In earlier centuries, the most advanced technology for traversing the globe was a sailing ship. It&rsquo;s hard to think of a creaking, leaking pile of planks exploring new horizons, but that&rsquo;s what cutting-edge naval architecture was like in those days. When a storm broke the men would trim the sails, batten down the hatches, go below and ride it out until the danger abated. However, the prudent captains left someone at the helm, so they could see steer the ship and see when the weather was changing.
Then, in the nineteenth century, the steam engine and iron-clad hulls transformed the world of oceanic navigation. Those who invested ahead of the curve soon sailed (the word we still use today) further and more quickly than their competitors. As a metaphor for modern-day firms navigating the rapidly changing world of business, it seems to me there is something we can learn from our seagoing forebears. Having the right person at the helm to navigate changing currents, storms and tides is vital.
Change is a magical thing. The fact that we read about new technological advances every day suggests that some amazing changes are just over the horizon. In fact, many are already here; we&rsquo;re just not up to speed quite yet. I recall a conversation with a very high-level techie who worked on Alexa for Amazon, in which he pointed out that if you are reading about a new bit of tech in the mainstream press that means it has already been worked on for many years and is ready for roll-out. Yet, humans being what we are, we sit back, fearful of the future and cynical about attempts to change it. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/three-new-mandates-for-capturing-a-digital-transformations-full-value">McKinsey</a> has recently found that due to &lsquo;change fatigue,&rsquo; two-thirds of employees are wary of transformation projects, yet much of the <a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/this-new-strategy-could-be-your-ticket-to-change-management-success">current online discussion</a> on this subject is an exercise in stating the obvious. We are enjoined to engage with our employees about change. Involve them in its implementation. Treat them as people. Of course, these sentiments are not wrong; it&rsquo;s just that if they need stating then you&rsquo;re probably not &lsquo;doing&rsquo; change well in the first place.
As specialist recruiters with our ear to the ground, we are involved in hundreds of conversations about change in finance and financial systems every week. Speaking daily with CFOs, CTOs, Programme Directors, Transformation and Change Managers in capital markets, we absorb and digest a huge range of opinions and market intelligence. We have chats over coffee, chats in boardrooms, chats online and over the phone&nbsp;&ndash; all with one unifying theme: how and where can my company find the people who have the breadth of knowledge, skills and expertise that will drive this change? Increasingly, the demand is for those with the AI skills to effect transformation of legacy projects, especially as budgets are freed up as the economy picks up after the recent dip into recession. To complicate things, we have a general election looming. Normally, that breeds uncertainty and slows down investment, but it doesn&rsquo;t look as it that will be the case this time. All this, in our opinion, makes it an ideal time to get some senior decision-makers together to discuss the growing impact of AI on finance systems and how it can transform businesses in the capital space as we move through 2024 and beyond. 
If you&rsquo;re currently working at a senior level in change/finance/IT with a brief to transform systems, infrastructure, headcount, new acquisitions, the migration from legacy to new systems, seeking investment to add value - and, on top of this, wondering where you&rsquo;re going to find those magic people who will organise and lead all this to a successful conclusion and be at the helm of your business for years to come, you&rsquo;ll want to be at the Wolseley on 25th July for our forthcoming Breakfast Seminar. It&rsquo;s an ideal opportunity to a) focus on the impact of AI on finance systems, b) engage with like-minded, senior-level, decision-making peers, c) meet with others who have current/recent, direct experience of introducing a major change management programme and, d) of course, have a (very) nice breakfast on us!&nbsp;

Sailing through the AI storm (to breakfast in sunshine)

BACKGROUND
MIQ is PE backed global a programmatic media partner for marketers and agencies. Their better-connected approach to programmatic advertising means they can connect data, discover insights, and activate them in high-performance campaigns to deliver real business outcomes to their clients in an increasingly divided world. MiQ enables you to get a partner who helps elevate your programmatic strategy through data-science backed analytics, expert trading techniques and the latest creative solutions to drive the outcomes that matter to your business.
&nbsp;
THE CHALLENGE&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>To build out a project team to support MIQ on a critical Workday ERP implementation across Finance &amp; Human resources globally.</li>
<li>Several positions were required, including a Programme Lead, Business Analyst, Data Lead, Integration Lead, and a Functional Consultant.</li>
<li>All contractors were required to start within 2 weeks of the roles being released to us in a highly competitive workday market.</li>
<li>Due to the specificity, they had exhausted all other options and there we had to adopt a headhunt approach.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
THE SOLUTION
<ul>
<li>Cedar orchestrated an exclusive, multi-hire campaign to identify candidates with the desired Workday ERP knowledge and niche skill sets for the Transformation programme.</li>
<li>The initial shortlisted candidates, for all roles were at interview stage within one week of being instructed.</li>
<li>We created a comprehensive market map of high-calibre workday resource, who possessed the commerciality, technicity, and personality to join such an integral transformation programme</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Cedar supported me in finding a role and was of great help and supportive in my application with the client. They were communicative throughout and helped me to secure the best possible outcome. They have a refreshingly straightforward, warm, and personable style which makes you feel that you are in good hands; a fact which is backed up by solid outcomes! In addition, helped me find people once hired. I would highly recommend Cedar to anyone in my network and to clients alike who are recruiting, Cedar are true professionals and look forward to working with them again in the future.&rdquo;
-Programme Lead

Client case study: Global Workday ERP Implementation

We are delighted to announce the promotion of&nbsp;<a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/jayne-halperin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jayne Halperin</a> and <a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/chris-morrison/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Morrison</a> to the positions of joint Group Managing Directors. 
Jayne and Chris have served as Managing Partners in their most recent roles, demonstrating a passion for driving organisational change and success, while fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration. Their promotion not only acknowledges their contributions to date, but also underpins Cedar's commitment to nurturing and empowering its talent.
Jayne Halperin and Chris Morrison embody the pillars of ownership across the business:
1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Own your targets
2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Own your activity
3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Own your work effort
4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Own the culture
These tenets collectively define the company's direction.
Their leadership philosophy, characterised by transparency, integrity, and inclusivity, resonates deeply with Cedar's overarching ethos, fostering a culture of accountability. Under their leadership, Cedar will continue to set new benchmarks for excellence in the industry, while staying true to its core values of delivering for our employees, clients, and candidates.

Exciting times at Cedar!

<h5 style="text-align: center;">Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive business breakfast event!</h5>
&nbsp;
<h5 style="text-align: center;">Building a first-class credit management team.&nbsp;</h5>
&nbsp;
Join us at the prestigious Wolseley City private dining room for an exclusive breakfast event, where Cedar, alongside our esteemed partners at the CICM, will explore the intricacies of managing a high-performance credit management team. Together, we will tackle the following challenges prevalent in the credit market:
<ul>
<li>Exploring avenues for upskilling the team, including CICM qualifications, to enhance capabilities and expertise.</li>
<li>Addressing challenges and achievements in system implementation, automation, and process enhancements.</li>
<li>Effectively overseeing a top-tier credit team while nurturing a high-calibre organisational culture.</li>
</ul>
This is a great opportunity to connect with industry peers, gain valuable insights, and refine your credit management strategies.
Please RSVP to secure your spot, as space is limited, we encourage you to respond promptly.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/0ykjhmt5g5y3eejar9yryeq20cps" alt="" width="900" height="236">
&nbsp;
<a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/prim-kambhato/">Prim Kambhato, Associate &ndash; PQ&amp;T</a>
e) <a href="mailto:primk@cedarrecruitment.com">primk@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 837 9025
&nbsp;
<a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/jack-canning/">Jake Canning, PQ Finance &ndash; Credit Management</a>
e) <a href="mailto:jakec@cedarrecruitment.com">jakec@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 837 9021

Credit Management: Breakfast Event 

<h5 style="text-align: center;">Cedar would like to invite you to an exclusive Business Breakfast event hosted by David Mendonca!</h5>
&nbsp;
This is a unique opportunity to expand your network in the Senior Finance space, to hear and ask questions from an exciting guest speaker as he discusses his journey from CFO to CEO.
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">In his 18 year career, our speaker has been 5x CFO, 2x COO and 2x CEO. He will provide invaluable insight into how he made the journey, what challenges he faced, and what skills you need to be able to demonstrate to board members and investors in order to land your first CEO role.
This is an early morning round table event at The Wolseley private dining room, with breakfast served and the chance for an informal discussion and Q&amp;A; as a Senior Finance Leader, we would love for you to join us.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/qb3iw9n40x6ew5j4tldjxhm28mv3" alt="" width="900" height="215">
​
Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!
If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:
&nbsp;
<a style="color: #115740; text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/david-mendonca/">David Mendonca, Director - Finance</a>
e) <a href="mailto:davidm@cedarrecruitment.com">davidm@cedarrecruitment.com</a>&nbsp;
m) 0203 002 8045

CFO to CEO: Breakfast Event (event closed) 

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
&nbsp;
<hr>
&nbsp;
Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive business breakfast event!
&nbsp;
Hosted at the Wolseley City private dining room, we are thrilled to invite you to our breakfast event where Cedar is partnering with Andrew Page, Interim CFO of ISG, to delve into the journey of how he led Railsr/VC-backed Fintech through the process of a sale.
Andrew will share his invaluable expertise, discussing the highs and lows encountered during this transformative process. Following his presentation we will open a Q&amp;A providing a unique opportunity to gain insightful from a seasoned professional and network with fellow FD&rsquo;s and CFO&rsquo;s.
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/ww7l9bs4r7t6wh6w7i2mk40cuv77" alt="" width="900" height="242">
​
Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment
​If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/george-campbell-wilson/">George Campbell Wilson, Associate - Finance&nbsp;</a>
e) <a href="mailto:georgecw@cedarrecruitment.com">georgecw@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 002 8058
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/josef-aiston/">Josef Aiston, Associate Director - Finance&nbsp;</a>
e) <a href="mailto:josefa@cedarrecruitment.com">josefa@cedarrecruitment.com</a>&nbsp;
m) 0203 837 3607&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Leadership Through a Sale: Breakfast Event (event closed) 

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
To see highlights and connect with other attendees, please visit our LinkedIn post <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7196842857909866497">here.</a>
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h5>
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h5>
Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive Business Breakfast event!&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Led by Nathan Bignold and Daniel Barnes at The Delaunay private dining room, We would like to invite you to Cedar&rsquo;s invite-only round table breakfast event on Thursday 16th May.
The morning will be tailored for Internal Talent/Recruitment professionals working within a management consultancy to help address the current challenges (and how to overcome them) regarding hiring and retaining talent within the current hyper-competitive market.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/lzde9eg75lrvy5crwm2e6ua66a9o" alt="" width="900" height="224">
&nbsp;
Our focus areas for discussion include:
<ul>
<li>Crafting an Irresistible Employer Brand: Strategies for Attracting Top Consulting Talent.</li>
<li>Talent Magnet: Leveraging Professional Development to Attract and Retain Consultants.</li>
<li>Building a Talent Pipeline: Proactive Recruitment Strategies for Long-Term Success.</li>
<li>Innovative Recruitment Approaches in Consultancy: Beyond the Traditional Path.</li>
<li>Agile Hiring Practices: Adapting Recruitment Strategies to the Fast-Paced World of Consultancy.</li>
<li>Streamlining the Skills Based Interviewing &ndash; Consultancy Style.</li>
<li>The Importance of Diverse Candidates within Consulting Teams.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
​Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!
If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/nathan-bignold/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nathan Bignold - Senior Associate, Supply Chain Consulting</a>
e) <a href="mailto:nathanb@cedarrecruitment.com">nathanb@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 837 9003
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/daniel-barnes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Barnes - Senior Associate, Procurement/Procurement Consulting</a>
e) <a href="mailto:danielb@cedarrecruitment.com">danielb@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 837 9004

Getting It Right, Talent Acquisition within Management Consultancy: Breakfast Event (event closed) 

