Tech recruitment concerns over Brexit

In the run-up to the EU referendum on 23 June both the Brexit and Bremain campaigns have been arguing their cases, while all those in the recruitment industry consider the uncertainties and potential implications.

What a Brexit outcome will mean for tech recruitment and tech start-ups is a concern, according to London-based technology recruitment specialists Nick Waller and Alex Hemsley. Their agency, Global {M}, a start-up in itself, has been helping British technology start-ups source talent and assemble programming teams from around the world since its establishment in 2012.

Waller notes the EU tech industry support that will be severed if Brexit is to happen: “The European Commission has been very supportive to the tech sector and it would be a shame for British start-ups to miss out on their funding schemes such as the 2.8 billion Euros funding, business support and mentorship programme ‘SME Instrument’ and the EU Research and Innovation programme ‘Horizon 2020’, which promises to nearly £67 (€80 billion) of funding available for start-ups over the next few years. Each day I see the huge value to our clients in being able to employ people that can freely move across countries’ borders in the EU to join them when there is such a competitive fight over talent. Brexit is something that risks this freedom for young businesses of the UK.”

As it stands, most EU citizens working in the UK would not meet current visa requirements for non-EU overseas workers if Britain left the EU. This is according to a report by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, Potential Implications of Admission Criteria for EU Nationals Coming to the UK.

The Global {M} founders understand the extent of how the local tech industry relies on foreign talent, with 51% of the candidates they placed in UK start-ups over the past year being from outside the UK. Their view is that any restriction on the flow of talent into the country will stunt the growth of home-grown start-ups, and ultimately the economy.

Hemsley commented: “I believe that any restriction on the movement of highly skilled European labour is only going to have a negative impact on the London technology infrastructure, and therefore its validity as a major power on the bleeding edge of the technology and innovation sectors.”