A Recruiter's Outlook at High-Level Hiring 2007

An interview with Joerg Keplinger, Managing Director Williams & Partner

Which industries will do a lot of hiring at the executive level in 2007?

That's hard to say, a more detailed answer you might get from a macro

economist and I will give you my view: The financial sector or IT & Telco

have an all time high as its these sectors are still not completely consolidated

yet and the structures are in the move. The Real Estate and Construction sector

is booming once on the commercial side and second due to the increasing wealth

residential is booming as well and all parties in the construction, developer

finance or agents are profiting from that. As long as foreign direct investments

flow to and stay in the country and don't move more eastwards and the

financial sector and politics discover that that the country's economy and

growth is based on the small and medium enterprises and therefore will create

more favorable conditions for entrepreneurs and start ups then growth is

guaranteed for the next years and new working places therefore hiring as well.

What types of executives are expected to be most in demand?

I hope the good ones will be demanded and be successful. Who are the good ones?

I am thinking here more about the ethical side of the business. The good ones

for me who win without cheating, bribing or using tricks, and who are ready to

take the longer way if it's the right one even the shorter one would be much

easier. I am trying to base my judgments on executives on facts, people who

brought measurable and comparable results and are able to lead a business and

showing initiative alone is not enough in the private sector.

Who will pay much more to executives next year compared with 2006?

That's a question you have to ask the people who make the salary strategies

and hiring decisions in each company and will show up in the statistics next

year. That's very individual and also depends which talent is missing in a

company.

What job-search advice should executives particularly bear in mind

in 2007?

A general advice is hard to give and I would say as the local executives market

is already very well developed I would give an individual advise. Think about

what you want, if you get an offer if its worth going for it, does the company

fit to me and what's the price I will pay for it. Does double income and no

free time bring me the satisfaction I want in life? Will my family agree with

the step? Where is the point I am on my top and where I stop developing meaning

in a sense where I don't get any more feedback because all others are

subordinate and will there still be a learning curve, fun or personal growth. It

can be very cold of you sitting on the top so choose the peak well you want to

sit on.

What personal attribute is getting more emphasis when evaluating

executive-level candidates these days?

Let me think about it are there so many? Loyalty? Integrity? Experience?

Achievements? Leader or manager? The private person? Its never only one alone

it's a bundle of characteristics and that's what's makes hiring such

a complex thing and at the end its mostly a compromise to make.