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
To see highlights and connect with other attendees, please visit our LinkedIn post <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7191756344855580672">here.</a>
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a style="color: #000000;" href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h4>
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h4>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive Business Breakfast event!</h4>
&nbsp;
Join us for an exclusive breakfast event hosted by Dan Lane and Kirsteen Brannigan-Hughes at the Wolseley City private dining room. This event promises an invaluable forum for internal talent and HR accountancy professionals.
Gain valuable insights into industry trends including the following topics:
<ul>
<li style="color: #000000;">Looking at the current strategies and efficiency of staff attraction and retention, particularly in contrast to the trends in previous years.</li>
<li style="color: #000000;">Discuss the management and impact of ChatGPT in candidate applications, specifically exploring its role in assisting trainee applications and case studies.</li>
<li style="color: #000000;">Discuss the implications surrounding hybrid and flexible work arrangements, including their monitoring and management.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/hj4wm4igoijrpfljqb1itp2pa6o7" alt="Tax Breakfast" width="850" height="210">
&nbsp;
​Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!
If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/dan-lane/">Dan Lane, Associate - Professional Services Tax&nbsp;</a>
e) danl@cedarrecruitment.com
m) 0203 837 9010
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/kirsteen-brannigan-hughes/">Kirsteen Brannigan-Hughes, Director - Tax&nbsp;</a>
e) kirsteenb@cedarrecruitment.com
m) 0203 002 8051

Navigating Tax &  Talent Trends: Breakfast Event (event closed)

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, companies are continually challenged to adapt and thrive amidst change. From embracing agility to driving sustainable transformation, organisations are exploring various strategies to remain competitive and future ready. In this blog post, we delve into insights from industry experts and explore key considerations for navigating financial transformation effectively.
&nbsp;
The Financial Times, in partnership with Workiva, sheds light on the essence of agility in today's business environment. Agility isn't just about being quick to react; it's about fostering a culture that embraces change and innovation. Companies must prioritise flexibility, adaptability, and collaboration to navigate uncertain times successfully. By leveraging technology, streamlining processes, and empowering employees, organisations can build resilience and drive sustainable growth in the face of disruption.
(Source: Financial Times)
&nbsp;
Grant Thornton provides valuable insights into the critical objectives organisations should focus on during the initial phase of finance transformation. From aligning finance functions with strategic goals to enhancing operational efficiency and optimising processes, the first 100 days are crucial for setting the stage for long-term success. By prioritising clear communication, stakeholder engagement, and robust change management, companies can lay a solid foundation for driving transformational change and achieving tangible results.
(Source: Grant Thornton)
&nbsp;
Kyndryl, in collaboration with the Financial Times, emphasises the importance of sustainable business transformation grounded in three key pillars: technology, people, and processes. While technology serves as an enabler, organisations must also invest in their people, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. Moreover, optimising processes and workflows is essential for driving efficiency and maximising the value derived from digital initiatives. By harmonising these three pillars, companies can drive holistic transformation and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation.
(Source: Financial Times)
&nbsp;
SAP Africa highlights the critical role of effective change management in driving digital transformation success. While technology plays a pivotal role, it's ultimately people who drive organisational change. Companies must invest in change management strategies that prioritise employee engagement, communication, and training. By fostering a culture of openness, resilience, and adaptability, organisations can mitigate resistance to change and accelerate the pace of digital transformation. Ultimately, success hinges on aligning technology initiatives with broader business objectives and empowering employees to embrace change as a catalyst for growth.
(Source: SAP Africa)
&nbsp;
Conclusion:
As businesses navigate the complexities of financial transformation, it's imperative to leverage insights from industry thought leaders and adopt a holistic approach that encompasses technology, people, processes, and change management. By embracing agility, setting clear objectives, and prioritising sustainable practices, organisations can thrive amidst change and emerge stronger in the ever-evolving marketplace.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/nathan-hotchkiss/">Nathan Hotchkiss, Associate Director &ndash; Change &amp; Transformation</a>

Navigating Financial Transformation: Insights from Industry Experts

BACKGROUND&nbsp;
Willis Towers Watson plc, (WTW) is a British-American multinational company providing insurance services. Founded in 2016, following a merger of the Willis Group and Towers Watson, they provide data-driven, insight-led solutions, global risk advisory, insurance brokerage and consulting solutions to multinational companies, governments, and other institutions.&nbsp;
THE CHALLENGE 
<ul>
<li>To build out a project team to support WTW on a critical technology platform rollout across their Nordic and European regions.</li>
<li>A number of positions were required, including a Senior Project Manager Business Analysts, Data Analysts and a Training Manager.</li>
<li>All contractors were required to speak Danish or Portuguese, be immediately available and have extensive Insurance experience.</li>
<li>Due to the specificity, they had exhausted all other options when trying to hire ahead of the project start date.</li>
</ul>
THE SOLUTION
<ul>
<li>An exclusive, multi-hire campaign was used to identify candidates with the desired languages and skills in the respective regions and remotely in the UK.</li>
<li>The initial shortlisted candidates, for all roles were at interview stage within one week of being instructed.</li>
</ul>
RESULTS
<ul>
<li>Successfully placed six contractors across the programme and covered all required positions within a very tight time frame.</li>
<li>WTW was able to achieve the anticipated start date for the project.</li>
<li>Regular positive feedback was received from both the hiring and the recruiting manager.</li>
<li>Cedar continues to support and work with WTW on roles.</li>
</ul>
&ldquo;When our MSP was unable to provide suitable candidates for Denmark and Portugal, I tasked Cedar to support us across two projects. All our roles across both countries were filled within a short timescale. Cedar was informative and engaging throughout the process, working well with the Hiring Managers. I highly recommend Cedar; we would have been lost without them.&rdquo;
- Recruiting Manager, WTW

Client case study: Global Technology Programme

Let me start by stating unequivocally that attitudes towards women at work have changed dramatically for the better over the last few decades.&nbsp; The days when women were routinely dismissed simply for raising a family have, thankfully, long gone.&nbsp; But are we now at a stage where women don&rsquo;t have to worry about being overlooked for jobs or promotions simply because of their sex?&nbsp; Not quite, but I&rsquo;d argue that the advances of the last few decades mean that it&rsquo;s now more difficult to climb those last few hundred steps towards the summit of true equality.
&nbsp;
Not many would deny that, in general, it&rsquo;s easier today for women to get on the career ladder and progress.&nbsp; But, and it&rsquo;s a fairly big but, there are still areas of concern &ndash; those last hundred steps still have to be made.&nbsp; For example, I have a friend who works in finance and she told me how, initially, she could see how male colleagues were careful in their use of language (what they would call banter) around her.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t think her experience is uncommon.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s still, in my view, harder for women to get the necessary degree of respect that perhaps comes more easily for a man.
&nbsp;
Extrapolate this to the wider stage and we see that men are far more likely to put themselves forward for promotion to management roles than women. Partly, this might seem down to innate differences in women&rsquo;s attitudes to themselves compared to men&rsquo;s, with <a style="color: rgb(45, 194, 107);" href="https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified">studies</a> showing that women rarely apply for promotions if they don't have 100% or close to 100% of the skills listed for the job. In contrast, men will apply if they have only 60% of the skills.&nbsp; This may seem like a lack of confidence, but further research revealed that it is because women simply didn&rsquo;t want to waste a recruiter&rsquo;s time if&nbsp;they didn&rsquo;t tick all the boxes for required skills.&nbsp; Men, on the other hand, were less bothered about this, with only 8% of men counting themselves out on the basis of the requirements of the job. Put simply, men were more likely to take the risk.
&nbsp;
Or take this 2019 <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00755/full">study</a>, where people were asked to rank candidates based on their CVs.&nbsp;&nbsp; Both past successes and future potential were noted, but participants consistently ranked male candidates highly if they focused on their potential. For female candidates the opposite was true.&nbsp; It looks as if women are simultaneously being held to higher standards whilst holding themselves to a higher standard.&nbsp; Yet another study suggests women&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2019/12/research-how-women-undersell-their-work">tend to undersell</a>&nbsp;their work, rating their performance as&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2019/12/why-dont-women-self-promote-as-much-as-men">33% lower</a>&nbsp;than their equally performing male colleagues. Female managers are seemingly also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.institutelm.com/static/uploaded/6151ed78-0ad1-495d-960e0ae40413b572.pdf">more likely</a>&nbsp;to lack self-belief, and less likely to expect <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220222-proof-verus-potential-problem">to reach director level</a> by the end of their careers.&nbsp; Is (a lack of) confidence, compared to men, part of the problem for some women &ndash; or is it still unconscious discrimination &ndash; or a bit of both?
&nbsp;
Some light might be shown on these questions by a 2021 <a style="color: rgb(45, 194, 107);" href="https://www.financialreporter.co.uk/gender-pay-gap-sees-men-receive-57-more-than-women-in-pay-rises.html">study</a> of 3,000 UK adults, which found that not only are men more inclined to ask for a pay rise than women, but they also tend to receive a larger sum if that rise is granted. That latter fact smacks of discrimination to me. The same survey showed that 43% of men have asked for a promotion during their career, whereas only 30% of women have done so.&nbsp; It appears that it&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s willingness to take a risk by asking for more money and/or a better job that is at the heart of the matter. Yes, as I have noted, things are much better than they were, and many more women are making unexceptional demands for parity, but as things stand just now the end result is still higher earnings for men and the maintenance, if not widening, of the gender pay gap.
&nbsp;
I don&rsquo;t pretend there are easy solutions to these problems, nor that I have the answer, but I would like to suggest that there is one thing that women can do to help address them.&nbsp; To illustrate this, I&rsquo;d like you to consider one area where women have had arguably more success than men in recent years: football.
&nbsp;
The growth in the women&rsquo;s game has been phenomenal.&nbsp; The success of the England Lionesses in winning the Euro 2022 championship has been rightly lauded across the country. To the chagrin of some, the men&rsquo;s international team has not been able to achieve such success for many decades, despite the fact that the British Isles is the place where football was invented, codified and developed.
&nbsp;
Our women footballers, like the men, are supreme athletes, but (also like the men) have endured disappointments and failures.&nbsp; Like women in business, they were at one time shunned and, in 1921, effectively <a style="color: rgb(45, 194, 107);" href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/13/how-the-fa-banned-womens-football-in-1921-and-tried-to-justify-it">banned</a> by football&rsquo;s male-dominated hierarchy.
&nbsp;
How things have changed?&nbsp; How things have changed! Success involved perseverance, training (learning from mentors), a (vital) groundswell of support in the popular media, building skills, knowledge and experience and, of course, a willingness to take risks at critical times to overcome the opposition &ndash; on and off the pitch. But in sport, as in business, there are critical moments when, instead of opting for the safe response, someone tries something different &ndash; and turns the game on its head and wins for their team. As a result, thousands of young girls are encouraged to see football as not just a fun way to exercise, but also as a career. Our challenge as women is to ask ourselves how can we replicate this in business, where female leaders are arguably not so visible as they are in women&rsquo;s football.
&nbsp;
We have achieved a lot for women in business, but we are still held back by not taking the risks that men seem more willing to take. Being prepared to put ourselves forward for promotion, despite seemingly not ticking all the boxes; asking for pay rises; seeking female mentors rather than male; not just showing potential but delivering it.&nbsp; These, and many more, are risks we need to take.
&nbsp;
To conclude: lots of boxes are now ticked and we have undoubtedly come a long way from the 1960s and &lsquo;70s when women were found in stereotypically &lsquo;female&rsquo; jobs.&nbsp; To return to my original metaphor of reaching the summit, we&rsquo;ve ascended a long way from base camp.&nbsp; But like the women footballers found, those last 100 feet before you get to the top are the most difficult.&nbsp;&nbsp; If, like them, you want to get there then perhaps it&rsquo;s time to take more risks&hellip;?

