No more massive layoffs expected; 40 percent of firms in survey expect to hire this year as economy slowly improves.
If you lost your job last year in the recession, and if none of the CVs you sent out yielded an acceptable job offer, you may very well be feeling blue now. But get over it – and fast.
Human resource companies say that now is the time to intensify the job hunt. A new wave of hiring is expected this spring as Ukraine gradually eases out of recession. Experts cite surveys that suggest roughly 40 percent of businesses in Ukraine are planning to recruit new personnel this year.
With official unemployment levels at nearly 10 percent, competition for jobs is fierce. To win out, recruiters say the hungriest job seekers need to prepare for interviews more intensely than ever before. But, they warn, don’t expect pre-crisis level salaries or benefits.
The good news is that “layoffs are not anticipated” in the short run, said Antonina Ermolenko, project team leader for BrainSource International, a leading human resource company. “Rather, recruiters are looking forward to spring. The hope is that there will be a thaw, with more work on the market.”
Government figures suggest that the worst of the recession is behind Ukraine. The nation’s unemployment rate appears to have leveled off. After rising sharply from 6.5 percent at the end of 2008, it stabilized at 9 percent or so by the end September in seasonally adjusted terms.
“This is clearly a positive development, as in some other European countries, unemployment continues growing,” said Olena Bilan, chief economist at Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital. “This is just another indicator that the economy is emerging from the recession and that companies are once again hiring personnel.”
Optimistic signals can be also found in a recent market survey conducted by Ernst & Young, one of the world’s Big Four accounting and auditing giants. About 22 percent of leading Ukrainian businesses surveyed by Ernst & Young said they plan to increase personnel, mainly middle managers and manual workers.
“It is an important sign for the whole market,” said Olga Gorbanovskaya, partner in Ukraine for Ernst & Young and head of the group’s human capital department. “At the beginning of 2009, the majority of companies could not even think of hiring new people. Most of them only postponed recruitment until better times or even cut staff to optimize their expenditures. Now, businesses are restoring their projects and building up their teams.”
Data provided by Hudson, a leading specialist in the field, is even more optimistic. According to its recent survey, up to 41 percent of companies are planning to recruit new staff in 2010. Half of the companies will also fill vacancies that arise, while only 5 percent of polled market players said layoffs are in the works.
According to Hudson, demand will be high for sales and marketing (28 percent of respondents), information technologies (14 percent), lawyers (12 percent), logistics (11 percent), finance and accounting (10 percent). Top management positions, in high demand last year, are no longer among the top list of vacancies.
“The year 2009 was a crisis year for all business spheres, and in order to stabilize the situation, companies changed management boards quite intensively. There was a need for ‘anti-crisis’ managers,” Hudson consultant Uliana Stasiuk said. “The year 2010 is seen as a year of stabilization. Therefore, changes in top management are not a primary focus. Companies are preparing for some business growth […] and are willing to strengthen core business functions such as sales & marketing.”
Ruslan Gromoviuk, partner for Talent Advisors, admitted that certain spheres frozen last year – such as investment banking – are showing signs of life again. “This business is very pragmatic,” he said. “They know how to count money more than others. If they hire new people, it means that there is enough work for them for the next several months already.”
In another bit of good news, almost half of companies are planning to increase salaries by 15 percent or so, about the expected annual rate of inflation, according to the Ernst & Young survey. But the increases still don’t compensate for the reduced purchasing power after Ukraine’s currency tumbled more than 40 percent – from Hr 5 to roughly Hr 8 per $1 – when the global financial crisis struck in late 2008.
While vacancies are on the rise, it’s still seen as an employer’s market. The fast-moving consumer goods sector has taken notice, said Alexander Golushko, managing partner for Personnel Executive Recruitment. “Before the crisis, each company in this sector had 15-30 vacancies permanently. In the first half of 2009, there was one, two or even zero vacancies Today, there are two to five vacancies on average. But for each, about 200-500 phone call inquiries are made, much more than the 20-50 calls for such offerings made last year.”
For job-seekers who don’t get hired, recruiters jokingly advise them to open their own businesses. This is what some successful human resources experts did after losing their jobs last year, said BrainSource International’s Antonina Ermolenko.
“A former HR manager at the World Bank office in Kyiv opened a pub in Kyiv,” Ermolenko said. “Another serious and experienced HR director is sitting at home and writing books. If it comes from the heart, everything will help and everything will work out.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected].
