We asked our resident Commercial expert Matt Cornelius about the ever-changing world of the commercial market. Having been in the industry for 13 years, Matt has seen it change, through a global recession, navigating a global pandemic, global conflict and interrupted trade routes. We asked Matt a few questions to get a better insight into how the commercial market is,recruitment trends and issues within the market at the moment.
Has there been an increase in requirements for people in certain locations?
The main areas where we have seen an increased demand have been Dubai which certainly seems to be the growth market both in terms of companies establishing a presence here and an increase in demand of people looking to move here. Germany has also picked up a bit over the last year in terms of active roles we have which had fallen away for a considerable period.
Are you being asked to meet any diversity targets? Are people struggling to meet these targets?
A lot of clients are generally looking to have more diverse teams which I think is a good thing. I’m not personally being asked to meet diversity targets but clients do advise when they are looking to create a more diverse team in which case I will take their wishes onboard when assessing candidates.
In certain locations achieving diversity can be quite tricky and in certain job types it might be a challenge to have a truly diverse range of candidates still.
Are there any new skills people are asking for/skills more in demand than others?
There has certainly been an increase in demand for those that have experience delivering sustainable initiatives across all areas of shipping. Vessel Operators seem perennially in high demand.
How are companies navigating ex-pats and the cost-of-living crisis etc.?
Whereas Singapore used to be a location we moved lots of candidates to, it’s become so difficult to get an employment pass that a lot of our clients are only requesting candidates with PR or Singaporean nationals. Even those on an employment pass and working in Singapore tend to be overlooked currently which must be a worry for those working on an employment pass.
Salaries have generally gone up quite a bit over the last 18-24 months. I know clients in the UK as an example that haven’t hired for a while when they see the salary expectations of candidates now for certain job types vs the last time they might have hired for that role. It makes it really important to stay on top of what is happening in the market salary wise as several companies have been caught out not adjusting salaries and then losing several key staff members in quick succession. It can happen quite suddenly when demand is high.
It’s of course now more of a challenge for those looking to move into the UK in the post Brexit era and likewise British nationals looking to move to other European locations have been faced with difficulties. This has had a major impact on some of our UK clients who could previously hire people from wider European locations and now tend to just focus on talent in the UK.
As a side note, work from home policy is obviously now a much more discussed topic and can be a deciding factor for many people in terms of whether they will apply for a role and we’ve seen a real mixed stance from clients with some giving employees a lot of freedom to work from home and others reverting back to a 5 days from office approach. It’s interesting as for some candidates it has become one of the paramount issues to them and some clients have the opinion that ‘if that is what is important to them then they are not for us’ and we are often caught in the middle seeing both perspectives! Because we saw such drastic change over a short period of time, I think some clients have not really known what to do or what the best course of action is and I think the way forward in this respect is still a little foggy.