Take risks on International Women’s Day

Yes, corny, I know, but no less true.&nbsp; The only thing that is probably stopping you automating your finance function, assuming you haven&rsquo;t already begun work on this, is you.
Based on my conversations with clients many have, but many more haven&rsquo;t (yet) &ndash; AI is a slowly building tsunami that is beginning to sweep throughout our economy. How best to ride the wave, avoid the inevitable snake-oil salesmen whilst deciding what is going to work and add real value to your organisation is, increasingly, a topic for deep debate amongst the C-suite.&nbsp;
For finance, it&rsquo;s not just a question of whether you should make more use of automation, it&rsquo;s a question of how and when, with affordability obviously being a major factor. The question is also what benefits can be derived from a root-and-branch study of how the application of automated processes can impact your business.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;m not revealing any secrets if I say that relationships between finance and other departments &ndash; both internal and external - can be fraught. Consequently, the need to improve the customer experience often underpins the drive for transformation by finance. By making systems work to the benefit of their &lsquo;customers,&rsquo; finance teams can improve their standing and influence at every level of the operation.&nbsp;
That said, the principal benefit of intelligent automation is in the way it allows finance to offer greater value to the rest of the business. Traditionally, finance is seen as &ldquo;the bean counters&rdquo; &ndash; the people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing.&nbsp; Unfair?&nbsp; Absolutely, but...&nbsp; what if you are simply managing lots of numbers but not drawing any insights? The monthly eyeball with the local manager over her or his P&amp;L often has an expectation that the business head will explain to finance the reasons behind the numbers. How much better is it for finance to be able to first gain meaningful insights from the data as opposed to having data just sitting there seeking an explanation?&nbsp;
According to a recent US <a href="https://ramp.com/reports/forrester-consulting-study">report,</a> &ldquo;77% of finance organisations believe that business transformation relies on finance automation that delivers real-time data intelligence.&rdquo; By data-led planning and analysis, finance can provide insights that help save money and tell business managers where and when to spend more effectively.&nbsp; 
Put more directly, the adoption of technology that delivers real-time insight into current performance as well as granular analysis of future trends and opportunities is essential if you don&rsquo;t want to be left behind. As mentioned above it also comes with the added benefit that it can also provoke a genuine cultural shift where finance is not seen (as it is by some) as a business prevention device but rather a willing partner in maximising returns and cross-company prosperity.
The scope is immense.&nbsp; A recent McKinsey <a style="color: rgb(45, 194, 107);" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/bots-algorithms-and-the-future-of-the-finance-function">report</a> on technology and the future of finance came up with a chart (reproduced below) showing each major area of finance and how easy or difficult it might be to automate.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/5muq362kph7sdjhhndu9lhdjxs5p" alt="" width="599" height="495">
For some organisations, the first challenge is knowing where to begin. I mentioned affordability previously.&nbsp; Yes, of course, automating your finance processes costs money.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s easier to be a trailblazer if you&rsquo;re one of the bigger businesses.&nbsp; But that doesn&rsquo;t mean SMEs can&rsquo;t get involved, starting on a smaller scale; perhaps something as simple as enhanced systems across areas such as O2C or FP&amp;A, better integrated into your existing systems. &nbsp;
There will be organisational issues and IT worries to overcome. IT will ask, &ldquo;do you know how much ongoing maintenance will cost?&rdquo; The obvious answer: &ldquo;we&rsquo;re finance, we know how much everything costs,&rdquo; may be factually correct, but it&rsquo;s not the way to win friends and influence people.&nbsp; A sound relationship between the CFO and CTO is a prerequisite, as is getting in an experienced Transformation Lead who can work with the business to drive initiatives forward.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m not saying this is going to be easy; change never is.
Sometimes, the decision is not to proceed, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean the exercise is worthless. The McKinsey report cited the example of a global pharma company that had outsourced its P2P finance activities. After assessing the costs of bringing this in-house, they challenged the outsourcer to prove it could compete with an automated model. At the end of the project, it was decided not to move from the outsourced model to an automated in-house one, but they did renegotiate the outsourcer&rsquo;s contract, saving at least 40% over the next three years.&nbsp; For a global company, that&rsquo;s a lot of money, but similar percentage savings are perfectly possible for smaller firms too.&nbsp;
I said at the outset that the wave of new technology is washing over us all.&nbsp; Finance must ride the crest of this wave, not stumble and be left behind.

Automate, Automate, Automate – What’s stopping you?

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
&nbsp;
<hr>
<h4 class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-start para-style-title" style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h4>
<h4 class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-start para-style-title" style="text-align: center;">Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive Business Breakfast event!&nbsp;</h4>
&nbsp;
Join us for an exclusive breakfast event hosted by <a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/josef-aiston/">Josef Aiston</a> and <a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/joe-tooley/">Joe Tooley </a>at the Wolseley City private dining room, tailored for Senior Internal Recruitment professionals and Heads of Talent.
&nbsp;
Gain valuable insights into IR35's impact on the UK contracting market, compliance strategies, and legal perspectives from esteemed guest experts representing Paystream and Kingsbridge. Engage in open discussions and stay informed about this evolving landscape.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/54rtev2z2almx7b4ijbwaj4go0l2" alt="" width="900" height="208">
&nbsp;
Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment! If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Josef Aiston, Associate Director
e) <a href="mailto:josefa@cedarrecruitment.com">josefa@cedarrecruitment.com</a>&nbsp;
m) 0203 837 3607&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Joe Tooley, Associate Director 
e) <a href="mailto:joet@cedarrecruitment.com">joet@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 002 8054
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/uskvj6kgrkmpko6elq8g1dzn52w6" alt="" width="900" height="158">

IR35: 3 Years On (event closed) 

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
To see highlights and connect with other attendees, please visit our LinkedIn post <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7189218826817859587">here.</a>
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a style="color: #000000;" href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
&nbsp;
<hr>
<h4>&nbsp;</h4>
<h4>Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive Business Breakfast event!&nbsp;</h4>
Following the resounding success of our past Women in Finance Leadership breakfast events, we are excited to announce the third installment in the series. Taking place on April 25th at 8:30am in the exclusive private dining room of The Wolseley City.
This event promises an invaluable forum for women at FD and CFO level in the finance industry. Offering a unique platform to discuss the challenges and triumphs encountered on the path to finance leadership, while also exploring strategies for long-term success.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/32vu0nv0vfstmgarfyi90rt70uo4" alt="" width="900" height="213">
&nbsp;
Key Discussion Topics Include:
<ul>
<li style="color: #000000;">Looking at the access to opportunities in what is a stereotypically male-dominated industry; the successes and challenges along the way.</li>
<li style="color: #000000;">The value of diversity of thought at Board Level.</li>
<li style="color: #000000;">Impact of maternal bias regardless of personal circumstance.</li>
<li style="color: #000000;">Salary Negotiation tools, what works and what doesn&rsquo;t.</li>
<li style="color: #000000;">Strategies for achieving work-life balance in a demanding industry.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!
If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:
&nbsp;
<a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/ellie-heanue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ellie Heanue, Business Manager &ndash; Qualified Finance</a>
e) ellieh@cedarrecruitment.com
m) 0203 002 8044
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<a style="color: #115740;" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/naomi-gray/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Naomi Gray, Senior Associate &ndash; Interim Finance</a>
e) naomig@cedarrecruitment.com
m) 0203 837 9011&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Women in Financial Leadership: Breakfast Event (event closed) 

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
&nbsp;
<hr>
<h4 class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-start para-style-title" style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h4>
<h4 class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-start para-style-title" style="text-align: center;">Cedar would like to invite you to our upcoming exclusive Business Breakfast event!&nbsp;</h4>
&nbsp;
Led by <a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/piers-rennie/">Piers Rennie</a> and <a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/jordan-cheadle/">Jordan Cheadle</a> at the Wolseley City private dining room, we would like to invite Senior Finance Leaders to join us for an insightful morning dedicated to exploring key topics that are shaping the financial landscape.
Our focus areas for discussion include:
AI &amp; Finance
Navigating unfamiliar terrain for many, yet unquestionably an unavoidable subject for all. Although we have not yet envisioned complete integrations, our focus will be on exploring the unique intricacies to scale such tools within different industries and businesses. These nuances pose challenges and propel change when dealing with sophisticated language models such as ChatGPT.
Culture, Retention &amp; Attraction
An encompassing yet crucial subject, considering the demand for truly dedicated and dependable talent. In light of the trends emerging post-COVID, this provides a platform to discuss recently revised strategies and policies amid a somewhat less economically stable environment.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/88681mdtp8norjfi459eetyvbosg" alt="" width="900" height="196">
&nbsp;
Spaces are limited so we encourage you to register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!
If you would like to register your interest in this event or find out more please contact:
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/piers-rennie/">Piers Rennie, Business Manager - Interim Finance</a>
e ) piersr@cedarrecruitment.com
m) 0203 837 9022
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/jordan-cheadle/">Jordan Cheadle, Business Manager &ndash; Finance&nbsp;</a>
e) <a href="mailto:jordanc@cedarrecruitment.com">jordanc@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
m) 0203 002 8042&nbsp;

Navigating Finance's Future: AI, Culture and Talent (event closed) 

&ldquo;Well, yes &hellip; but I still don&rsquo;t see what the attraction is &ndash; and I&rsquo;m not sure where my skills fit in. I&rsquo;m about making money - making a profit: they&rsquo;re about Not-for-Profit.&rdquo;&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s an (almost) verbatim quote from a recent candidate I interviewed for a non-exec job with a major charity.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s not untypical, revealing both the generalised lack of understanding of the sector and a more specific lack of awareness about the way senior-level experience, gained at the coal-face of business, is actually what many Third Sector organisations really need, especially given the increasing financial challenges that they &ndash; like many in the private sector - are facing. So, why should you consider a job in a Not-for-Profit (NFP) organisation?
Let&rsquo;s start by looking at the size of the sector. While we&rsquo;ve all heard of the multi-national charities, the likes of Unicef and the Red Cross, did you know that the Third Sector directly employs the same numbers (around 1.1 million) as the construction industry in England and Wales? Moreover, these direct employees are supplemented by a staggering 4.3 million regular volunteers, equivalent to another 190,000 full-time employees. That takes a lot of management&hellip;
Not only do charities employ a lot of people, but they are frequently at the forefront of diversity hiring. Since 2019, the percentage of women Chairs has increased from 43 to 46 per cent, while Chairs with disabilities have increased from 9 to 12 per cent. Black, Asian and other minority ethnic chairs have risen from 6 to 8 per cent.&nbsp; Women are well-represented in managerial roles, with 62 per cent of Chief Officers being female and the percentage of Chief Officers with disabilities has risen from 7 to 10 per cent. The proportion of Black, Asian and other ethnic minority group Chief Officers has also risen, from 8 to 9 per cent.
There are around 200,000 registered voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises in England and Wales. At a micro-level, these range from co-operatives and community benefit societies to community amateur sport clubs and other NFP registered societies and businesses. These small players (comprising nearly two-thirds of all charities) have a combined income of over &pound;48million and an estimated expenditure of around &pound;46million. 
At the other end of the charity scale, the big players are very big indeed, with &pound;multi-million incomes and commensurate numbers of staff.&nbsp;To take just one example, Oxfam&rsquo;s retail operation in the UK alone generated over &pound;90million in 2021-22, and the most recent Charity Commission report (2022-23) notes that overall income (covering every level/size of charity) across the Third Sector was &pound;88billion, with expenditure of &pound;85billion.&nbsp; The biggest organisations - those with incomes from &pound;1million to &pound;25million+ receive 72% of sector income but comprise just 5% of all organisations in the sector.
Moreover, it&rsquo;s a sector that, unlike some others, is experiencing a rising demand for its myriad services. In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the continuing cost-of-living crisis and the growing suspicion that a mild recession is creeping up on us, the charity sector has had to pivot from challenge to challenge in recent years. And as the country&rsquo;s economic woes lead to increasing societal problems, a rise in demand for the Third Sector&rsquo;s services has been inevitable.&nbsp;Concomitant with this, as individual and corporate donors struggle against rising inflationary and recessionary tides, concerns about fundraising at many NFPs are growing as donor circumstances change. At a time of challenge, good people are required to steady the Third Sector ship and set a course to calmer waters. In particular, maintaining service delivery during these difficult times is of the utmost importance.&nbsp;I think the challenge of raising money against the backdrop of the current economic situation, coupled with the rising demand for services, will be the key areas of focus in 2024. The NFP sector needs real talent in its Chairs and on its boards and in my next blog I&rsquo;ll explain how and why that could (perhaps should!) be you&hellip;"
&nbsp;
<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/our-teams/jo-goodwill/">Jo Goodwill, Director &ndash; Public Sector &amp; Not-For-Profit </a>
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&nbsp;

Profit with Purpose in a Non-Profit World

BACKGROUND
Kubrick Group provides organisations with high-impact and cost-effective data, AI, and cloud solutions by finding smart, diverse talent to specialise in cutting- edge skills and technologies and deploying them. In doing so, they have been recognised as the 2nd fastest-growing company in UK by the 2020 Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100.
THE CHALLENGE
<ul>
<li>Building from a track record of rapid growth and success, and to support the next chapter of expansion including the US, Kubrick engaged with Private Equity firms to raise external funding for the first time.</li>
<li>The CFO required a highly capable Group Financial Controller who could own end-to-end finance and support the CFO and Exec as Kubrick navigated its way through the funding round and continued on its accelerated growth path. This was business critical hire. Due to the long list of required skills and the distinct culture fit needed, in the words of the CEO they were looking to recruit &lsquo;a unicorn&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Kubrick approached Cedar following a recommendation to them from an existing Cedar client.</li>
</ul>
THE SOLUTION
<ul>
<li>Cedar orchestrated a retained search campaign to create a comprehensive market map of high-potential CFOs, who possessed the commerciality, technicity, and personality to lead such an integral function.</li>
<li>The recruitment process was executed with a first-time shortlist presented within 2 weeks of the project commencement.</li>
</ul>
RESULTS
The role was filled following interviews with several exceptional candidates who all met the brief, affording Kubrick the opportunity to be extremely choosy with its final selection. Kubrick was delighted with the entire recruitment process and specifically commended the Managing Consultant for his clarity of communication, tenacity, perseverance and adherence to a complicated brief. They have since asked Cedar to assist them with further hires.
&nbsp;"We engaged Cedar to assist us with a particularly specific brief. Their attention to the process was excellent, candidates were all of a high quality and Cedar gave good quality advice to us throughout the search. Having worked in the industry I know first-hand how much effort they put into the search. Well done and thanks&rdquo; Tim Smeaton - Managing Partner &amp; Founder

