Full Week 8 Market Signals report showing winners: Benelux, Netherlands and Losers: Southern Europe, Spain
Market Signals – where do they come from?
We started by monitoring the number of LinkedIn job ads in 18 European countries in Week 13 of 2020 (mid-March) – and extended our observations to ultimately 38 countries in Europe since Week 15. This allows us to measure a KPI that gives quite a good feel of the overall trend on the global job market.
Career Angels analyze the collected figures and complement the quantitative data with detailed and personal statements & insights of CEOs, HR Directors, investors, board members, candidates and headhunters that we know personally. We observe if and what kind of trends there are to leverage them into better candidate management & more effective job search methods.
These are not usual times, so we decided to share our market signals by the end of each week. If the country / context is important, we’ll add them. Otherwise, we’ll keep it general for confidentiality.
This is not a full version of this week’s report. View the complete presentation here:
We’ve continued reaching out to CEOs, HR Directors, investors, board members and candidates that we know personally, to take the temperature. Below you’ll find their shortened quotes in no particular order.
However, we’ll start with a KPI that gives a quite good feel of the overall trend on the job market:
Market Signals – the number of LinkedIn job ads
Note: some job ads might have been taken off LinkedIn, not because the recruitment process was put on hold or canceled, but because they are costly, especially if you have dozens of them. A company might have wanted to simply cut costs and move to more cost effective alternatives. Local job portals are often offering substantial discounts.
| Initial list of 18 countries | Sorted |
 |  |
| Extended list to 38 countries | Sorted |
 |  |
Note: the numbers are collected at the beginning of each week, on Monday afternoon. In the full version of this week’s report you can find separate data for regions such as: Visegrad, Baltics, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Iberia, SEE, BENELUX, DACH, Western Europe and EU.
Worth mentioning
First, an overview of the indices:
Index18: This week, 9 countries published more LinkedIn job ads than in Week 13 of 2020: Estonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Bulgaria, Belgium, Romania, Croatia and Hungary.
The European Union: In Week 8, the European Union noted a -12.15% decrease: 472,967 fewer LinkedIn job ads were published than in the initial Week 17.
Winners of the week: When it comes to regions, the winning result of Week 8 belongs to Benelux: we observed an increase of +25.31% since last week. Country-wise, Netherlands is the winner with an increase of +48.18%.
Losers of the week: The lowest result out of all the regions this week was noted in Southern Europe: a -1.30% decrease compared to last week. Worst country result: Spain with a -9.08% decrease.
Collected Quotes from CEOs and HR Directors
Banking: In order to create space for business development we decided to focus on the new technology sector – business services, IT and e-commerce.
Electronics: We closed 2020 with a record in sales despite COVID-19. Our turnover has increased by 140% in 4 years and we employ almost twice as many people as in 2016.
Logistics & Supply Chain: On a business note 2020 was surprisingly good. We exceeded our sales expectations in CEE, but also in countries like Spain or Italy. Our services (tracking supply chains) worked very well in industries like FMCG, pharma, e-commerce & logistics.
Banking: The bank I’m employed in was supposed to be sold, but the transaction was frozen because of the pandemic. However, it will probably happen in one or two years.
Useful observations & tips for candidates from one of our contacts
Head of Talent Acquisition / International public organization
Before CV-19, sometimes we’d have only 20 applicants for a post. Now, there’s a massive increase. For some roles it’s double the amount of candidates – for HR roles, even more! A recent posting received 50 applicants within 12 hours! I can see that online interviews are more stressful for candidates because of all the technical challenges. Consequently, their performance is different. The overall candidate experience is also different – not worse, just different.
I still see two struggles for now and beyond CV-19: to formulate proper remote working policies, and to design appropriate digital onboarding processes.
About the future: everything will depend on the success of developing a vaccine. However, there are definitely elements that are here to stay: remote work if physical presence is not required (it currently saves me 5 hours per week, 20 hours per month on commuting – why would I voluntarily want to go back?) and online interviews!
Tips for candidates:
- Cover the basics: our ATS “enforces” as complete applications as possible. Having said that, it still surprises me that approximately 30% of the candidates still don’t get the absolute basics right!
- Don’t apply to everything. Constant rejection affects your motivation. Keep applying to the job ads where you see a fit and don’t give up!
If you want to discuss your professional situation confidentially or if you are considering hiring Career Angels for support, contact Bichl.Sandra@CareerAngels.eu who will personally match you with the most appropriate consultant. For efficiency, add your CV and availability for a Skype call.
Want to contribute? Email your signals to Sandra (everything will be kept confidential).
Follow our Market Signals page for daily content.
Market Signals published thus far:
In 2021:
Week 6
Week 5
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
In 2020:
