Several Companies Will Postpone Recruitment Until 2013
20 September 2012
Read by 3955 persons
Ali Serhani [Ali Serhani, associate consultant, Gesper Services RH]: I would say, it's a mixed bag. It's not that companies don't want to hire anymore, but everyone is waiting for more visibility. All the news about the global economic situation has a very negative impact on employers' morale.
Many companies prefer to hire people, if I may say so and the readers will excuse the term "Ready to work"!!! No need to train them or invest anything in training. They can't wait any longer.
Let me explain: Currently, companies, especially multinationals – and this is not out of meanness or bad intentions, let's be clear – want a quick return on investment when they recruit new employees, especially senior managers who are very expensive. For most multinationals, a recruitment must be justified not by 100%, but by 1000%. These companies have very strict instructions regarding cost optimization, especially since things are going very badly in their home countries.
Incidentally, several candidates, and not the least important ones, want to join solid national groups rather than multinationals. To our surprise at such a response, since the term "multinational" had always been on the lips of candidates, they told us that they did not want to find themselves unemployed overnight, because given the international economic situation, the parent company of a subsidiary based in Morocco could decide overnight to close down, compensate its employees and leave. Except that when you find yourself with people approaching fifty, therefore Seniors, what do you want them to do with only a check when they have monthly payments (house, children's schooling, etc.) that will only end in eternity. For seniors with hard-to-find skills, the problem does not arise, however, for example, what can a "classic" CFO in his fifties do when he is thanked overnight when the market is full of financial skills like CFOs and CFOs.
What are the predictions for the next four months? And regarding remuneration, what could you say in a very synthetic way?
Without being a fortune teller, the pace will be, I would say, average, until the end of the year. Companies will prefer to recruit internally, and it is only when it is impossible to find the perfect candidate among existing staff that they will turn to external recruitment, either directly through their HR department or via recruitment agencies. Several companies will postpone recruitment until 2013.
Salaries, on the other hand, will stagnate or fall, especially for jobs where stratospheric salaries have been found. So, no more "astronomical" salaries. Moreover, most executives with high salaries have been struggling for months to find a new job. To use the terminology used by an HR manager: "Their employability is hampered by the exorbitant salaries they have!"
2. What are the jobs that are in high demand?
To reiterate what I said earlier, I would say that the jobs that, by their missions, can allow a quick return on investment.
Among the most popular jobs: Job number 1 since always is sales and nothing but sales. Currently, good salespeople who sell and generate turnover are not easy to find. They are the most sought after and the best paid. Then come jobs where cost optimization is the raison d'être, such as logistics and purchasing. Then there are project managers in construction and industrial infrastructure. Finance professionals are also in demand, especially those who master IFRS standards.
Tax experts mastering the main aspects of international taxation are in high demand (they are almost non-existent on the market). Export managers, especially to the African continent. This is the only new aspect of this profession. Companies are looking for perfect connoisseurs of the Anglophone African market. We found some in London, but let's say they are very expensive. Jurists specializing in international contracts, but with more than proven international experience in the context of concluding very large markets. The market is clearly suffering from a lack of this resource.
Finally, last but not least, regarding HR, HR/HR managers are needed who are perfectly familiar with the administrative side of the function and who master all the tax and social provisions of the function (cost optimization has passed through here). So, the time when each HR candidate only talked about HR development and career management and saw personnel administration only as a subordinate task reserved for the back office of the function is over.
Finally, to conclude, and it is no longer necessary to remind you, all jobs require perfect mastery of English. It is no longer an asset, but a normality. For example, 80% of the interviews conducted at Gesper Services are in English!
Interview conducted by Nadia Dref.
Lematin.ma
Published on September 16, 2012.
Posted online on September 20, 2012.
