European Hiring Trends – Spring 2012

May 30, 2012 - PRLog -- Welcome to Euro London’s European Hiring Trends Report. With offices in London as well as operations in Windsor, Manchester, Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Paris, Luxembourg and Zurich, we are in an ideal position to give you a snapshot of recruitment trends for multilingual staff across Europe.
The findings in this report reflect a mixed picture across Europe, though there are finally signs of at least some light at the end of the tunnel. In the first quarter of this year, the economy of the European Union as a whole has been stable, although some individual member states are facing austere times with debt deficits to take control of. Greece was hit hardest by its sovereign debt crisis almost defaulting on its obligations and only saved by a bailout of EU states led by Germany. However this has been cast into doubt with May election results seeing anti austerity parties being voted into parliament pledging to oppose any further cuts being accepted, even if these austerity measures are necessary for further funds to be transferred to Greece from other EU member states. Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland have also had to make measurable cuts to their national budget to reduce the strain on their economies; whilst many other EU member countries have positioned themselves for minimal growth in 2012.

The majority of sectors within our recruitment practices have remained stable, with growth in some sectors – namely sales, E-Commerce and technical roles as organisations focus on business development. In the UK we’re seeing stable growth among most sectors for the first quarter of 2012 with a growing demand for support roles, particularly within the import/export sector where businesses are trying to expand in to new markets and spread their exposure to changing economical climates of countries. Over Q1 Euro London has noted a 50% increase in jobs taken within this sector.

Our City office, which specialises in banking and financial markets, has seen a noticeable recruitment drive centred around equity markets, operations roles and regulatory and compliance auditors. In the Banking and Financial markets temporary and contract hires have significantly grown during quarter one, especially within operations and compliance as confidence returns to this recruitment solution post AWR.

We’ve also seen growth in the E-commerce sector in the UK with Tech City typifying current UK efforts to be at the forefront of the digital economy. The digital economy has also been particularly prevalent in our German offices where the E-Commerce sector has seen growth in online retail sales, price comparison sites and mobile application development. At Euro London we have seen a 66% increase in jobs taken within this sector over the first quarter. There’s also been a considerable recruitment drive in the technical development sector in Germany with experienced web developers being high in demand. In France there is also a high demand for multilingual IT specialists with experience in the technical sector and there is a considerable difference growing between experienced and non experienced IT candidate salaries.

Our offices in Switzerland saw a slow start to the year with recruitment picking up in the later part of the first quarter. Switzerland’s famous banking sector has been hit badly by the downturn and Zurich the hub of financial activity has found hiring a challenge. We are however experiencing continued high demand in the sales area as organisations look at boosting business development. In Luxembourg our offices have seen Steel, Telecommunications and Tourism stay important factors within Luxembourg’s economy, as well as growth in the legal sectors as companies headquarter themselves in Luxembourg to take advantage of Luxembourg’s generous corporate tax system.

Our offices around Europe have seen salaries generally remaining flat or rising in line with inflation, however benefits offered by companies are being cut back, instead just offering employees their basic salary.

Unfortunately we are still seeing lengthy hiring processes due to the difficulty of obtaining sign off for increases in permanent headcount with many consultants reporting that the process is now taking twice as long and therefore losing out on the best candidates – a trend that has continued since our last report.

Across Europe, language skills remain very much in demand - the most sought after languages being German, French, Dutch, English and Scandinavian languages.

As confidence in the economy recently hit by the Euro Zone crisis looks to stabilise. More businesses look to be increasing their permanent headcounts and so we predict a ‘right sizing’ of the market during 2012.  However, the Euro Zone crisis has made companies wary of expanding too fast due to some countries facing austerity and credit downgrades.

For the full report please visit >>>>> http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/european-hiring-trends-...