During the pandemic, this industry thrived as practically everyone began relying on digital technologies to carry on with their daily lives. Do not let the recent layoffs at Meta and Google fool you. Information Technology is expected to continue being one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States through 2028. As technology continues progressing, jobs such as software engineers, IT consultants, and cyber security analysts will continue to be in high demand. Technology is permeating almost every industry; therefore, the scope of these roles is increasingly large. OSI has been invested in supporting technological innovation across sectors from the start, partnering with tech startups to established firms to secure experts in AI and Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, and Data Science. Read more about the luminaries OSI has sourced for our top clients, and how our firm played a part in Steve Jobs’ NeXT, a company whose legacy lives on in all Mac products.
As we near the middle of Q2 the tech space has seen substantial turbulence and significant layoffs from some of the biggest players in the market such as Amazon, Meta, and Google. Although Big Tech is facing an unfavorable economic environment, Private Equity remains a constant in the chaos with deals picking up in Q1 of 2023. The Technology and Software space continues to be a heavy investment focus for PE even with the dip in revenue that Big Tech has seen. Moreover, PE is still focusing on allocating significant capital in the Technology and Software space, believing that the market will return to being less volatile in the coming years, resulting in a significant return on investments. Furthermore, Private Equity is also taking measures to increase its technology presence directly for the fund. Middle-Market funds are innovating and adapting the use of AI, such as the mega funds like Blackstone or KKR, who are pioneering in advancements of Private Equity technology that assesses potential investments with more accuracy and certainty.
Trading continues to be at the forefront of innovation in the technology of financial markets. Hedge Funds have adapted to utilize disadvantages in the market by predicting potential downturns and forecasting the market to ensure the probability of revenue drivers. This is all possible with the assistance of AI for asset managers, which has become a significant value driver for assessing the market. That said, hedge funds are not slowing down on hiring technical positions that continue to innovate AI algorithms through the usage of Natural Language Processing & Generative Adversarial Network models. However, the mass layoffs created a flooded candidate pool, resulting in a high bar for employers to consider candidates for positions. The biggest asset managers in the industry want the best of the best coming into these positions to achieve their goals and have raised the bar significantly since there is ample talent to recruit from. Overall, this creates the need for candidate assessments and precision-based search strategies to find the talent that is desired.
Risk and volatility are the words that best describe the 2023 fiscal year so far for banking. Signature, SVB, and now First Republic have all collapsed just this year and we are not even through Q2 yet. We are witnessing some of the biggest banking failures since the 2008 housing crisis. Although the FED has stepped in several times to help stabilize these banks and ensure customers’ deposits, the fear of more run on the banks remains a risk for over 180 financial institutions. Fortune 500 banks are even susceptible to this risk and are doing everything they can to mitigate it. Although the risk looms over everyone, business continues as usual with banks focusing on diversifying themselves in financial technologies. Moreover, the shift from very low to higher rates changes a lot for banks. Rising rates increase banks’ income, with many of them likely to opt to use the money to invest in their future capabilities such as Fintech driving change in the innovation of services and products.
In conclusion, 2023 remains to be a challenging economic climate with uncertainty and volatility. That said, it’s still business as usual for our clients as OSI continues to add value in the human capital marketplace even during the toughest circumstances. When the market fluctuates OSI adapts to the environment to deliver excellent talent for our clients. Read more here about the CTO we placed for a leading Private Equity firm that transformed the business, which saved our client more than $20m YOY.