Client case study: PE experienced Group FC

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BACKGROUND
Founded in 2019 in Silicon Valley, Deel is a hypergrowth Fintech Unicorn in the Payroll space with operations in 80 countries, and $250m ARR. Having had 20X revenue growth in 2020 and while preparing for a Series D (where they raised $425m in October 2021) the Finance Director and COO needed to hire a number of key hires into various locations across the globe to support this growth. 
THE CHALLENGE
Deel approached Cedar in September 2021 on a recommendation, as they were looking to partner a single specialist Finance Recruitment Firm with the experience of finding and closing top-tier talent for PE backed Tech scale-ups, rapidly, and on an international scale. 
THE SOLUTION
Using our experience of recruiting in the VC/PE backed Tech space, Cedar was able to correctly market opportunities to the right candidates, attracting the highest calibre of talent available for a chaotic, hypergrowth scale-up environment. With no Talent Team in place, all communication was directed through an extremely busy Finance Director and COO who were in daily meetings with Investment banks and PE houses trying to raise funds, with limited time to interview. Cedar&rsquo;s networked specialists were able to fill roles to brief, with small shortlists that hit the mark first time,
RESULTS
Over an intense six month period Cedar were able to secure talent across almost every continent including in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Italy, Israel, India, Australia and Cayman Islands. Roles covered Financial Controllers, Regional Controllers, Finance Managers, Head of Payroll, Payroll Managers, Tax Managers, Credit Control and AP. Following this mass hiring project, Cedar continue to support Deel with International recruitment on an ad-hoc basis for their most challenging roles, with 30 placements to date.
"I have had the pleasure of working with Cedar Recruitment and I can confidently say that they are one of the most professional and efficient recruitment agencies I have ever worked with. From the very beginning, their team took the time to understand our business needs and the specific requirements for the positions we were looking to fill."&nbsp;
- Managing Partner &amp; Founder
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Client case study: International scale-up campaign 

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BACKGROUND
With an impressive portfolio of venture capital investors including BMWi, Index Ventures, and LocalGlobe, JustPark is an award-winning digital platform that matches drivers with parking spaces through website and mobile applications. With an appetite for parabolic growth, JustPark is pioneering the aggregation of digital parking solutions with the electric vehicle marketplace, seeking to create a one-stop-shop for parking and charging needs. 
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THE CHALLENGE
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<li>To recruit the company&rsquo;s first business-critical hire; the Chief Financial Officer.</li>
<li>&nbsp;Identification of a genuine talent who would spearhead the commercialisation of the finance function, as well as lead all capital markets activity.</li>
</ul>
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THE SOLUTION
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<li>Cedar orchestrated a retained search campaign to create a comprehensive market map of high-potential CFOs, who possessed the commerciality, technicity, and personality to lead such an integral function.</li>
<li>The recruitment process was executed with a first-time shortlist presented within 2 weeks of the project commencement.</li>
</ul>
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RESULTS
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<li>The CFO was successfully appointed within one calendar month after four-rounds of Executive and Investor interviews.</li>
</ul>
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"We engaged Cedar to assist us with a particularly specific brief. Their attention to the process was excellent, candidates were all of a high quality and they gave good quality advice to us throughout the search. Well done and thanks&rdquo; - Chief Operating Officer
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Client case study: Senior finance role

We conducted a comprehensive survey of our database to gain insights from both professionals and hiring managers. The findings from this research will serve as a valuable resource in shaping your talent attraction and retention strategies for 2024, spanning across various sectors.
<ul>
<li>Permanent starting salaries continued to increase in April 24</li>
<li>Temporary wage inflation strongest for nearly a year</li>
<li>Private sector vacancies for temporary staff increased for the first time in three months&nbsp;</li>
<li>Fastest growth in candidate supply for five months.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Source REC/KPMG
Download our Salary Guide<a href="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/ggdttoonea43wol03wui1fdkd3pg"> here</a><a href="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/8u18t0pp7b7xydl8mnh6hw8cwwag">.</a>&nbsp;
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Salary Guide H1 2024

Event Closed
Thank you for your interest in our Business Breakfast event. This event has now concluded. We appreciate everyone who attended and contributed to its success.
To see highlights from the event, please visit our LinkedIn post <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7135577573643706368">here</a>.
Discover more exciting events we have planned by visiting our events page. If you wish to connect with a team member regarding future events, feel free to reach out to <a href="mailto:info@cedarrecruitment.com">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
&nbsp;
<hr>
&nbsp;
UK Corporate Reform, ESG and Internet Governance for Senior Finance Leaders.
Led by Alex Pughe and Piers Rennie at The Wolseley Private Dining, join us for an insightful morning where we aim to discuss the critical topics shaping the financial landscape. Gain valuable insights from guest speaker Graeme Baguley, a distinguished expert in the field and engage in meaningful discussions with fellow senior finance leaders.&nbsp;
Special guest speaker:&nbsp;
Graeme Baguley
Director | Risk Advisory | Deloitte LLP
&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/ucc9uq5t5nbqynbcttoafvb34ny4" alt="" width="800" height="231">
&nbsp;

Navigating the Future Business Breakfast Event (event closed) 

The oldest person who works at Cedar can remember when airlines advertised for male pilots and female air-hostesses. In Northern Ireland at that time, recruitment consultants used to draw up lists of candidates, separating the Protestants from the Catholics.The younger people who work at Cedar struggle to believe such things were ever allowed. The recruitment industry&rsquo;s approach to diversity and inclusion has come a long way in the last few decades&hellip;
In fact, the history of equal opportunities in the UK goes back much further than you might think. The first &ldquo;Sex Discrimination&rsquo; Act&rdquo; came onto the statute books in December 1919,&nbsp;"&hellip; to amend the Law with respect to disqualification on account of sex &hellip; from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation, or for admission to any incorporated society (whether incorporated by Royal Charter or otherwise)."
That particular piece of legislation wasn&rsquo;t very effective (it was frequently ignored) so, much later, we had the first Racial Discrimination Act in 1965 and then a number of other Equal Pay, Race and Sex Discrimination Acts in the 1970s, followed, in 1995, by the Disability Discrimination Act. Various EU treaties on equal opportunities were then incorporated into the UK and, finally, an attempt was made to draw together all the various strands of anti-discrimination policy into the 2010 Equality Act, which governs most of our current thinking and practices.
In other words, we&rsquo;ve been trying (usually not successfully) to get equality right in this country for a very long time. The problem &ndash; the reason why successive pieces of legislation have had to be passed &ndash; is, in my view, relatively simple to identify: human beings are flawed and make decisions based on all sorts of idiosyncrasies (or biases if you prefer), especially when it comes to employment.
For example, in the 1980s The Economist ran an article comparing recruitment practices in the civil service with the private sector.In the latter at that time, there was still an old boys&rsquo; network and sometimes who you knew was more important than what you knew.In private industry, one interview generally sufficed, especially if you wore the right tie or were dressed in a well-made suit from a high-quality tailor. In contrast, the civil service held several rounds of interviews and even assessment centres before deciding who to employ or promote. The Economist contrasted the latter favourably with the former&hellip;
More recently, attempts have been made to quantify people&rsquo;s abilities and personalities to see how these metrics might reflect their suitability, or otherwise, for a job. Psychometric testing became popular in the 1980s, a&nbsp;<a href="mailto:https://www.picked.ai/magazine/why-psychometric-testing-in-recruiting-is-getting-more-important/">century</a>&nbsp;after it was devised, as a means of providing fairness and a more measured approach to recruitment. In France, graphology was (<a href="mailto:https://huract.ch/graphology-in-selection-and-assessment/">and still is</a>) a popular method of divining who should, or should not, be given a job.
In more recent years, a wave of progressive thinking has crossed the Atlantic from the USA and embedded itself in UK recruitment. For its exponents, it is simply a means of ensuring that fairness takes account of all the historical and unconscious biases that have always permeated those making a decision on whom to recruit. On the other hand, there are many who regard this modern trend as pure sophistry, underpinned by a radical political agenda, usually summed up in the phrase, &ldquo;woke nonsense.&rdquo; Current, highly polarised debates about sex and gender make almost daily headlines in the mainstream media. Attitudes tend to vary with age, with baby boomers floundering in their attempts to understand Gen Z &ndash; and vice versa. Unfortunately, social media and its algorithms have widened the differences between many people rather than narrowed them. Some people will not work with others based on their different approaches to life, whether that&rsquo;s WFH, plant/meat-eating or attitudes to sex/gender, politics or race. Whether one likes it or not, the focus on diversity, inclusion and equality has focused recruiters&rsquo; minds and led us to have to consider a far wider range of issues than ever before in order to ensure that we treat everyone fairly. Today, recruitment is a constantly shifting landscape, where many different human traits combine in a potentially explosive mix. Navigating this minefield requires constant awareness that we are, naturally, not all the same, but that, no matter who we are, we deserve equal and fair treatment when we apply for a job.
One way to do this, in theory, is to eliminate those aforementioned human flaws &ndash; the unconscious biases we all have &ndash; by introducing emotionless technology into the recruitment process. Although increasingly popular, this too has proven to have flaws, largely because it is the flawed, emotional humans who create the technology.
For example,&nbsp;the problems of FRT (facial recognition technology) have been well-documented, including how it struggles to distinguish differently-coloured faces, with a bias against non-white ones. FRT also identified members of the US congress as&nbsp;<a href="mailto:https://threatpost.com/aws-facial-recognition-platform-misidentified-over-100-politicians-as-criminals/156984/">criminals</a>.
On the other side of the recruitment coin, Est&eacute;eLauder, the global beauty products firm, decided to make some 2,000 people&nbsp;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-estee-lauder-to-cut-up-to-2-000-jobs-as-lockdowns-hit-makeup-demand-12053191">redundant</a>&nbsp;in 2020 due to a reduction in demand as a result of the pandemic. They used FRT as part of the process.Now, leaving on one side the potentially dangerous ground of a company that trades in beauty making decisions based on the way someone looks, three female employees at Mac Cosmetics, a branch of Est&eacute;e Lauder, lost their jobs as a result of automated video interviews that analysed the words they used in their answers to the questions posted and also looked at their expressions.
The three took legal action, arguing that they were not interviewed by a real person. They won and Estee Lauder settled with an out-of-court agreement. Similar technology can be used to eliminate candidates who are seeking a job rather than trying to avoid redundancy &ndash; and similar dangers lurk.
On Facebook, until very recently, you were able to target a &lsquo;recruitment&rsquo; ad only at women or men. In fairness Facebook has tightened up on this, but I suspect that if you know how to game the system you could still do this. Yet again, human flaws, underpinned by technology do not make for great recruitment.
At the end of the day, there are three key questions. What do candidates want? What do employers want? And how do we marry these two, sometimes contradictory wants while still treating everyone fairly and with respect?
The answer, we would tentatively suggest, is not that difficult to find.It is, in a word, &ldquo;fairness&rdquo; &ndash; or in two words, &ldquo;equal opportunities.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s much easier if you keep it simple. Both expressions should mean what they say. Those who strive, however, imperfectly, to deliver fairness in recruitment are all helping, in tiny, incremental steps, to get us where we all want to be. To illustrate what I mean, my next blog will look at Cedar&rsquo;s own approach to diversity and how we too seek to offer fairness to everyone who applies for a job with us &ndash; and how our principles influence the way we treat our clients and candidates alike.

