Executive employment: recruitment difficulties at record levels, according to Apec

The trend has been perceptible since the start of the war in Ukraine and is confirmed in the third quarter: companies are a little less inclined to recruit executives. According to the latest barometer from the Association for Executive Employment (Apec), published on Monday, intentions to recruit executives are down slightly with 10% of companies planning to hire at least one, against 13 % at the second.

And just like the previous quarter , this shift in hiring intentions is still not sufficient to resolve tensions in terms of recruitment. Quite the contrary. “Recruitment difficulties are not drying up and are reaching record levels: 84% of companies anticipate them for the third quarter, a level never before reached”. In fact, in the previous quarter, 78% said they were facing such difficulties.

“It’s not a fatality”

“These difficulties in recruiting today represent a real threat to the economic development of companies. This is not, however, a fatality. There is a pool of skills available who aspire to work, for example among seniors, but also among young graduates”, argues the general manager of the association, Gilles Gateau. In fact, the volume of job offers published on apec.fr remained “very well oriented in the second quarter in view of its level before the health crisis (+18% compared to the 2nd quarter of 2019)”, indicates the ‘Apec.

Another lesson from this barometer, despite a slight rise in concern caused by the turbulent international situation, “the intentions of mobility of executives are maintained. According to Apec, 34% of executives intend to take steps to change companies within twelve months.

Concern for salaries

Finally, and without great surprise, wages and purchasing power remain at the heart of the concerns of executives. “Asked in August about their future resolutions, 49% want to increase their remuneration even though 33% are not satisfied with their current salary”, underline the authors of this barometer.

In fact, “inflation and purchasing power raise the issue of salaries with acuteness, and executives, like all employees, are not immune to these concerns. Candidates could become even more demanding on remuneration, accentuating the recruitment tensions already at work, ”anticipates Apec. This barometer was produced from a telephone survey of a sample of 1,000 companies.

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