Jobs that are in great demand, and likely to see salary increases

The biggest recruitment agencies found jobs for fewer people in 2023. While in 2022 the ten largest of them successfully filled 5,110 positions, last year it was 3,386. Companies are trying to keep their employees and accommodate them, whether it is through flexibility or higher pay.

The market is changing more significantly with the advent of artificial intelligence. Sectors that have reported an increase in the number of employees for a long time are approaching recruitment more cautiously. However, there is a lack of qualified employees. The government has expanded the national visa scheme, which allows foreigners to gain greater access to the Slovak labour market.

“This trend will continue, as the lack of labour force will also deepen due to the demographic development of our country,” said Zuzana Rumiz, CEO of ManpowerGroup Slovakia. According to her, up to 75 percent of employers have difficulty filling vacancies.

ManpowerGroup Slovakia also became the largest recruitment agency in Slovakia this year.

Who employers want

In addition to standard managerial and IT positions, employers were most interested in filling the positions ranging from designers, engineers, accountants and financial controllers to salespeople, and from representatives to division directors, and, of course, marketing experts.

“As for blue-collar jobs, the standard positions were CNC operators, programmers, maintenance workers and electricians,” said Katarína Nováková, regional manager from Lugera & Maklér. This company filled the most office jobs in 2023 and finished second in the ranking of recruitment agencies.

Nováková expects that companies that cannot adapt to the growing financial expectations of candidates will have a harder time recruiting new colleagues. The amended legislation in the field of national visas can especially help industry, but even this influx of workers will not cover the existing demand.

People from the IT sector should be on the lookout, where, according to Talent Solutions, the number of new positions decreased by up to 20 percent by the end of last year. In this case, a candidate market can become an employer market.

Attracting foreign workers

In 2024, the impact of the Volvo car company’s arrival in eastern Slovakia should be more strongly felt.

“Taking into account the size of the investment, the recruitment needs of all employers, and the decreasing number of unemployed people, there will be an increase in the share of foreign workers in our market,” said Ivana Heretik Vačoková, CEO of Talent Solutions, the third-largest recruitment agency in Slovakia.

But this will only be possible if the infrastructure and legislation in this area are improved, noted Heretik Vačoková.

In business, in addition to the increasing use of artificial intelligence and automation, there is an increasing tendency towards a green economy. This is also why the ManpowerGroup Slovakia agency launched its greenjobs.sk website, where it tries to post job offers that are directly or indirectly connected to the protection and preservation of the environment. According to Rumiz, the website provides space for cooperation between employers and jobseekers who have a common goal.

Hiring people

In 2022, the leased employees of the ten largest agencies in Slovakia worked more than 11 million hours. Temporary employment agencies lease them out to various companies. In 2023, it was already 12.5 million hours. The total number of workers for temporary assignment fell from 17,500 to 15,000.

The largest temporary employment agency, Index Nosluš, has observed a decline in demand for new personnel for online shop distribution centres, as well as for the courier and retail store segments. According to the agency, this is a consequence of high inflation and a decrease in people’s willingness to spend money. The situation in production was stable.

The specificity of the current situation is low unemployment, despite long-term and relatively low demand from employers.

“We perceive that Slovak employees simply don’t want to do some jobs any more,” said the executive director of Index Nosluš, Darina Mokráňová.

In such a case, national visas can help not only companies but also agencies, as they too can temporarily assign foreigners with national visas to specific positions.

“We expect that most of the national visa capacity for importing operator and production positions, where temporary assignment is possible, will be taken up by temporary employment agencies,” added Mokráňová.

Workers from third countries, where the standard of living is significantly lower than in Slovakia, are interested in working in the country. Matúš Buša, manager from the Transfer Slovakia agency, cited India, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as examples.

Transfer Slovakia ranks third among temporary employment firms.