The long march to equality

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If you read our previous blog, &lsquo;The Long March to Equality&rsquo;, examining the rise of DE&amp;I within recruitment, you may have been surprised, as we were, at how far the industry has come since the first UK legislation in 1919. However, as we all know, the world is very different today&hellip;
What was once regarded as perfectly normal is now frowned upon, or positively decried, with the interpretation of specific words and behaviours in particular becoming an ever-moving target. Inter-generational and inter-regional differences in accepted patterns of behaviour can be pronounced, yet despite, or perhaps because of this, it is arguably more important than ever for recruiters to raise their game ensuring that D, E &amp; I are woven into the fabric of their operations. That said, it&rsquo;s important to realise that no-one will ever get DEI right, simply because any attempts to square the diversity circle tend to founder on the observable fact that said circle is constantly changing.
For Cedar, as recruiters, it&rsquo;s vital that we understand this shifting landscape and, as a first step, we have conducted an internal survey of our own staff to see how we compare to the national averages for a wide range of diversity metrics. Overall, we score highly against these national statistics, but we are well aware that London, where we are based, is one of the most diverse cities in the world. However, we also need to recognise that we have candidates and clients in other parts of the UK (and indeed overseas) and we are well aware that it isn&rsquo;t just rural Britain that lacks diversity &ndash; a lot of neighbourhoods in our towns and cities, even in London, also do.
We firmly believe fairness means respecting the views of everyone, wherever they are based or (within the law) whatever their own personal circumstances and/or beliefs might be.
It is important to state at this point that, while we shy away from virtue signalling, since our company was founded we have always quietly lived out the values of DEI in every aspect of our client and candidate relationships, in our approach to our own hiring and in the way we expect everyone who works for Cedar to display these values both in theory and practice. We know we&rsquo;re never going to be perfect (that squared circle again), but we do believe we try very hard to get it right.
Key results from our internal survey include the following:
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93% say &ldquo;I can be my true self at work.&rdquo;
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84% agree (or strongly agree) that &ldquo;people from all backgrounds and with a range of identities have equal opportunities to advance their careers at Cedar.&rdquo; (no-one disagreed in any way with this statement).
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95% agree (or strongly agree) that Cedar is a safe and supportive workplace for BIPOC individuals (again, no-one disagreed in any way with this statement).
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Finally, although perhaps not as &lsquo;fashionable&rsquo; as some other areas, post-Covid,&nbsp;<a href="mailto:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/financial-planning/pushed-work-age-mid-lifers-face-ruin-pensions-run-dry/">age discrimination</a>&nbsp;has been highlighted as a key problem, not just for those over 60 but even for those in what many would regard at the prime of their working lives. The majority of our employees are Millennials or Gen Z, so it&rsquo;s important that we make them aware of this.
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That last point is another acknowledgement of the difficulty of ensuring fairness in recruitment. Irrespective of our race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality or gender, the vast majority of us will grow old. Yet ironically, ageism is one of the most prevalent, yet least publicised areas of discrimination in the job market, and, post-pandemic, it&rsquo;s getting&nbsp;<a href="mailto:https://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/947/reader/reader.html?%23!preferred/0/package/947/pub/947/page/18/article/293412">worse</a>.
Add into this<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/socio-economic-diversity-and-inclusion-employers-toolkit/employers-toolkit">&nbsp;intersectionality</a>, the interconnected nature of social categorisation, creating overlapping and independent systems of disadvantage and it&rsquo;s not hard to see why, in our previous blog, we referred to recruitment as &ldquo;a constantly shifting landscape, where many different human traits combine in a rich and valuable mix.&rdquo;
As we noted, &ldquo;navigating this area requires constant awareness that we are, naturally, not all the same, but that, no matter who we are, we deserve equal and fair treatment when we apply for a job&rdquo;. We might add that we also all deserve equal and fair treatment when we are working for a company. For Cedar, DEI is a constant work-in-progress, where we are striving to give employees a platform to share their voice and empowering individuals to create communities such as employee resource groups that are action-orientated. Cedar feels it&rsquo;s important to provide opportunities for employees to share thoughts and experiences and for the company to act on them.
If you have any thoughts on what we do, how well we do it (even if we don&rsquo;t do it well), then we would be pleased to hear from you&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/contact">info@cedarrecruitment.com</a>
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DE&I at Cedar – a work in progress

In June 1970, up to 20,000 people gathered for what was then called a Gay Liberation march in New York. Although the battle for gay rights in the USA can be traced back to the 1920s, this march was one of the most powerful statements up to that time of the wish for homosexuals to be accepted and understood rather than vilified and shunned, as they had been for centuries and still are in too many parts of the world today. Coming as it did a year after the Stonewall Riots of 1969, when gay customers of New York&rsquo;s Stonewall Inn resisted police raids on the premises, the march is recognised as one of the key steps in changing attitudes and was the forerunner of the many Gay Pride Marches that have become commonplace across much of the world in recent years.
Fast forward to Saturday, 2nd July 2022, London will host its annual Pride March. The fact that the appellation &lsquo;Gay&rsquo; is now no longer being considered necessary is indicative of just how far things have progressed since those heady days of the 1970s. I&rsquo;ll be there, as I have every year, in London or Brighton, since I went on my first Pride March in the capital back in 2015.
I&rsquo;d left college at that point and feeling that I didn&rsquo;t want to go to university I was fortunate enough to be given a short-term contract to help with a marketing project at Cedar Recruitment. Being openly queer, I entered the world of work with my guard up to an extent. I was very conservative, very aware of the way people see things and make judgements based on their own feelings. Above all, I was desperately trying to be a professional even if it diminished my own personality, but then over time, I found my feet. It helped a lot that when I started out at Cedar, a lot of people never batted an eyelid at the fact there was this new person who was gay. It didn&rsquo;t seem like a thing to them and that helped me feel I could fit in. I think the biggest compliment I can pay my colleagues is that no one paid me any attention, if you see what I mean!
After my short-term contract was over, I was offered a permanent role and now I work in our contractor team, mostly providing support to senior finance people. This is a market that is traditionally thought of as conservative. Of course, there were some issues, but work is like that whether you are gay or straight &ndash; there are always going to be some problems and some people who don&rsquo;t take to you right away. My reaction initially was to pretend that the problems weren&rsquo;t there, but then I realised that I simply needed to get on with the actual delivery of the service, change attitudes by being good at my job and not worry about what people thought.
When I started getting my nails done &ndash; I&rsquo;ve got long, polished, manicured nails &ndash; I began to get feedback from the recruitment consultants about what their clients thought. What was interesting was that rather than responses like, &ldquo;oh, that&rsquo;s unprofessional,&rdquo; what they were hearing were comments like, &ldquo;oh, I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like that, but it made me think.&rdquo; Making people think about things they hadn&rsquo;t seen before is good. Of course, they can go away and have their own opinions, but it does no harm to test them and challenge them to think differently.
Outside work, my role models were people like Pete Burns - just for the outright, outrageous, ridiculous, self-expression - and Divine. I can&rsquo;t say anyone at work has influenced me in the same way, but it must be said that I have learned a lot of very valuable life lessons in the 5 years I&rsquo;ve been at Cedar.
As I said, my personal history with Pride Marches goes back to 2015. Actually, this year, I&rsquo;m on holiday when the London March is on, so I&rsquo;ll probably go to Manchester or Brighton Pride. I do enjoy the day, but initially, I didn&rsquo;t really understand it, but that was more because I didn&rsquo;t know the history behind it.
More recently, it has become a bit of a corporate bash, perhaps with less substance and meaning behind it than it originally had. For example, if you went to a Pride March now, and spoke to 10 spectators, only one would know the history behind it. For many others, it&rsquo;s just an extravagant party and a chance for a drink and fun in good company.
Despite this, I think the Pride Marches are still very important. They help educate people and make more of them realise the reasons why they take place. It&rsquo;s beneficial for people to see that gay people can come out from under that umbrella and aren&rsquo;t going to just sit in the corner and hide. And while it&rsquo;s certainly easier for gay people in my age cohort to be who they are, we do recognise all those older people who were in the vanguard of that Gay Liberation movement had a far harder time than we do today. At the heart of this whole issue is the conundrum that we want to get to the situation where it&rsquo;s regarded as so normal that no one talks about it &ndash; but we know that talking about it is the only way to normalise it! And Pride gets people talking, so more power to everyone who attends the events across the country, whether in London on the 2nd or elsewhere later in the year.

London Pride

As the UK teeters on the brink of the recession precipice, the most commonly used phrase Cedar&rsquo;s recruitment consultants hear these days is, &ldquo;What with everything that&rsquo;s going on&hellip;&rdquo;.
A year ago, we were all still concerned about Covid and the impact the ending of furlough would have on the jobs market, but the general hope, if not expectation, was that we would see a slow climb back to relative prosperity. Instead, as our clients and candidates remind us almost daily, everything does indeed seem to be going on&hellip;
You can take your pick from the massive supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic, the impact of WFH on public (and private) services, mounting concern/frustration with the NHS, the rising tide of industrial action, the difficulties young people have in getting on the housing ladder, and, of course, the increasingly scary world geopolitical situation and the surging inflation that makes every trip to the supermarket an exercise in filling fewer bags with fewer items for a greater cost than a week ago&hellip;
For job-seekers though, until very recently, all they had to worry about was whether their new job offered exclusive gym membership, a brand-new Apple Watch and other freebies, plus a choice of flexible working alternatives and an inclusive and safe work environment. All of these things are, of course, desirable in any new job and let no one imagine that our old, pre-pandemic ways of working will return in their entirety, but there is one thing that, above all others, is currently focusing minds and that is the cost of living. Driven largely by Putin&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine, the price of energy is going not so much through the roof as punching through the outer levels of the stratosphere. Inflation is eroding everyone&rsquo;s purchasing power, driving up mortgage payments, destroying savings and weaving its well-known destructive malevolence on the economy at large. And that&rsquo;s before we consider the vacuum caused at the top of government by the Conservative leadership contest.
Consequently, it&rsquo;s unsurprising that, what with everything that&rsquo;s going on, candidates are starting to become more interested in hard cash than soft soap. Although there is still an undoubted demand for wellness, WFH etc., it&rsquo;s money that increasingly motivates, because when times are tight, priorities shift.
That&rsquo;s not to say that wages are not going up &ndash; they are, and at very healthy rates by recent historical standards. Unfortunately, these meaningful hikes have no chance of keeping pace with inflation, which the Bank of England has forecast will reach a staggering 13% year on year. In fact, the Bank may be being conservative, because Citigroup has just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/08/22/inflation-double-186pc-economists-warn/">predicted</a>&nbsp;that inflation could reach over 18% before the end of 2022. EY and Goldman Sachs also expect inflation to peak several points above the Bank&rsquo;s estimate, but no matter who is right, for employees the fact is that even big pay rises won&rsquo;t prevent them from feeling worse off.
What does all this mean for the job market? Well, it&rsquo;s hard, if not impossible, to say with certainty. Supply and demand are the traditional arbiters of jobs and salaries and, in general, will continue to be, and for the foreseeable future demand is continuing to outstrip supply.
At any one time, there are a variety of variables that influence specific sectors and individual job disciplines. Yes, people want money first &ndash; but they still want everything else &ndash; which costs employers, who are, like their employees, struggling to keep their spending under control. As well as increased wages, huge rises in energy, transport and other costs are, of necessity, passed on to customers, pushing up inflation and, in turn, generating even bigger pay demands. Moreover, with the Bank increasing interest rates, the cost of borrowing is rising and while companies can increase their prices, which feed through directly or indirectly to consumers, all of this creates the classic upward wage/price spiral.
So, for now, the cost-of-living crisis means we&rsquo;re likely to hear a lot more of candidates telling potential employers that,&nbsp;&ldquo;what, with everything going on, I need more money.&rdquo;&nbsp;This, increasingly, is the single biggest influence on candidates&rsquo; decision making.

Show me the Money!!!

