Companies in Romania ready to pay higher salaries to draw new talent

Local companies are willing to pay higher salaries to draw new employees as the unemployment rate in Romania reached a new low in the first half of this year and available workforce is scarce in many sectors. Over 60% of the employers who participated in a survey carried out by local recruiting platform BestJobs said they plan to open up to 10 new positions in the second half of this year while 21% will open between 10 and 20 positions. Most companies (73%) generally look for 1 to 5 candidates for each open position. The positions with the highest demand are those in sales, as 63% of the companies are looking for sales people, administrative activities (57%) and production (54%). Most companies (54%) are looking to hire candidates with 2-5 years of experience while 37% are also willing to hire entry-level candidates, with up to two years of experience. The workforce crisis is also pushing companies to increase the salaries offered to new employees. About 46% of the employers expect to pay up to 10% higher wages for new positions compared to the beginning of this year, 18% of employers believe they need to increase salary packages by 10-20% and 2% are even willing to pay over 20% more compared to the beginning of this year. Companies are also considering more extra-salary benefits, such as optional pension, holiday vouchers and even massage at the office, to draw new employees. A total of 682 companies participated in this survey. In the first half of this year, companies posted about 200,000 job ads on the BestJobs platform, almost 60% more compared to the same period of 2017. Survey: Romanian employers’ Q4 hiring plans, the most optimistic in Europe editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Adobe Stock)