According to research conducted by online consulting platform managerianticriza.ro, managed by Business Management Technologies, the Romanian market of recruitment services, personnel leasing and executive search reached 189 million in 2011, from EUR90.8 million in 2008.
But although headhunters recorded turnover declines, they had an average profit per employee of EUR10,000 in 2011, unlike players in recruitment and personnel leasing, which reported an average profit of less than EUR300 per employee in 2011.
So, while Pedersen & Partners, leader of the local headhunting market, had an average profit of EUR32,000 per employee in 2011, companies such as Kilpatrick, KM Trust&Partners and Hill International reported an average profit per employee of between EUR5,000 and EUR10,000 in 2011. On the other hand, SpenglerFox, Stein&Partners and Leadership Development Solutions (LDS) reported losses per employee of between EUR3,000 and EUR19,000 in 2011.
“In Romania not a lot of companies specialize exclusively in executive search, the main reason is that that the recruitment process is a long and costly one,” said Cristian Bisa, owner of the company that manages consultancy platform www.managerianticriza.ro, which operates in business consulting.
“Before the crisis, around 50% of recruitment was for new companies and newly created jobs and around 50% was for replacement. Now around 95% of the projects are replacement projects.” In addition, headhunters have diversified their offer of services, with a big part of them offering consulting and coaching services to managers.
The largest players on the local executive search market are Pedersen&Partners (led by Mona Neagoe), Leadership Development Solutions (controlled by Radu Furnica), K.M. Trust & Partners (Radu Manolescu), Hill International (Monica Vrabiescu) and Amrop (run in Romania by Oana Ciornei).
The biggest turnover per employee was recorded by Pedersen, with over EUR135,000 per employee in 2011 (from almost EUR73,000 per employee in 2007). LDS had the lowest turnover per employee in 2011, less than EUR35,000.
The personnel recruitment and placement market surged amid an increase in the number of temporary workers. 50,000 Romanians worked as temporary employees in 2011, with their wages being invoiced through recruitment companies.
“The personnel recruitment and placement market was worth EUR186 million in 2011, up by around 30% against 2010, thanks to the growth of the personnel leasing segment. The three largest groups on the market – Lugera&Makler, Adecco and Manpower, recorded turnover rises of between 20% and 42%, Cristian Bisa also says.
The leaders of the personnel recruitment and placement market in 2011 were Lugera&Makler (with cumulated turnover of EUR40.8 million), Adecco (with turnover of EUR36.7 million) and Manpower (with turnover of EUR26.5 million), but these companies report financial results for several legal entities.
The recruitment company with the largest turnover per employee was Arcforce (with EUR27,157 per employee), followed by AIMS, which also offers executive search services, and which reported a turnover of EUR20,489 per employee.
The most profitable employees on the recruitment market are those of Arcforce, who each generated a profit of EUR1,841 for the company in 2011. Arcforce is followed a long way behind by AIMS, with a profit per employee of EUR329.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)