On International Women&rsquo;s Day, it&rsquo;s time to #Embraceequity
Wednesday, 8th March, is International Women&rsquo;s Day. This year, its emphasis is on equity, and specifically the need to understand the fundamental difference between&nbsp;equality&nbsp;and&nbsp;equity. As the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internationalwomensday.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IWD website</a>&nbsp;explains, equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and therefore it is necessary to allocate specific, tailored resources so that everyone can reach an equal outcome. The illustration here, shows what this means in practice.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/ubprqiuu4ds5n2ed8h42iuwte45s" alt="International Women's Day at Cedar" width="479" height="200">
It&rsquo;s great to talk and write about International Women&rsquo;s Day. And even better to take part in it. However, I believe the most important and true benefit of the day is implementing what it&rsquo;s all about. A (very slight) majority of the people at Cedar Recruitment are female and, with that in mind (and having only joined Cedar myself in the last 16 months as a graduate), I spoke to three of our female managers. All with varying levels of experience in the company, to canvas their views, understanding their experiences of women in business and how this has evolved over the years&hellip;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/consultants/georgina-gettings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Georgina Denslow</a>, Director &ndash; Finance, has been with Cedar for nearly eight years, while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/consultants/kirsteen-brannigan-hughes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kirsteen Brannigan-Hughes</a>, Director &ndash; Tax, has only been here for two years. On the other hand,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/consultants/kirsty-mcbean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kirsty McBean</a>, Head of Internal Operations, has 16 years&rsquo; experience with us. All presented different opinions and ideas, but all are united in their support for women in business and helping overcome the challenges still faced.
There was an interesting difference between the experience of Kirsty compared to Georgina and Kirsteen, but one I think that shows just how things have changed over the years, both at Cedar and in the business environment in which we work.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me,&rdquo;&nbsp;Kirsty said,&nbsp;&ldquo;when I joined Cedar it was very much focused on senior-level recruitment in finance. Unsurprisingly, back then the vast majority of our clients and candidates were men. Cedar reflected that, with only one senior female member of staff and a culture and environment that was suited and booted to fit in with the customers. I came in as this young woman with piercings, which wasn&rsquo;t quite the normal image for the industry at the time. But things have changed immeasurably since then, especially internally at Cedar.&rdquo;
Kirsteen came to Cedar from a firm that, as she describes it, was&nbsp;&ldquo;glossily diverse, but when it came down to it this was just window-dressing for the most part. When I was in negotiation with Howard (the Cedar owner/CEO) about coming here, I was adamant that I wanted to work somewhere that actually practiced diversity and didn&rsquo;t just tick boxes. He explained that his top-biller was female, his No. 2 was female, for him, the diversity here is not something that is honoured in the breach rather than the observance.&rdquo;
Interestingly, although Kirsteen has found that this is exactly what we are like, she doesn&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s something that Cedar shouts enough about, telling me,&nbsp;&ldquo;We are far more diverse than the national averages, which is a big positive for me. Culturally, it&rsquo;s a great place to work as so many of my colleagues are both different from each other and, crucially, allowed and encouraged to be so. That said, I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re quite so good at showing this to the outside world.&rdquo;
Georgina had a similar experience. After university, she worked in a software services firm, in business development and account management. &ldquo;I found Cedar a much more comfortable place to work,&rdquo;&nbsp;she told me,&nbsp;&ldquo;&hellip;with a more all-encompassing approach to individuality. My previous place had a bit of a lads&rsquo; culture &ndash; very male-orientated &ndash; and on my team, there were only ever two or three women at any one time. The only female manager was the HR person. In contrast, at Cedar, I discovered that it was much easier to ask for help and advice without getting weird looks that subliminally said, &lsquo;don&rsquo;t you know this?&rsquo; Here, I feel that you can advance on merit and Howard has always offered massive encouragement to me and everyone else. In particular, I have found that the mentoring and coaching, including leadership courses once I was on that path, were well designed and tailored for me as an individual. Actually, I never saw myself as a manager, but I was encouraged to take the step and I have been able to learn so much from all the female and male managers here that it&rsquo;s made the transition to running an eight-person team much easier.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
What is it, I then wondered, that makes Cedar different&hellip;?
​
For Kirsteen, one of the keys is that Cedar is prepared to challenge clients on diversity issues. "With many key recruitment markets being difficult nowadays, I find that once you suggest a way of opening up the talent pool people do listen. They have always wanted to hire the best, but whereas in the past Heads of Tax tended to want to recruit someone in their own image that&rsquo;s changed now. There is an increasing realisation that if they want to hire ambitious, independently-minded people then there is more chance of doing that from a diverse short-list. Clients are also finding that females can be more impressive than men in many ways. However, we have had to work hard over the last decade to get managers to consider options they&rsquo;d never have thought about previously, like four-day weeks, flexibility around childcare and maternity and genuinely remote working. All these open up the talent pool to a far greater range of individuals, thus seriously improving the chances of a high-quality hire.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Kirsty agrees, telling me,&nbsp;&ldquo;Part of my job is to compile diversity reports for Cedar. We see far more interest in these from clients nowadays. When I joined, we had a debate about whether to record dates of birth for candidates &ndash; was this discriminatory or not? Today, the reporting reflects that businesses have opened their eyes to the fact that female talent can be as good or better than male talent and therefore they need policies that help women to succeed.&rdquo;
For Georgina, International Women&rsquo;s Day offers a chance to celebrate all this &ndash; and more.&ldquo;While some companies undoubtedly do regard IWD as a box-ticking exercise, for female leaders, yes, it&rsquo;s a big thing. It shines a light on senior management and makes them have conversations they otherwise might avoid. I&rsquo;m involved in other areas in the community and business where we are trying to increase women&rsquo;s presence and representation and there is no doubt that things will continue to change in the future.&rdquo;
The valuable insights shared by Kirsty, Kirsteen, and Georgina demonstrate the remarkable progress made towards gender equality in the workplace, reflected in the increased opportunities and career advancement for women. Cedar's success in fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce can be attributed to the dedication of its team and the promotion of female leadership. Everything learned through writing this blog highlights how important days like International Women&rsquo;s Day are, to celebrate the progress we have made whilst also continuing to create meaningful initiatives.

International Women's Day at Cedar

​&ldquo;I joined Cedar in 2012, having previously worked for a much smaller company. At the time I joined, I was the only Afro-Caribbean person in the business, although in the decade I&rsquo;ve been here there are others who have come and gone. I work in finance and admin, alongside Cameron, who was featured in our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/blog/2022/06/london-pride?source=google.com">blog</a>&nbsp;during Pride week. More specifically, much of my current work is with Cedar&rsquo;s contractors, checking their timesheets and organising the payroll, as well as working on credit control for our client bases. It can be demanding at times, but - and I know people might find this strange - I enjoy credit control. It&rsquo;s really rewarding, forming relationships with other finance people and making sure the money comes in on time (mostly!).
&ldquo;Even though I knew I would be the only black person at Cedar when I joined, this did not put me off as, having got a good feeling about the company during the recruitment process, I felt I&rsquo;d fit right in. I think the fact that I&rsquo;m still here ten years on suggests that I was right!
&ldquo;I have never felt like my background or my culture has prevented me from being myself or progressing within the business. If anything, it has helped me grow as a person in so many ways and has brought me out of my comfort zone - which has helped me in the various positions I have worked in as my career has developed with Cedar.
&ldquo;During my time here, I like to think I&rsquo;ve brought a little of my culture to the company. One of the many things I would say intrigues people, especially at work, has got to be the many different hairstyles I&rsquo;ve had over the years. Coiffuring African Caribbean hair is an art and I take a lot of pride in my appearance. I&rsquo;ve had many, many different hairstyles, from short and curly to long and straight.I really enjoy the fact that other people in the business had not seen such styles before and they are interested in learning what goes into creating such a look. I have been happy to share my experience with them and explain my decisions to have each new style and, of course, how long the process took. It&rsquo;s great to walk into the office and get a &lsquo;wow&rsquo; of appreciation, especially when it comes from Howard (the Chief Exec). He always tells me if he thinks I&rsquo;ve topped my previous best effort and has been known to take a picture and send it to his wife (I&rsquo;m not sure whether this is to encourage her to try something similar&hellip;but I suspect not!).
&ldquo;Black history for me means more than just BLM, the fashion, the music, etc. Black History Month is a time to reflect on how our journey as people started and the struggles and sacrifices our ancestors and our families had to make to provide a better life for themselves and us and to give us an equal chance to succeed. I&rsquo;m ever so grateful for the choices that my grandparents made as without them my life could be so very different today. They came to the UK many years ago and through their dreams and hard work helped create the conditions where I and my daughter can thrive and enjoy life and all the options we have as British citizens. Black history makes me appreciate what I have and what I can achieve in this modern world: nothing&rsquo;s out of reach and the sky is the limit.
&ldquo;As Black History Month rolls on across October, I&rsquo;ve been amazed at all the great things that are happening, not just in London but across the country. The theme for 2022 is Black Health and Wellness and you can access more details at the official&nbsp;<a href="https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/">website</a>&nbsp;about this and about the wide range of events nationwide.
&ldquo;Everyone&rsquo;s black history experience will be different. We know what has happened in the past and still happens today. You hear and see negative stuff about black people reported in the media and, naturally, you have compassion for those on the receiving end. However, I have to say I haven&rsquo;t experienced any negativity myself and racism has not, I&rsquo;m pleased to say, affected our family, either at home or at work. If I did have problems I wouldn&rsquo;t have stayed &ndash; as I said, I&rsquo;ve just had my ten-year anniversary, so Cedar is a place I can see myself in the long term. Being here has helped me come out of my little box and integrate with all sorts of different people I wouldn&rsquo;t have mixed with in my previous, day-to-day life. This drives my confidence to always be myself and to be accepted for who am, not what I am. Being confident in my skin and loving myself is very important and I believe this shines through in my character and personality. I work on the basis that my different looks are a conversation starter. Moreover, this applies to some of my colleagues&rsquo; looks as well! &ndash; and our diversity actually makes it easier for us all to get on together.
&ldquo;Oh yea, you have your good days and bad days: that applies to every workplace, but in my 10 years here I&rsquo;ve hardly ever had a bad day. Instead, there is a good vibe in our office and I very rarely feel down. I think that&rsquo;s a positive and I really believe we need to look to the future with positivity. Without positivity, what chance do we have? We need to start with ourselves and treat others the way you&rsquo;d like them to treat you if we want everyone to get to a better place.&rdquo;

Black History Month and the Art of Black Hair

​As we tiptoe into 2023, there is not a scintilla of doubt that the UK economy (and indeed that of much of the rest of the world) is not in a great place. The global pandemic, with its disastrous impact on world supply chains, and Putin&rsquo;s war on Ukraine have, to put it mildly, combined to put several spokes in the wheel of economic growth. As the politicians, with their different agendas, line up to promise us jam tomorrow (albeit without any indication of their recipe to make it), one thing on which everyone does agree is that poor productivity in the UK is one of the major causes of our continuing malaise.
The&nbsp;<a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02791/">statistics</a>&nbsp;are not hard to find, and although the ONS&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/ukproductivityintroduction/2022-10-07">tells us</a>&nbsp;that productivity has now returned to pre-pandemic levels, these were nothing to write home about. In particular,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/new-insights-uks-productivity-performance/">economists</a>&nbsp;focus on what is referred to as the&nbsp;&ldquo;UK&rsquo;s productivity puzzle&rdquo;&nbsp;and the fact that it appears to have stagnated since the 2008 global banking/financial crisis&hellip;
One thing economic history teaches us is even in the most difficult times progress &ndash; even rapid progress - is possible. Wars, in particular, accelerate productivity in some key areas &ndash; military/defence equipment, obviously, but also medicine, aviation/transport and logistics. Similarly, serious economic and social stresses can (but don&rsquo;t always) lead to dramatic solutions being brought to bear in time frames we would normally consider impossible. The incredibly speedy development of the coronavirus vaccine is just one recent example. And now, following the huge increase in the cost of electricity and gas, we are reading and hearing far more about new inventions and innovations in energy, with nuclear fusion being (fingers-crossed) the holy grail that, once achieved, will transform the world&rsquo;s supply of energy. In every other sector, business leaders are looking for their own version of that holy grail &ndash; and hoping that its discovery is not too complex, costly and time-consuming.
Yet technology doesn&rsquo;t have to be complex to make a big difference. To give an example that many can relate to, the introduction of goal nets to football in the late 1880s transformed that sport. Previously, there were frequent disputes as to whether the ball had passed inside or outside the post. But even something as simple and effective as a goal net can be improved, with the more recent introduction of goal-line technology now removing any possible doubt as to whether a goal has been scored.
I have recently joined Cedar, after 20 years in recruitment and management consultancy, working mainly across finance, data and tech. Such diverse client experience led me, inexorably, into the transformation space. And currently, all across the UK and beyond, I see businesses seeking the equivalents of the goal-net and goal-line technology. My conversations over the last few years &ndash; and even more since joining Cedar &ndash; are largely with C-Suite leaders, all of whom realise just how important this is&nbsp;now&nbsp;&ndash; both for their current survival and their future success.
Underpinning all our discussions are the big issues of the day. Dominating everything is the economy. Almost everyone expects a rough time in 2023, so the focus is on how to ameliorate any damage by adapting and changing. Part of this is, naturally, going to involve re-structuring, but as the storm clouds swirl, I&rsquo;m seeing more and more investment in every possible area of technology, using big data and the cloud to accelerate automation and create improvements in efficiency and profitability. This push is being driven by the CFOs: they know that spending money on transformation now ought to reap dividends when the storm clouds eventually disperse and favourable economic tailwinds and new opportunities appear on the horizon. It&rsquo;s telling that, despite the doom and gloom of the last few months, in Q4 last year over 50% of CFOs increased net spending, with an emphasis on digital/cloud transformation.
I&rsquo;ve seen some spectacular results, especially involving really talented people who were brought in to rescue failing programmes in some massive blue-chips. Of course, the trick is to ensure that you don&rsquo;t get to the stage where things are in danger of falling apart. This means conventional operating models are being torn up as boards hire the key individuals who understand how data analytics and tech know-how can drive efficiencies and keep the show on the road while plans are being formed for the (hopefully) sunlit uplands as we come out of the other side of the recession. It will take time and effort, but, with the right people, we will get there&hellip;

