IT and finance officers most wanted staff
The Greek services sector remains the largest source of demand for business staff, followed by industry and commerce, according to the initial findings of a study prepared by Kantor Business Consultants. The main findings are as follows: 1) In the economy as a whole, 56 percent of demand is for staff specialized in information systems (IT), finance and sales; 22 percent is for staff to meet IT requirements, 19 percent comes from financial departments and 15 percent is for salespersons. 2) Demand shows large fluctuations during the year, falling to zero in August. 3) Ninety percent of firms rely on advertising to recruit their staff, the rest rely on recruiting firms. In services, 35 percent of demand is for IT specialists, 16 percent for finance officers and 8 percent for engineering specialists. In the industrial sector, 20 percent of demand is for positions in financial services and 19 percent for salespersons, while the picture is reversed in commerce, where 33 percent of demand is for salespeople and 28 percent for finance officers. Demand for staff specialized in human resource management, logistics and research and development (R&D) is low, representing only 4 percent of the total. An analysis of demand per sector of economic activity shows that about 58 percent of employment openings concern services, the rest being accounted for by industry and commerce. In services as a whole, information technology, consultative and business research firms account for 46 percent of demand for staff. In industry, opportunities for employment appear mostly in foodstuffs (40 percent), followed by the pharmaceuticals sector which accounts for 15 percent of demand. A similar picture can be seen in commerce, where demand for staff by firms trading foodstuffs and beverages amounts to 29 percent of the total. With respect to rank, construction shows the strongest demand for senior managers (20 percent), while the rest is equally split between demand for department heads and other staff; demand for senior managers in retail commerce is 16 percent, the rest being equally split between department heads and other staff. In services, the corresponding rates are 1 percent for general managers, 7 percent for senior managers, 31 percent for department heads and 61 percent for other staff. The Kantor study was based on a sample of 575 advertisements in selected print media and the websites of large corporations and staff recruitment firms.
