Slovakia

Slovakia Slovakia

Lubica Krajcovicova Branch Manager, Cpl Slovakia lubica.krajcovicova@cpljobs.sk

Regional challenges in the labour market - Slovakia

Market response to the challenges in 2022

The market in 2022 was heavily in uenced by the war in Ukraine, high in ation, and energy prices. This caused a lot of uncertainty and fears among candidates and employers. We expect this uncertainty to continue in 2023, further underlined with awaited high in ation. Despite that, the unemployment rate in Slovakia was continuously decreasing, reaching 6.1% in September 2022, compared to the unemployment rate of 7.1% in September 2021. The unemployment rate is expected to get under 6% in 2023.

During 2022, 115 000 jobs were advertised overall, while almost 40% of them were in the Bratislava region, followed by Trnava, Nitra and Trenčín. Almost 40% of all open jobs required secondary education.

Overall, number of foreign workers in Slovakia was gradually increasing, reaching 83 000 in September 2022. Most of them were from Ukraine (31 000), followed by employees from Romania, Czech Republic, and Hungary. On the other hand, the trend in the Shared Service Centres was the opposite. The number of foreign employees decreased to 9% compared to 11% working in Shared Service Centres in 2021. We expect that Shared Service Centres will have to compete for the talent also in 2023, especially in the field of IT, finance, and multilingual specialist jobs.

Motivating candidates is key

One of the biggest challenges for employers in Slovakia will be the candidate shortage. Many companies will be struggling to nd skilled and experienced workforce. Therefore, we think the cooperation with a strong partner, like Cpl, will be even more important than ever before. The added value in helping to nd the right talent is enormous. Nowadays, it is not sufficient anymore for the companies to post a job and wait for CVs. Candidates need to be motivated to change jobs - they need a lot of details before they even consider it. As we know our clients very well, we can explain what their vision, company culture, and working teams are like. We can tell them much more about the role and the working environment than they can nd on the company webpage or in the job description. We listen to them and discuss their individual situation and potential reasons for leaving. From our experience, what works most for candidates to consider changing jobs is to understand what challenges there are for them in the new role, what they can learn and what impact they will have.

Apart from that, other frequent reasons for leaving a job in 2023 will be salary, not feeling recognized or appreciated, unrealistic expectations regarding performance, bad relationships, lack of work-life balance, and incompetent management.

In 2023 the sectors with the highest demand for candidates with the university education will be IT, finance & accounting, management, and administration. Most needed positions in these sectors will be Software Developers, IT Analysts, Finance Analysts & Accountants, and administrative workers.

When it comes to exibility, it will remain one of the most important factors for candidates when considering a job change. Working from home, flexible working hours, and work-life balance will be the standard they will expect from their future employers.

We can see that many companies are o ering similar bene ts. The challenge for employers in 2023 will be how to di erentiate themselves from their competitors. Some companies are already trying to implement non-standard benefits such as unlimited vacation, a 4-day week, or fully remote work.

Winning the talent

During 2022, we were experiencing an increasing trend in the number of rejected o ers. Many employers now realize how di cult it is to nd experienced candidates and therefore they value their employees more, especially the senior ones. They are more open to satisfy their needs and create the environment where they feel happy and recognized. In 2023, winning the talent will be one of the biggest challenges for all employers. To win the best talent, we recommended our clients to improve their hiring process. The more efficient and quicker the process is, the bigger chance to win the talent. Communication with candidates and their treatment during the hiring process is very important, too.

During 2022, Cpl was working as a trusted partner with many companies from multiple sectors. We saw what our clients struggled with and what their challenges were. We were happy to face and overcome these challenges together with them and we are looking forward to the cooperation in 2023.

Most in demand

Most in-demand programming languages:

• C# • Javascript • Java • Phyton

The most desirable roles in IT:

• Developers • Security Engineers • System Administrators • DevOps Engineers

The most desirable benefits in IT:

• Remote working setup • Freelance option of cooperation • Flexible working hours • State of the art technologies • Career growth

The most desirable roles in Corporate Finance:

• BI Data Analyst • Finance Controller • GL Accountant preferably with IFRS or US GAAP • Financial Market and Investment portfolio Specialist • Finance roles with German and French language