From goal-nets to goal-line technology… tackling the UK’s productivity puzzle

<h5 align="start">About BHRUT</h5>
Working closely with our partner organisations, our 6,500 staff and volunteers care for a diverse community of 750,000 people.
Our PRIDE values of Passion; Responsibility; Innovation; Drive and Empowerment inspire us and keep our patients at the heart of everything we do.​
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<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/u3ptyka4dskzt50258al3b2svd2r" alt="BHRUT" width="700" height="295">
<h5 align="left">&nbsp;</h5>
<h5 align="left">Our Vision</h5>
Our vision is to provide outstanding healthcare to our community, delivered with pride. It is driven by our PRIDE values and behaviours which were developed together with our staff.
​
<h5 align="left">Our Values​</h5>
​<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/q5t55hn457hgptfvni9guu5i9wwe" alt="BHRUT 2" width="700" height="556">
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<div class="embeded"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zePLfELwb6Y" width="640" height="476" frameborder="0"></iframe></div>
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We&rsquo;ve witnessed incredible transformation take place across our hospitals as we deal with Covid-19. Thanks to the brilliant and fast-paced work of our staff we&rsquo;ve achieved some remarkable things, including:
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Holding 5,700 appointments over the phone in April &ndash; meaning fewer patients had to come to hospital.
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20 wards were transformed to care for Covid-19 patients at the peak of the pandemic.
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A five-fold increase in our critical care capacity.
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Cancer treatment and trauma care moved to nearby &lsquo;Covid-free&rsquo; hospitals to keep patients safe and continue their treatment.
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Psychological support for our staff in person and over the phone from a team of psychologists.
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More than 1,000 &lsquo;Thinking of You&rsquo; messages delivered to patients.
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</ul>
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​<img src="https://cdn.sourceflow.co.uk/daxb2z2beg2o8a73tmsgl91pqm7k" alt="BHRUT" width="700" height="357">

Barking Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals

The recruitment market and the economy more generally have had a lot of exogenous shocks over the last few years is, I can say without fear of contradiction, an understatement. Yet, despite all the gloom (and there is a lot of it about), despite the fears that once furlough was wound up the unemployment rate would rocket and despite the concerns many had about Brexit, the jobs market has defied expectations. In accounting and finance &ndash; one of the core areas of strength for Cedar &ndash; we&rsquo;ve seen a veritable boom in placements, especially in the recently-qualified market. With the easing of pandemic restrictions and continually improving market confidence, we have been posting record month after record month. But what does this mean for candidates and employers? How do they, from their differing vantage points, navigate and negotiate the job market as we move on into 2022? Well, let&rsquo;s start by looking at the broader economic picture. The most recent GDP update (from January 2022) shows that despite Covid causing the largest economic contraction in 300 years, and despite taking the biggest economic hit in the G7, Britain had the fastest growing economy in the G7 last year, boosting its GDP by 7.5%. That said, the UK ranks average within the G7, but, crucially, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) noted that Britain&rsquo;s businesses and consumer confidence continue to be more robust than expected and remain above pre-pandemic levels. ​As far as the wider recruitment market is concerned, the latest industry figures (REC/KPMG/Markit report, Jan 2022) show recruitment activity continuing to rise sharply at the start of this year, with a rapid fall in the overall supply of candidates being a notable feature, although this fall was not quite so precipitous as it had been last summer. When we focus on accountancy and finance specifically, it is, by and large, all good news. Turnover in the UK accounting industry rose to &pound;36.6bn in 2021, which was an increase of 15% on the 2020 figures and, according to the ONS, the largest on record for the sector. This is in line with the UK&rsquo;s overall service sector which, including accounting, grew by 14.8% last year to &pound;2.3tn. There was a slight downturn in accounting revenue (1.3%) in December last year, almost certainly due to the ramping up of restrictions in response to Omicron. However, it&rsquo;s been full-steam ahead since then and, at the time of writing, the jobs market shows little sign of abating. Let&rsquo;s now drill down into some of the specifics of accountancy and finance. The Markit figures from January 2022, shown in the graph here, demonstrate the rapid bounce-back from the trough of the recession. More specifically, Markit identifies a number of key areas of candidate shortage: in perm roles, accountants, auditors, book-keepers, credit-controllers, estimators, finance, payroll, risk and taxation; while in the temp market it&rsquo;s accountants, auditors, book-keepers, credit-controllers, finance, payroll and taxation. It is also important to consider the current uncertainty surrounding the Ukraine Market, it is important to assess the situation to see how it plays out. As far as Cedar is concerned, our team working in the recently-qualified market has seen some interesting developments in the last few months. While there is lots of hiring, employers are getting much more choosy about candidates. Industry experience and, crucially, job-specific experience are key. Employers are far less likely to take a risk: they too want to escape the pain of the last few years as quickly as possible so they seek the best possible people to help them accelerate away from their competitors. Then there is, of course, the WFH conundrum. On the one hand, surveys and our own substantial candidate-interviewing experience tell us that 90% of candidates won&rsquo;t take a job if there is no flexibility on offer. Consequently, the majority of our clients are prepared to be flexible, up to an extent. Getting this balance right is going to be vital in 2022. Most employers want their people in for three days a week, but there is a (tiny) minority who are trying to insist on having staff in the office for all five days. I&rsquo;m afraid that if that&rsquo;s you, then you&rsquo;ll struggle to recruit. Flexible working, in some form, is here to stay, especially when you bear in mind that some countries (including Scotland) are experimenting with four-day weeks. Although WFH is now well-established, one thing which we thought would occur as a result of it has not happened to anything like the extent we thought it might. This is people moving further afield from London and taking on more international roles while still working from home. Although the latter is more common in sectors like fintech finance, our experience is that most people simply do not want a two-hour commute, even if it&rsquo;s only for two days a week. Even though they know the cost of living is less, outside London, there is still a reluctance to leave the capital and its myriad attractions. Savvy employers recognise this and have already factored in cost-of-living increases, as well as providing, as they have for some time, a comprehensive array of non-pecuniary benefits such as wellness programmes, gym memberships and social events. Nonetheless, the cost-of-living is an issue and it is closely aligned to another problem, that of salary expectations. With a continuing shortage of quality candidates, we&rsquo;re seeing, for the first time in my experience, salary bandings rise across the board. Whereas a good, recently qualified candidate could previously expect &pound;55K, it&rsquo;s now &pound;60K+. There may be a hard-landing coming here as people have increasingly inflated salary (and benefits) expectations, but it&rsquo;s currently hard to call and we&rsquo;ll see how it pans out over 2022. On top of all this is the ongoing shortage of candidates. There was a bottleneck last September as furlough wound up and Cedar&rsquo;s phones went red-hot with clients all seeking candidates &lsquo;yesterday. &rsquo;This is plateauing now, but, for recruiters, separating the wheat from the chaff is a daily issue. With 200 or so recently qualifiers coming out of the Big Four every year, all, on paper, much the same, how do you find the real stars? The answer, in my view, is simple. The best recruiters &ndash; those with established reputations like Cedar &ndash; are extremely proactive in the candidate market, meeting and assessing people over a coffee - or in any other, out-of-office environment where you can really get to know what makes an individual tick. This is not something that can be done by email or text. On top of that, we&rsquo;re making more use of events and decreasing our use of job-boards, although the latter can still be valuable so long as you are prepared to craft a really appealing advert - something that many recruiters are, sadly, not good at doing. Finally, we suspect that not all employers realise the extent of the challenges thrown up by the current jobs market. They know it&rsquo;s both tough and fluid, they know they want the best possible candidates and they are prepared to pay for them, but some, often smaller, firms, still don&rsquo;t get this, thinking they can pick someone good up on the cheap and then train them. As I implied above, it&rsquo;s those candidates who can hit the proverbial ground running and, almost exactly, meet the client and person specification for the job, who are going to come out winners &ndash; as will their new employers.

Employers are getting very choosy… A review of the recently-qualified accountancy & finance jobs market

<h1>Blogs</h1>

<h1>Representation Compliance Form</h1>

<h1>Contractor Hub</h1>

<h1>Change &amp; Transformation</h1>

Our adept Change and Transformation team at Cedar boasts an impressive track record in recruitment, coupled with profound knowledge of the markets in which we operate. Recognizing the uniqueness of each assignment, our bespoke approach empowers us to swiftly navigate the market, ensuring maximum success for our clients. At Cedar, we take pride in seamlessly integrating ourselves as an extension of your business, upholding the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.Our team's proficiency in the intersection of finance, technology, and data positions us to collaborate effectively across the C Suite. This allows us to bring a wealth of experience to the table, providing attentive listening, strategic advice, and successful delivery of complex transformation projects.With a robust network and comprehensive knowledge in both the finance and broader transformation market, we are dedicated to cultivating long-term relationships. Our focus lies in strategic partnerships with senior business executives, including CFOs, CTOs, CIOs, and CDOs, ensuring a tailored and impactful approach to your organizational evolution.

Cedar's Change &amp; Transformation team excels in delivering specialised recruitment solutions tailored for dynamic and forward-thinking businesses across diverse industries.

<h3 class="ql-align-right">What Our Clients Say</h3> ​“I approached Cedar to find a special candidate to help build a growing team. In an extremely tight timeframe, Cedar used their immense experience and connections to locate a benchmark candidate who fit culturally into our business and who had all the required skills. " - Fremantle Media ﻿"Having worked with Cedar for several years they have become the first port of call when looking to fill a position. They have consistently delivered a selection of high-quality candidates. For interim placements, Cedar has the bench to provide quality individuals quickly and efficiently.&nbsp;"- IMG Events

<h1>Clients</h1>

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<h2>Please use this form to register your details with Cedar, but do not wish to apply for a specific role.</h2>

Take the first step toward exciting career opportunities by sharing your CV with us. Your skills and experience matter, and we're eager to learn more about what you bring to the table. Upload your CV and the most appropriate consultant will be in touch soon. _____________________________________________________

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<h1>Contact Us</h1>

<h5> </h5><h5>Send us your CV</h5>

<h5> </h5><h5>Complete our Representation compliance form</h5>

Questions, comments, or just want to connect? We're here for you. Use the Contact Us form to reach out, and our team will respond promptly. Whether you're a prospective candidate, client, or partner, we look forward to hearing from you._____________________________________________________

<h2>Get in touch</h2>

<h1>DE&amp;I / CSR</h1>

Raise the bar across your recruitment process, by selecting from a range of diversity recruitment features to facilitate more inclusive teams.
The reality is that for many businesses, diversity is still a nice to have not a strategic imperative. Cedar Search are proud to be different and love to work with organisations that share our passion.
Cedar embraces diversity and inclusion and seeks to promote the benefits in all of our business activities and has developed a business culture that reflects that belief. We continuously strive to level the playing field for executive and non-executive talent, finding opportunities for women, ethnic minority, and LGBT+ candidates.
Each and every Cedar Search employee commits to making a positive contribution towards diversity and inclusion not only in our own working environment but those of the organisations we work with.

Diverse teams think differently. When it comes to risk, that's important.

​Diversity and inclusion is central to an organisation&rsquo;s ability to attract, recruit and retain the talent needed to outperform competitors. Diverse groups make better, faster decisions with less bias and groupthink, and diverse groups are more creative and innovative. So if we believe that diverse teams make better, more considered decisions, our role is clear: to bring businesses and talented individuals together to build those high-performing, fantastically diverse senior teams.

