in common, what keeps us together and grounded. You can take that into the business world and hone the role based on the organization, keeping those four core principles in place.

Building a Robust Learning Plan to Upskill Teams

Lydia: Now, in terms of talent for LMAX Group, I mean, you are hitting it in a new year and we are probably looking at so many different changes in terms of technology, analytics, and data. So, what are some areas of priority for you this year?

Aaisha: We are a financial technology company, so definitely in the engineering space and the technology engineering. We are looking at those teams. I know everyone has heard about artificial intelligence, but actually, it is really important in businesses that we keep on top of that and have that skill set actually be automated. 

That is the focus of the business in terms of hiring, making sure that we fill those skills gaps and, where we are hiring, making sure that talent coming through is filling the needs of the business. So, how do we want to grow, how do we want to change our product line, etc.? Technology is really the core of that, and ensuring that bench is strong in terms of that talent is important.

Lydia: So, you are in FinTech, and this is a rapidly evolving industry. You know this better than I, but there are so many ways it can go and so many forces that influence how the business operates. So, in terms of addressing the skills gap that you just spoke about and making sure that you are future-proofing your talent needs for the business, what are some ways to go about addressing that skills gap?

Aaisha: I think definitely making sure your learning and development plan is robust and training people based on their own interests. Hopefully, they will complete the courses that we might pay for and put them on, etcetera. We need to make sure they are interested as well as upskill our teams and give them time to learn during some parts of the week, or if they need to go away and do that, I am sure most businesses have their designated training days if people want to take that. Encouraging them to grasp the new skill, learn, and develop themselves.

We even have a pro bono nonprofit coding camp that we run for young people in the community, which grew from our company on the technology side of things. They share their skills externally with other young people in the community. When I say young, I mean the kind of college age or people that we know will be going into the workforce soon. That is a good way to engage them through the volunteering coding camp that some of our team members run.

Lydia: So, the entire recruitment process itself is going to be very critical to look at, I imagine, right? It is evolving. You need people with the right skill sets. And where is the company right now in terms of growth? How many people do you have? Are you expected to hire? Are you scaling up?

Aaisha: At the moment, we have doubled it since I joined. Three years ago, there were about 150 people. There are around 300 and something at the moment. Perhaps 310 move to 320 people. So, it is definitely that journey that we are going on to evolve, grow the company, get more products, do more things, and be a lot more transformative with the resources that we have.

Ensuring New Hires Thrive

Lydia: So, in this phase of recruitment and the growth of the company, what metrics do you find to be most valuable when it comes to evaluating the success of that recruitment process? Or how do you go about navigating that?

Aaisha: It is not an easy one. One of the key metrics we have used in our talent acquisition team is the retention rates after six months of our new hires. Are they coming from agencies, or is this a direct team?

We track them throughout their onboarding process over the six months, prompting the managers to have those check-in discussions, so that people are passing the probation period as well. The other thing we do is make sure that within the first year, they're hitting those targets.

That is usually why the business partnering team works with the line managers to check on them and make sure they have the skills that they said they have. If people don't have the skills, we make sure that we are clear with them about “what is required” and “this is what you need to do for your job to be successful.” Even though we have scaled up, we are not, as I've told you, we have over 300 people. It is still not a massive company where we can afford not to look at performance. We have to make sure we get the biggest bang for our buck from all our colleagues. We have to make sure they are able to thrive and develop through the organization.

So there are those checkpoints throughout, like I said, the first six months, are they passing probation? We are making sure that the passes are higher. That means we are hiring well or we are hiring the right people throughout their first year, which is really critical.

Making sure they feel they succeed, checking in with their line manager. They know what they're supposed to do, they've got their goals and objectives, and they're able to deliver those.

Lydia: So, in terms of hiring, you have got to hire fast and the best person for the job, and they have got to hit the ground running. What are some ways to handle situations when a promising candidate may not have an ideal employment history? Perhaps short stats here and there. What is the priority when it comes to looking at profiles like this?

Aaisha: Depending on the role, you really have to hire for attitude types of candidates versus what they have done before. There is a little bit of that. I think there is a study out there that says CVs are not a great indicator of the effectiveness of someone in the job. There are other indicators and there are other ways to test, as you are bringing someone to this organization. You can ask them to do a presentation or solve a particular business problem in a high-level way. We are not trying to steal people's ideas, but to understand the way they think versus you have worked at Goldman Sachs or at Google, therefore, you are automatically going to be great at this job. But it does not always follow. Because we are scaling up, we actually have to look at other pools that the big guys are not looking in. We have to be more creative.

We have to think of other ways to assess and understand whether somebody is right for the role, not just, “Hey, they had a short stint here.” Sometimes that does not matter. It could be that they had a personal situation, but they are back to the workforce, and they are really raring to go and they are really interested in our industry, actually. 

