BlackRock slows hiring amid economic uncertainty

The looming recession has pushed tech companies to implement hiring freezes and lay-offs of their employees.

Companies including Twitter, Netflix and Coinbase have implemented job cuts, while the likes of Meta, Google and Uber are currently focusing more on slowing their hiring, and streamlining the work of their current teams.

HR tech companies are also being affected by economic challenges and are being forced to downsize their team. Hot on the heels of raising money and buying other companies, Remote and Degreed laid off 9% and 15% of their staff respectively.

The latest news in the HR tech world comes from The Mom Project. Founded in 2016, the company aims to help mothers unlock their potential in the workforce – and now within a year of a $80 million Series C round, the startup has had to lay off 15% of its workforce.

The Mom Project wrote in a LinkedIn post:

But economic uncertainty is not only affecting hiring in the tech sector; the investment industry is also struggling.

Inside BlackRock’s hiring slowdown

Hot on the heels of JP Morgan and Wells Fargo both downsizing their home lending-focused employee base amid slowing consumer demand for mortgage and refinancing, asset management firm BlackRock has also announced it is going to ease hiring of certain roles in response to the looming recession.

Talking about the challenges, Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, wrote in an earnings report: “The first half of 2022 brought an investment environment that we have not seen in decades.

“Investors are simultaneously navigating high inflation, rising rates and the worst start to the year for both stocks and bonds in half a century, with global equity and fixed income indexes down 20% and 10%, respectively.”

In an earnings call with analysts, CFO Gary Shedlin shared: “We are mindful of the current environment and we are proactively managing the pace of what I would call certain of our discretionary investments. So we’ll just give you an idea of some of the things we’re doing.

“We are delaying certain senior hires into next year. We’re also trying to juniorize a number of other roles where appropriate. And while I would say these actions will not materially impact our 2022 results, I think they clearly position us well for next year should some of these market headwinds persist. And that’s not to say we’re cutting back.

“Let me be very clear. I would say that our estimated head count growth for the year will be generally consistent with the earlier guidance we gave. But roughly 100% of that growth will be at the more junior levels in the organization.”

Business Insider reported that BlackRock is not currently conducting lay-offs, but that external candidates are finding that their interview process has been paused.

A spokesperson for BlackRock told Business Insider: “There have been no firmwide hiring restrictions.

“We are always focused on managing our entire discretionary expense base and will continue to be prudent in evaluating our overall level of spend as needed.”

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