<h2 class="ql-align-center">Our Charities</h2>
As a company, we are committed to giving back to our community and are honoured to support both Spread a Smile and Behind Every Kick.
Spread a Smile believe that every young person deserves to experience the joy and wonder of childhood, even in the face of illness, and we are proud to stand with Spread a Smile in their mission to make that possible.
We are honoured to work with Behind Every Kick in their mission to empower young people through a shared love of sport. Helping them develop the skills they are learning through playing sports and showing them that these skills can be harnessed to create opportunities in their wider lives.

<h1>Accountancy &amp; Finance</h1>

We recruit for some of the most dynamic companies across Commerce, Financial Services, Professional Services, and the Public Sector, from SMEs to listed blue-chip companies.Our specialist consultants have built up a wealth of knowledge within their specific industries and markets, offering a tailored approach in parallel with our 'listen, advise, deliver' methodology. We meet all our candidates, to understand their personalities, criteria, and skillsets, enabling us to match them to the right opportunities.

For over 20 years, Cedar's Accountancy &amp; Finance practice has identified roles for all levels of finance professional, throughout the UK and abroad.

<h5 class="ql-align-center">Our Accountancy &amp; Finance team is split into specialist areas:</h5>

Our Accountancy &amp; Finance team is split into four specialist areas:

The Key to Successful Recruitment

<h2>Listen, Advise,</h2>
<h2>Deliver</h2>

In partnership with Cedar, HF&amp;C are a boutique management consultancy firm specialising in providing expert knowledge to the UK aerospace, automotive and medical industries.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.cedarrecruitment.com/blog/expert-consultancy-services-for-operations-manufacturing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Find out more</a>

HF&amp;C UK Ltd - Expert Consultancy Services for Operations &amp; Manufacturing

Stay in the loop and keep up to date with our latest News

We meet all our clients (virtually or face to face) so we can fully understand their needs. Only through listening can we ensure a thorough appreciation of the requirements and challenges before embarking on any recruitment project.

No two recruitment projects are the same and each requires its own individual solution. We provide our clients with a range of resourcing solutions and then recommend a tailor-made approach designed to guarantee the delivery of the best possible shortlist.

At Cedar, we pride ourselves on our successful track record of delivery. We can operate to very tight timescales without sacrificing quality throughout the process.

<h1>Insights &amp; Events</h1>

Internal Audit

Our expert team has an extensive track record and in-depth knowledge of the specialist markets in which we operate.<ul><li>Internal Audit</li><li>Technology Audit</li><li>Compliance Audit</li><li>Financial Crime Audit</li><li>Operational Risk Audit</li><li>Credit Risk Audit</li><li>Market Risk Audit</li><li>Model Risk Audit</li><li>Cultural Audit</li><li>ESG Audit</li><li>Quality Assurance Audit</li></ul>

Cedar’s Internal Audit practice specialises in placing risk and control professionals into third line of defence functions. We recruit permanent and interim roles at the Senior Auditor level through to Head of Internal Audit across Financial Services and Commerce &amp; Industry.

We recruit for some of the most dynamic companies across Financial Services and Commerce &amp; Industry from SMEs to listed blue-chip companies. We offer a tailored approach in parallel with our ‘listen, advise, deliver’ methodology and seek to partner with our clients offering a consultative service to Heads of Audit and HR Business Partners on internal audit team structures, market activity, salary benchmarking and the best approach to the market. Whether you are looking for support with an exclusive search, current or potential requirement, salary benchmarking or an exploratory chat, please get in touch with Irma Boulderstone for a confidential discussion.

<h1>Job Search</h1>

Who says you can't put a price on friendship! Refer a friend and we'll reward you with £250!

<h1>Our Dogs</h1>

<h1>Our Team</h1>

<h1>Procurement &amp; Supply Chain</h1>

Whatever your need, our team will diligently listen to your requirements ensuring the recommended delivery solution is tailored to your business, be it a retained mandate or contingent assignment, professional entry-level or executive appointment, we will help you to secure the best talent in the market.We have interim and contract specialists with pools of available talent for each of our core specialisms, meaning if you need a quick turnaround without compromise, we are on hand to support you.Our reputation for recruiting high-quality candidates through integrity and professionalism is founded on the principle of properly representing your brand and business at all times.Demand for procurement professionals continues to increase and recognition of the profession transitions from an operational to a strategic function, we understand the skills, qualities and characteristics needed from your procurement teams to deliver value to your business.As the responsibilities attached to&nbsp;Procurement roles broadens, to encompass brand-defining decisions, risk management, sustainability, all while engendering board-level stakeholder buy-in, the biggest challenge may well be recruiting and then retaining the right talent to deliver your objectives.Cedar Procurement can help you recruit individuals that not only ‘fit’&nbsp;your organisation culturally but that becomes&nbsp;key to your success.

Cedar has been recruiting professionals in Procurement, Supply Chain &amp; Logistics since 2016, across Commerce and Industry and the Public Sector and as a result, have extensive market knowledge, and an exceptional network throughout the UK &amp; Europe.

Direct ProcurementDirect procurement is&nbsp;the process of purchasing or obtaining raw materials, resources, goods and services that are utilised in the core operations of a business. The goods and services procured through the process of direct procurement ultimately find their way to the end customer or client of the business.Industries covered:&nbsp;Automotive, Aerospace, Defence, Industrial, Medical/Pharma, FMCG/Consumer.​Indirect / Corporate Procurement – UKSitting alongside or within&nbsp;Finance and reporting into the CFO as part of corporate function.Indirect Procurement is the sourcing of all goods and services for a business to enable it to maintain and develop its operations e.g. IT, Marketing, Facilities Management, Consultancy, Legal, Audit, HR Contingent workforce etcIndustries covered:&nbsp;Retail, FMCG, Tech, Prof Services, FS, Industrial​Supply Chain TeamWhat is now clearly a core business function, Supply Chain Professionals are now leading the charge to help business pivot within the turbulent economic environment, driven by resource scarcity and ever-increasing consumer expectations.The modern Supply Chain Manager must possess an armoury of strong interpersonal skills, not least empathy, tenacity, and adaptability, to navigate the changing commercial landscape. This, combined with the highly technical nature of most supply chain mandates has meant that demand is easily outstripping the supply of these singular professionals.In response the scope and seniority of supply chain roles, and the work involved in recruiting for them.Industries covered:&nbsp;Industrial: Automotive, Aerospace, General Manufacturing, Defence, Rail​Logistics TeamThe Logistics sector has changed unrecognisably in the past few years, becoming increasingly technology-driven. Professionals who are able to innovate both tech and processes while remaining mindful of sustainability and efficiency goals are in high demand.The need to find cost savings, reduce lead times and meet challenging global targets requires advanced automation and a highly sophisticated logistics infrastructure. But mostly, it requires experienced management and operational staff, with the ability to tap into these advancements and optimise processes to drive these&nbsp;cost efficiencies&nbsp;whilst maintaining the imperative&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIFOT" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DIFOT.</a>Key Industries:&nbsp;FMCG/Consumer/ E-commerce, 3PL/Transport, Industrial, Retail Medical/Pharmaceutical

<h1>Public Sector &amp; Not-for-Profit</h1>

Cognisant of the myriad challenges that the government and not-for-profit sector encounter, including the dynamic shifts in political landscapes, mounting economic pressures, and the escalating demand for services, we remain resolute in our commitment to delivering effective solutions.Our adept team of public sector specialists boasts an impressive history within the sector, coupled with an intricate understanding of their respective fields. With an unwavering dedication to our craft, we derive fulfilment from consistently delivering tailored and effective solutions to our esteemed clients.While our headquarters are in central London, it is noteworthy that a significant majority—over 70%—of our operations are conducted outside the capital, enabling us to extend our expert assistance and support to organisations across the entirety of the UK. Cedar are listed as a compliant agency on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6277" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 87, 64); background-color: white;">Crown Commercial Service RM6277 Framework</a>&nbsp;listed under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/suppliers/5293/cedar-recruitment-limited" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 87, 64); background-color: white;">LOT 2 for Corporate Functions</a>&nbsp;and also the&nbsp;<a href="https://lgrp.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 87, 64); background-color: white;">Local Government Resourcing Partnership (LGRP) Framework</a>&nbsp;listed under&nbsp;<a href="https://lgrp.co.uk/services/lot-1-executive-interim-recruitment/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 87, 64); background-color: white;">LOT 1 for Interim Recruitment</a>. Both of these are&nbsp;PCR2015 Public Sector complaint Frameworks&nbsp;which have been created to allow Public Sector Buyers to engage directly with specialist agencies, such as Cedar, to facilitate the creation of strong working relationships and quick candidate identification/onboarding for the recruitment of Interim and Fixed Term Contract (FTC) positions.

Over the past two decades, Cedar has been a steadfast partner to numerous public sector organisations, providing invaluable support through our versatile services spanning interim, fixed-term, and permanent recruitment.

Public Sector Practice Areas:<ul><li>Procurement &amp; Supply Chain</li><li>Finance</li><li>Change &amp; Transformation</li></ul> Supporting Organisations Across:<ul><li>Cental Government</li><li>Local Government</li><li>NHS/Healthcare</li><li>Education</li><li>Charites</li><li>Social Housing/Registered Providers</li><li>Regulatory Bodies</li><li>Membership Bodies</li><li>Public Transport</li><li>Blue Light Organisations</li></ul>

We&rsquo;re able to identify and engage with the highest-calibre individuals.

More about our Clients

Clients we've
worked with

Kind words from Our Candidates

Specialist recruitment services

Client Spotlight

&nbsp;
<h1>Specialists</h1>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>

<h1>Send Us Your CV</h1>

<h5>If you wish to get in touch</h5>

<h1>Tax</h1>

In-House Team
Our expert team has an extensive track record and in-depth knowledge of the specialist markets in which we operate:
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal">Corporate &amp; International Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Tax Compliance &amp; Reporting</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Tax Technology and Transformation</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Transfer Pricing</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Human Capital</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Indirect Tax</li>
</ul>
In a niche market, consultant experience and expertise are paramount in being successful not only in identifying the right talent, but in understanding the market to maintain credible long-term relationships.
We pride ourselves on offering a consultative service to CFOs, Heads of Tax, and HR Business Partners on tax team structures, market activity, and trends, salary benchmarking, and the best approach to the market.
&nbsp;
Practice Team
Cedar's tax practice recruitment team specialises in Professional Services Tax, catering to the diverse needs of Accountancy and Consulting Firms across London and nationally. With a focus on Big 4, Top 10, mid-tier, and boutique firms, we partner with organisations offering competitive packages, enticing benefits, work-life balance, proven progression, and flexible working arrangements within vibrant company cultures.
Our expertise covers a wide range of tax specialisations:
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal">Corporate &amp; Business Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">M&amp;A &amp; Restructuring Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Real Estate Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Personal Tax &amp; Trusts</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Private Client Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Tax Investigations</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Transactions Tax</li>
<li>International Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Transfer Pricing</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Expatriate Tax &amp; Global Mobility</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">VAT &amp; Indirect Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Employment Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Mixed Tax</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">R&amp;D</li>
</ul>
From recruiting Semi-Senior to Partner levels, we focus on identifying qualified candidates aiming for the next step in their tax careers. Our goal is to facilitate seamless transitions and match professionals with opportunities tailored to their aspirations.

Cedar's Tax team provides comprehensive recruitment services, catering to permanent, interim, and contract roles within the tax profession. Our expertise spans multiple sectors including Practice, Commerce &amp; Industry, and Financial Services. With an extensive track record and deep knowledge of these specialist markets, our expert team is well-equipped to meet your recruitment needs.
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<h5 class="MsoNormal">Ready to advance your tax career?&nbsp;Connect with us for a confidential discussion and explore exciting opportunities aligned with your goals.</h5>
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Terms of Business &amp; Policies

<h1>Who we work with</h1>

Clients we'veworked with

<h1>Inclusive culture which supports working parents with:</h1>

<h1>Work for us</h1>

Do you have a tenacious can-do attitude? We hire applicants from a range of backgrounds, with different levels of experience.Do you thrive on the buzz of a busy office and the flexibility of hybrid working?Do you crave a mature, empathetic working environment, with a team that shares in your success and knows how to have fun?​​

Are you looking for a place where you can define your own career, surrounded by a supportive team of experienced Consultants?

Cedar is a team of entrepeneurs, who aren't afraid to take risks, but also have well-thought-out, ambitious growth plans.​As the world exits the pandemic Cedar aims to expand into new sectors while adding strength and depth to the existing core disciplines of Finance &amp; Accountancy, Procurement &amp; Supply Chain and Change &amp; Transformation.​Cedar needs experienced 360 recruiters and leaders with a range of industry experience who can make an immediate impact and who want to help define the future direction of the Cedar business.