That we find is a lot more effective, I think, if someone's actually interested in the because we are in a niche industry [INAUDIBLE], the talk of the interview industry, where it is FinTech, but specifically it affects the currency exchange and crypto exchange as well. Not everybody is interested in that kind of thing. It is a very niche area of financial services. Interest is a big thing for us. If people are interested in the role and company, tell us about the organization when you came here, what would you do in your first 90 days? Those are key questions. It really teases out the thought process of a candidate, how they will approach the role versus just looking briefly at the CV.

Lydia: Then this pays into what you just talked about, which is the retention period, right? Checking in at three months and looking at whether in six months. There are definitely different and creative ways to give a chance to a CV that probably has it all, but just does not have the kind of employment history you are looking for.

Aaisha: Sometimes, when you give people the chance, they actually do rise to the occasion because nobody else gave them an opportunity. If we talk about when we are looking at junior roles, that's one of the four key principles through our social corporate responsibility. We want to make sure we are bringing people in, at least on the junior and we can help them. We can say, come in if you are passionate, we will train you up as long as you wanna learn.

Lydia: Does this fall on what might be the expectation from hiring managers when you're getting enthusiastic, but not completely experienced in that particular field? When you have got a candidate or a new hire that is coming in like that, what is the expectation on maybe a team or the line manager?

Aaisha: I think, depending on the job level, let us say it is a junior role, you expect them not to come as the finished article. We have a role grading system. If you are at an entry level, you are a particular job grade or corporate title. So they should expect that they will have to do some training.

If the person is more senior, more like a management caliber, you would expect them to come with some experience and be able to interpret that into our business. But fundamentally, everybody will have that period of learning the business. A lot of the way we do things in our business might not be the same as a larger organization because we are scaling up.

We are still putting some processes in place and we do want our colleagues to be a little bit more creative and to make our corporate values a bit more dynamic. It is not all going to be set in stone for you. You have to actually use your imagination, be creative, and be a self-starter, and you can do really well.

Evolving Roles for Recruiters

Lydia: And resourceful as well. There is absolutely no time to spend on just sitting down and taking classes. So you have got to find the answers yourself. Now, moving on to the role of recruiters, we have got AI, and obviously, it is entrenched everywhere. There is automation and a lot of data out there that may or may not come in handy for some of these recruiters.

Looking at the next five to 10 years, how do you foresee the role of recruiters evolving with these rapid changes in AI and automation? Are there different ways of doing the same thing? How do you think the role will evolve?

Aaisha: I get this question a lot on and off podcasts in my day-to-day working life. I think there is still going to be a space for any role. The roles that are going to be prominent in the future with an AI-powered world are the roles that require human judgment.

You need someone to make a decision that's not based on a binary, yes or no, kind of black or white. So those recruiters that are able to do that well and are able to understand a candidate well to predict would this person will be good or will they be effective in a role, these are the type of recruiters that I think will stand the test of time. 

It is not simply, “Let me just stroll through LinkedIn or Indeed and look for lots of CVs.” AI can do that and get some insights based on the CV. Is the person going to be a good fit for the role or not? So we already have that going on. Also, ATS and even LinkedIn search, I'm sure there are some AI tools built in there. What will come to the fore for recruiters are those who are really skilled at picking the right talent and putting it in front of hiring managers and the right people. There is always going to be a human element to this because we are dealing with people and AI is a tool to help us make better decisions, but ultimately, AI is not the decision maker in many cases.

Lydia: So, final question, Aaisha. What advice would you give someone who is starting out in the people space or even in talent acquisition today?

Aaisha: Moving on from that AI discussion, find the unicorns by going to the trade shows and talking to the people there, or unconventional places for recruiters to be at. Go to face-to-face events in person, at different business schools, and do all of these things during your early career. Invite people to your own house. We recently hosted some engineers with a partner recruitment firm.

So I think we need to be good, or recruiters have to be good at finding the talent that the AI tools cannot find. It is very much that. Interpersonal touch, they have to sell the organization as well. I always say recruiters are glorified salespeople. They are selling the organization, whereas sales are selling products.

So the ones that know how to do that well, it's not something that AI can do. A new recruiter learn how to package the business and sell it to people in a way that they will live the dream of the organization, and they will want to join and do a good job.

Lydia: Thank you so much, Aaisha, for your time and all these valuable insights that you have shared for whoever is listening in, anyone who has been really interested in picking up something that you have said, where do you think they can get in touch with you? I suppose it is LinkedIn, is it not?

Aaisha: Please check me out on LinkedIn for the wider organization as well. We have obviously got our lmax.com careers page. For myself personally, please do connect on LinkedIn. From time to time, I write articles. My latest one is around the 2025 top HR trends. So if you're into HR, please do check it out and let me know whether or not you agree with me on what I think the future trends are for this year.

Lydia: Well, thank you again Aaisha. We have been in conversation with Aaisha Knights-Ihediwa of LMAX Group. Thank you for joining us, and remember to subscribe to stay tuned for more weekly episodes from All in Recruitment.