Because of how we work when supporting our clients, we have a very unique “glimpse” into how over 5000 Executive Search companies and almost 20 000 decision makers react – the majority of which being located in Europe; and we collect and analyze how they respond; and we observe if and what kind of trends there are to leverage them into better career management & more effective job search methods.
Before there are trends, there are signals which we usually keep to ourselves. But these are not usual times, so we decided to share those 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:
Number of published job ads on LinkedIn
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. Some local job portals are offering substantial discounts.
| Initial list of 18 countries | Sorted |
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| Extended list to 38 countries | Sorted |
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Note: the numbers are collected at the beginning of each week, on Monday afternoon. In the full version of the 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, 6 countries published more job ads on LinkedIn than in Week 13: Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, and Latvia.
Index36: 53% of the countries published more job ads in Week 36 than in Week 15, which is the same result as last week. Since last week, 58% of the countries saw an increase in the number of published job ads.
The European Union: In Week 37, the European Union noted a +12.29% increase (+478,310 job ads) compared to the initial Week 17. On the other hand, since last week, the numbers dropped by -1.34%.
Winners of the week: The winning region of Week 37 is Northern Europe. 4,571 more job ads were published on LinkedIn than in the initial Week 15 (4.67%). In terms of countries, the best result this week was noted in Albania. The country experienced a +21.93% increase in the number of published job ads on LinkedIn compared to last week.
Losers of the week: DACH was the only region that noted a decrease in Week 37. Since last week, 142,707 job ads were taken off LinkedIn (a decrease of -6.57%). The worst result among the countries we observe was noted in Ireland. 21,825 job ads disappeared from LinkedIn, which is a -45.06% decrease compared to the initial Week 15.
Collected Quotes from CEOs and HR Directors:
The vast majority of executives are with market leaders in their respective industries. By default, the board members are members of local boards; if not, we’ll indicate the exception.
Industry: The company suffered financially due to big investments in the US. Because of that, the owner decided to take over the role of Europe CEO and manage operations himself.
IT: Our industry has been affected quite heavily. Only about 50% of plans have been realized, and that was still the best result in the region. Companies’ strengths turned into limitations in the current situation. A few higher positions were terminated.
Energy: The pandemic caused delays in decision making and carrying out tasks. Our main contractor experienced serious financial problems which triggered a chain reaction – subcontractors and suppliers didn’t get paid.
FMCG: All recruitment processes have been frozen. Sales are down and decisions have been made to not hire anyone new right now.
Cinema Industry: Our industry is among the most affected. Cinemas were closed for a long time, afterwards, they were opened with huge limitations. We’re lacking product – many movies were moved onto VOD platforms; we’re screening movies that came out months ago. The numbers are not looking good. The situation of employees is very uncertain – nobody knows where they’re going to be in a few months.
Real Estate: Sales have grown significantly – there is an even bigger demand for our services. We’ve been receiving more inquiries and with that came a lot more work.
Telco: Our industry is safe. The pandemic actually made our situation better, thanks to the growth of remote sales and e-commerce.
Payment: Our business is performing very well – above expectations, given those difficult times.
And some candidate quotes:
Project Manager / Manufacturing: The business is doing fine and I am exploring internal options of advancement. I have also started applying externally, as I’m interested in consulting work. Unfortunately, due to CV-19 the Big Four has frozen their recruitment processes.
Digital Marketing Manager / Media: The entertainment industry has been heavily affected by CV-19. Still, there weren’t any reductions, as we quickly switched over to remote work, which I don’t mind at all. The job market slowed down at first, but recently I’ve been noticing more attractive job offers in Digital Marketing.
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.
If you want to contribute, email your signals to Sandra (everything will be kept confidential).
Market Signals published thus far:
Week 36
Week 35
Week 34
Week 33
Week 32
Week 31
Week 30
Week 29
Week 28
Week 27
Week 26
Week 25
Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20
Week 19
Week 18
Week 17
Week 16
Week 15
Week 14
Week 13
