Simon Costello, whose onboarding and fraud-prevention platform FrankieOne attracts some of the best emerging tech talent, acknowledges the increasing need to draw in early-stage digital professionals. In a very tight digital and tech talent market, Costello believes that it is critical to build frameworks for junior talent to learn, develop and succeed.
For a fast-growing business like FrankieOne, having the right people is imperative. The past 18 months has seen the business bring on nearly 100 new clients across banking and fintechs, including the likes of Westpac and Afterpay, as well as various hyper-scaling international cryptocurrency companies and neobanks. Their recent Series A funding attracted $20 million and with new offices springing up internationally, their team will be on the hunt again for the right talent. In particular, Costello is on the lookout for more junior graduates who have the right blend of curiosity and technical know-how to support their broader business talent pipeline.
With Australia expected to need 6.5 million newly skilled and reskilled technology workers by 2025 (Amazon Web Services, 2021), many businesses are becoming more tactical with the who and why of hiring staff. One common obstacle the digital skills shortage presents is the inability to secure experienced mid-senior digital personnel. Hiring experienced people is becoming increasingly challenging, as demand for digital talent continues to rise beyond the supply of skilled people.
It was in this context that Simon pursued a previously unexplored pathway – recruiting new graduate talent. When searching for a UX Designer to join the team, he came across Jerry Tian, a recent graduate of Academy Xi’s UX UI Design Transform course. Given that customer experience is at the very heart of the FrankieOne brand, finding the right designer was an important decision.