European Recruitment Q2 Market Update

Each quarter, we share insights into market trends within technology recruitment. This quarter has seen more market fluctuation with concerns about inflation, an impending downturn and hiring freezes and layoffs at tech companies like Meta, Twitter and Netflix, yet the job market for niche technology sectors like semiconductors and automotive remains strong.

Market Flux Brings New Opportunities

Ed Jackson, Director, remains cautiously optimistic about the market. “Everyone is talking about a recession around the corner, but Q2 has shown us that many of our tech clients are continuing to push onward and upward with hiring,” he says.

David Wicks, CEO and founder, cites that some of the business’s best years have been in recessions. “We’re reasonably fearless when it comes to market downturns,” he says, “it might sound terrible, but for us, flux is a good thing, as it means we have more great candidates to work with.”

Troupe’s team recently placed an engineer made redundant from their tech job in the Netherlands with a market leader within two weeks.

Technology for electric vehicles and autonomous driving continues to receive investment and create a highly competitive job market. Chris Canneaux, Manager, says while there have been some job cuts and hiring freezes across larger service-industry tech companies, semiconductor and automotive industries are still going strong. The business has also seen increased opportunities with new tech businesses emerging across the US and Europe and expansion into new markets such as Australia.

“Year on year, there have been more clients, more offers and more deals. We still have so much on at the moment,” he says.

Clients Push Back on Salary War

While negotiation power was strongly on the candidate’s side in Q1, Canneaux has started to see more pushback from clients this quarter. “Candidates continue to have high expectations. Clients are trying to find the balance of paying more to secure them while maintaining reasonable salary structures,” he says. He has seen deals fall through for 6-figure salaries over a few thousand pounds. “Some clients are holding their ground more and telling candidates to take what’s on offer or leave it.”

Meanwhile Jenna Thompson, Manager, has seen regions outside of US and European tech hubs increase salaries comparable to those in the USA. “We’ve had some candidates based out of Mumbai being paid American salaries,” she says.

Relocation Trends

Candidates are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of increases in cost of living, particularly when it comes to considering opportunities to relocate.

“People are doing their due diligence when it comes to comparing cost of living in different locations and our consultants are helping to guide them through their decisions,” says Jackson.
Candidates are also mitigating the cost of living crisis through specifically seeking remote working opportunities.

“Remote working has completely transformed our business,” says Wicks. “Candidates from Italy and Spain who relocated abroad for work are now returning home to cities with a dramatically lower cost of living.”

Many candidates are willing to relocate for roles, yet some locations remain more challenging to place over others. Canneaux’s team has found that despite salaries in Ireland being typically 10-15% higher than other European locations like Austria or Germany, it remains less of a drawcard destination for talent.

While tech hubs in Asia have historically been an opportunity for European and American tech companies to expand talent pools, salaries in Singapore remain considerably higher than in Europe, making it more difficult to convince its top talent to move abroad.

For other countries impacted by the war in Ukraine, the draw of coming to Europe remains high, and many candidates from the region are willing to take a substantial salary drop for the opportunity to move. Thompson has seen a large influx of Russian candidates wanting to leave due to the government and sanctions.

The Team Grows at EU Recruit

Remote working has helped expand European Recruitment’s hiring strategy. Troupe is expanding his team by 30% over the next year, most of whom are remote, from locations more broadly within the UK as well as the Philippines.

“It’s important to us as a business that we have an inclusive environment and remote working is an important part of that. We are really open to hiring everyone regardless of background or location,” he says.

Jackson’s team have increased their headcount with 8 new consultants and support staff over the last quarter to meet the demand, many of which have been hired as 100% remote workers based from Spain, Italy, France and Brazil. “We’ve become pro’s at hiring people remotely,” he says.

If you would like to further discuss the findings from this quarterly report, please reach out to us here consultant or email us at [email protected].