BUSINESS
Recruitment
TIME FOR A JOB CHANGE? There is increasing demand in Luxembourg for English fluency and Anglophone country qualifications, say recruiters. But has the Grand Duchy’s employment market really rebounded? Text: Aaron Grunwald — Photos: David Laurent/Wide
After a few rough years, recruiters remain cautiously optimistic but do say the Grand Duchy’s job market is perking up. Those focused on Englishspeaking roles say there is ever more interest in the language, as well as increased specialisation, both in terms of what employers are looking for and in terms of recruitment firms themselves. “A lot of people are talking about a huge increase in jobs opening in the market, but that’s not the case,” says Sinéad O’Donnell, co-founder of DO Recruitment Advisors. “A lot of the jobs that are opening are replacements. There are very, very few newly created roles. [It] may feel like there’s been a pickup, but the recruitment process is much longer. We’ve had some
DATE LINE April - May 2011
recruitments that take four to six months” for senior roles, which means the same positions may linger on job boards for weeks. Nevertheless, Darren Robinson, director at Badenoch & Clark in Luxembourg, reckons it is a good time for job changes for both sides of the equation. “For the first time in a long time, people are more comfortable leaving their current employers than they were 18 to 24 months ago, when nobody was really sure whether it was the right moment to change. Now people are feeling more comfortable that if they change, they’ll still be employed in six months’ time.” Robinson admits that a large portion of current recruitment in Luxembourg is driven by corporate
EU CUTS STEEL FINES APR The European Commission reduced price fixing fines for 17 European steel companies, after they complained they were unable to pay. ArcelorMittal’s fine was cut by 80% from €230 million to just under €48 million.
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restructuring, with job changes as a result of change not growth. REPLACEMENT ROLES O’Donnell adds that employers have exact profi les in mind. “Last year we had lots of redundancies… now [companies] have opened two or three replacement roles, where they need the skill set.” She explains that a few years ago, “You’d have a lot of general roles,” while today’s open jobs are geared towards those with particular expertise within, for example, risk management, legal or accounting. “The more generalist profiles? We don’t have so many opportunities for them at the moment. It is very, very skills specific.”
INFLATION RISES AGAIN APR Consumer inflation rose to 3.7% in March, according to STATEC. This means that inflation accelerated for the fourth month in a row, with high oil prices mainly to blame. The cost of petroleum products increased 20% over the past year.
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MERGED BANK UP BGL BNP Paribas reAPR ported a “steep rise in consolidated net profit” of €277 million in 2010, compared to €6.2 million in 2009. The jump is mainly due to former BNP Paribas Luxembourg’s business, which merged with former Fortis assets last year.
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26 - DELANO - May 2011
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05.05.2011 12:51:28 Uhr