How a business can find a CEO, and job seekers can find stable work and a hig...

ayshakhatunasha

In recent years, the Belarusian labor market has seen a reduction in the number of employed people and a shortage of personnel in certain areas of activity. Accordingly, businesses need to make additional efforts and investments to find qualified specialists.

Alla Isaeva, founder of the consulting company “Administrative Resource”, told the analytical resource primepress.by about the trends that are typical for the job seekers and employers market, how to increase the chances of finding an ideal employer and where to find an experienced specialist.

How a business can find a CEO, and job seekers can find stable work and a high salary. Photo 1
— 2024 has brought a clear trend for companies — the labor market has become a job seeker's market: the lack of personnel allows hired workers to dictate the terms. Is this true?
— Yes, many colleagues talk and write about the job seeker's market. For me, it is not so obvious. By the way, the index rabota.by defines the level of competition for jobs as moderate with high demand for blue-collar workers, specialists in sales and service, personnel management, senior and middle management and a decrease in demand for specialists in the field of marketing, advertising, information technology, insurance. There is no clear answer to the question of what the current labor market is like — the employer's or the job seeker's market. The situation is heterogeneous and depends on many factors.

— Who are employers looking for now?
— I will appeal to the statistics of our projects and say that in 2023, businesses were especially in need of CEOs, as well as commercial and development directors, CTOs, CFOs, HRDs, and CMOs. We note the demand for sales department heads and high-level sales managers, chief accountants, and KAMs. Top management-level applicants and highly qualified specialists, whom we search for, are highly sought-after personnel regardless of fluctuations in the labor market. As a rule, such people are not actively searching, and if they are ready to change jobs, then most often through referral hiring, professional communities, or specialized social platforms. The number of active resumes of such applicants in relation to others on job sites is very limited.

— What role do professional recruiting agencies play in this situation and can companies find the right employee on their own in these conditions?
— In any balance of power on the labor market, the relationship between the employer and the applicant is always about compromise and mutually beneficial agreements. If an agreement is reached, people go to work together. With a tough, dictating position of either party, as a rule, negotiations reach a dead end virtual phone number service or are terminated. In the selection of a specialist through a recruiting agency, professional recruiters act as negotiators/mediators in the client-candidate relationship and in the overwhelming majority of cases lead the process into a constructive direction.

It is better to entrust the search for relevant candidates for a vacancy to professional recruiters: be it recruiters from the company's internal HR department or an external recruiting agency. The right candidate will be found. We are ready to join the selection project at any stage if necessary.

Many employers are realizing the strategic benefits of working with professional recruiting agencies. The combined efforts of external recruiters and internal HR ensure a balanced distribution of resources and costs, allowing HR specialists to focus on onboarding, training, and developing employees, while recruiters from recruiting agencies provide a pool of highly qualified candidates.

Our agency's flagship service is direct search for C-managers and rare specialists who reach efficiency metrics in the shortest possible time. Prompt and effective selection of such personnel is a matter of competitive advantage for the employer. For businesses, our agency becomes an integral partner in the selection of such personnel. Approximately 90% of clients come to us on recommendation and more than 85% repeat.

— What competence distinguishes a recruiting agency from a specialized specialist in a company, what can it do that an individual HR cannot do?
— Industry expertise in specific areas of the economy, such as manufacturing or the real sector (industry, agriculture, transport, etc.) and services (logistics, trade, financial services, etc.) gives us a competitive advantage in finding candidates with the necessary skills, especially in niche areas. We specialize in direct search — we proactively approach the specialists we need and negotiate possible career prospects and a transition to work for our client.



In our company, the selection cycle includes assistance in forming a profile for a vacancy, search, assessment, support of the negotiation process with the candidate and passing the probationary period in the company. We share responsibility with our client for the adaptation of the applicant and his successful entry into the company, and also assume the risks in case of unforeseen changes both on the part of the employer and the candidate (for example, a change in the candidate's place of residence). If the parties terminate the employment relationship, we replace this specialist at our own expense. Unfortunately, no one is immune from unexpected changes, but our search and selection practices are aimed at anticipating and minimizing them.