By Montse Mateos.
Originally published in Expansión y Empleo.
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Technological profiles are the most in demand throughout Spain, especially in Madrid and Catalonia, to work in banking and services. services. In Levante and Andalusia, the food and tourism sectors offer the most job opportunities for technicians. tourism are the sectors with the most job opportunities for technicians.
This week Línea Directa announced the hiring of 450 people over the next three years at its headquarters in Tres Cantos (Madrid). ‘We plan to hire 150 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates) for customer service, although qualifications are not required in all cases, and the rest for the commercial area. Remuneration is established according to the position and for all employees there is a variable, ranging from 10% to 40%, linked to the achievement of objectives,’ explains Mar Garre, director of people and internal communication at the insurer.
Madrid and Barcelona are the provincial capitals that account for most of the qualified job offers available. of the qualified job offers available, because that is where the main companies operating in our country are based. are the headquarters of the main large companies operating in our country. The experts consulted for the preparation of this report agree that there are no major differences in the demand for qualified that there are no major differences in the demand for technology experts in the autonomous technology experts by Autonomous Community: ‘It is a profile that both large companies and SMEs require large companies as well as SMEs and start-ups, and we foresee that this will be the case for some time due to the scarcity will be the case for some time due to the scarcity of available talent’, explains José Castellanos, Managing Director of Page Group. Diego San Román, director of business solutions at Dominion Digital, adds that ‘professionals who understand how to optimise processes thanks to technological tools are needed in all technological tools are necessary in all companies’. He points out that multinationals are the pioneers in requesting these technical profiles. Madrid and Catalonia account for 60% of this demand’.
The trends
Another snapshot of the state of the labour market for juniors and seniors is provided by Manuel Solís, commercial director of ManpowerGroup. offered by Manuel Solís, commercial director of ManpowerGroup. He estimates that the service sector will continue to generate the most contracts, ‘fundamentally because of the summer season. However, these However, these hires are starting to be generated beyond coastal tourism, mainly due to urban tourism in the main cities. Logistics and transport is the sector that is registering very high recruitment figures’. recruitment figures’. Solís is concerned about the low recruitment in industry: ‘Which, in an exporting country, leads us to think that the economies to which we export have been economies to which we export have slowed down’. As for the As for the evolution of hiring figures for the coming months, he expects a slowdown a slowdown: ‘The number of contracts is up by 2.8% year-on-year, but it has fallen by 2.8%. year-on-year, but is down 50% compared to the same period last year. same period last year’.
The Adecco Monitor of Job Opportunities and Job Satisfaction Monitor completes this outlook. According to this analysis, the creation of skilled jobs has been very varied among the different regions. varied between the different regions: Navarre leads the growth, with a year-on-year increase of 15.1%, followed by Catalonia (+15.1%), with a year-on-year increase of 15.1%, followed by Catalonia (+9.9%) and the Canary Islands (+7.8%). Canary Islands (+7.8%). On the other hand, Cantabria and the Community of Madrid are the only regions in which this figure has fallen. only in which this employment has decreased (-0.6% and -0.3%, respectively).
Apart from these general trends, there are certain nuances certain nuances by Autonomous Community that can help to fine-tune your job search, whether you want to find a job near you or in your whether you want to find a job near your home, or move to another province in search of a job offer. home, or move to another province in search of a job offer that fits your professional and career goals. that fits in with your professional and career objectives.
Andalusia
Tourism is the driving force behind employment in this autonomous community, where Castellanos Castellanos also highlights an increase in the demand for technicians in the food sector, specifically in the fruit and vegetable in the food sector, specifically in the fruit and vegetable sector, ‘in which more and more production and quality production and quality managers are increasingly in demand, especially in organic fruit and vegetables. especially in organic fruit and vegetables, where highly qualified profiles are required for the processing and sale of organic products. qualified profiles are required for the production and sale of these products’. Noelia de Lucas, Commercial Director of Hays Spain, points out that in Andalusia the most in-demand juniors are technicians, ‘especially engineers with languages and IT engineers with languages and IT profiles in more industrialised areas such as Seville and Malaga, where industrialised areas such as Seville and Malaga, where there are two large technological technology hubs linked to foreign investment’.
Catalonia
Industry, retail, tourism and banking are the sectors that stand out from Page Personnel in this area. ‘Controllers, financial managers and programmers specialised in big data are some of the programmers specialised in big data are some of the profiles most in demand. in demand. In this last group of technology professionals, there has been an increase in an increase in requests from SMEs’, points out Castellanos, who points out that in Catalonia Castellanos, who points out that in Catalonia, 75% of new hires are permanent. is permanent. De Lucas sees a great demand for ecommerce or digital profiles, ‘for example, SEO or SEM specialists, ecommerce managers, chief marketing officers and social media strategists’.
This area also has other areas that are driving employment, such as engineering, where Sap technicians, PLC programmers and robotics engineers are sought; auto, which requires quality managers and senior quality engineers; FMCG, which needs quality engineers; FMCG, which needs junior and senior sales people, key account managers account manager, area sales manager, brand manager, product manager, commercial director and export manager. In the automotive sector, Leticia de la Herrán, CEO of Antal International, also highlights the same profiles, to which she adds the same profiles, to which she adds technicians for the hotel and tourism sectors. tourism.
Madrid
Like the Catalan the Catalan region, the Madrid region accounts for a significant part of the demand for technical technical profiles. In the IT area, De Lucas mentions programmers Java .Net, PHP, android/iOS and systems technicians with less than 3 years’ experience. than 3 years of experience. Among the seniors, he highlights CTO, IT business partner and data manager. Data analytics, digital manager and ecommerce manager are the professionals identified in the digital field. Finance, human resources, consumer goods and retail are the other sectors that also generate sectors that also generate jobs in Madrid, above all, for the commercial sector. Castellanos explains that in this community there is a great variety in the most sought-after profiles, but highlights the predominance of corporate predominance of corporate directors compared to other regions. He also makes reference to the upturn in the tourism sector in the last couple of years with the demand for temporary couple of years with the demand for temporary staff, especially coinciding with holiday periods. holiday periods.
País Vasco
The industry and manufacturing, which have always attracted professionals to the north, now coexist now coexist with the tourism sector and new technologies, companies that also demand qualified profiles to work, especially in the province of Vizcaya. especially in the province of Vizcaya. Castellanos assures that 90% of the of the recruitments managed by Page Group in the Basque Country are of an indefinite nature. The demand comes from companies in all sectors of the economy,’ says Castellanos. ‘The demand comes from companies of all sizes, large, SMEs and start-ups. and also start-ups’. From the Hays office in Bilbao, they provide a service to the entire the whole community where, according to De Lucas, engineering profiles are the most in demand. are the most in demand. As for juniors, he refers to maintenance technicians, SAT technicians, assembly technicians and warehouse technicians/managers. warehouse technicians/managers. Among the seniors, he mentions quality quality managers, plant managers with a strong focus on production and project managers. managers.
Valencia
The Valencian Community is also one of the most attractive destinations for engineers, among whom De Lucas identifies electronics engineers, ‘because of their link to industry 4.0’. with Industry 4.0’. Other sectors attracting candidates to Levante are logistics and construction, ‘where there is beginning to be a greater demand for site managers’, adds for site managers’, adds the commercial director of Hays. Castellanos Castellanos adds that this demand comes from the food sector, where there is an an increase in the demand for export managers, without leaving aside the automotive automotive sector, where he notes ‘the progressive digitisation of many production digitalisation of many production processes, for example, everything related to industrial maintenance’. related to industrial maintenance’. One of the novelties that the General Manager of the Page Group points out is the demand for laboratory technicians, researchers and laboratory technicians, researchers and also managerial positions coming from the health sector. from the healthcare sector.
Rest of Spain
Logistics and industry are the sectors that Castellanos highlights in the Aragonese community, with a strong demand for technical and technological profiles. ‘In the industrial field, they are looking for experts in quality and process improvement with two or three years of experience’. Page Group opened an office in Galicia a year and a half ago, and Castellanos points out that they have detected an increase in applications from candidates in the automotive sector. ‘In the north, the demand for profiles from the IT and logistics sector stands out. Ninety per cent of the contracts are permanent and, unlike other autonomous communities, a minimum of two or three years‘ experience is required,’ concludes Castellanos.
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The hunt is on for banking and digital health managers
SMEs and start-ups have become the new clients of the main headhunting firms operating in our country. What was once anecdotal is beginning to take on a certain relevance. Smaller companies – let’s not forget that they account for more than 98% of the business fabric in Spain – require executives with management experience and technological knowledge, a mix that in some cases cannot be found by using social networks or networking. In any case, in these cases, and also in the case of large corporations, the demand for managers comes from the places where their decision-making centres are located. Luis Truchado, managing partner of EuroGalenus – a headhunter firm – says that Madrid is the city where the main financial institutions and service centres with the greatest demand for executives are located: ‘The major consultancy firms, auditing and law firms, advertising agencies and public relations agencies have their headquarters in the capital and are the main applicants for this talent’. Other destinations looking for experienced professionals to fill top-level positions are Catalonia and the Basque Country, ‘with a greater weight of the industrial and manufacturing sectors’, Truchado points out.
Companies related to leisure and tourism demand managers in Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia and Valencia, with the exception of the Balearic Islands, ‘which also has a large number of hotel chains, tour operators and airlines operating in our country’, he explains. One of the areas that Truchado highlights is biotechnology, which is very active in Catalonia, Madrid and the Basque Country, but also in Andalusia and other emerging regions: ‘The traditional pharmaceutical industry and centred in Madrid and Barcelona has evolved towards biotechnology, a field that, increasingly, demands managers, especially with technological knowledge to work in companies that operate in the biotechnology and digital health sector and less dependent on the two large capitals’.
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