Speculative application
eTec has a wide range of successful projects on the level of managing director, CEO, COO and CTO in medium-sized companies.
If you can't find an interesting vacancy in our job board, please contact us and arrange your personal consultation.
For many years, Eastern Europe has played an important role in the German industry, especially for midsized companies.
Due to recent geopolitical changes, Eastern Europe has become even more significant for exactly these companies in terms of production capacity, supply chain stability, and increasingly, research and development.
Firstly, Eastern Europe offers German companies many opportunities to expand their production and increase their competitiveness. The region has a well-educated workforce available at competitive prices. This enables German businesses to lower their production costs while producing high-quality products simultaneously. Poland and Romania have emerged as important locations for this.
Region of focus - Eastern Europe
Additionally, German products have a significant market in Eastern Europe. The countries in this region have experienced impressive economic growth in recent years and have become important trade partners for Germany. Mid-sized companies can take advantage from this development by offering their products and services in Eastern Europe and consequently accessing new and significant markets. Many medium-sized businesses do not yet have their own subsidiaries in this region.
Our consultancy has been supporting mid-sized companies for many years in finding qualified leaders for their production and distribution sites. We understand the cultural and linguistic differences of this region and can personally and verbally find a suitable candidate for you. In addition to English, our in-house team speaks multiple languages including Russian and Polish.
Overall, Eastern Europe is highly significant for the German industry. It provides numerous opportunities for expansion, access to new and important markets, and a reduction in production costs. We at etec Consult have expertise in assisting German companies to seize these opportunities and recruit skilled executives.
Lea Keck - Working student marketing: What makes Eastern Europe so interesting for us as a recruitment consultancy? What characterizes the personnel market in Eastern Europe and differentiates it from the German market?
Tatyana Voelkel – Consultant & Partner: For us as an international recruitment consultancy, Eastern Europe has always been a key market "on our doorstep". For more than 30 years, we have been supporting our clients in their search for the "right" managers and talents in these markets. Our clients invested early on in many Eastern European countries to set up local subsidiaries and production facilities.
The latest results from the European Investment Bank also show that investment activity is picking up again following the crises triggered by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Companies are trying to move away from the old, capital-intensive growth model and are renewing their own business models. This is a positive trend. They are looking for new opportunities, especially the use of innovative technologies .
In contrast to companies in the EU and the USA, companies are investing proportionately more in machinery and equipment. In this context, our clients have good opportunities to reposition themselves in the Eastern European region in order to gain their own economic share in the future.
LK: How does the collaboration with a managing director in Eastern Europe and the German HQ differ from other regions of the world?
TV: The "number 1" often demands closer cooperation with their own superior from the headquarters. This is because Western European colleagues are highly structured, methodical, performance-oriented, and strong communicators. This exchange at eye level is often decisive for the success of the company in the respective country. However, the fact that Eastern Europeans change employers quicker than their Western European colleagues, who often come from the industry in the neighboring segment, plays an important role. In addition, the decision to change is often made a little faster than the decision of the headquarters. In some situations, you should therefore seize the opportunity and provide candidates with an employment contract promptly in order to enter into promising negotiations. A long-term strategy for recruiting and sourcing Eastern European workers together with headquarters is essential and extremely important.
LK: To what extent have problems arisen regarding the war in Ukraine that affect us directly? What is the trend here in terms of personnel consulting?
TV: The war in Ukraine has created many problems within the local personnel market. In particular, the majority of Western European companies have closed their local subsidiaries and production facilities in eastern and central Ukraine. Some have relocated to the western Ukrainian region, where the situation is peaceful. As a result, many good workers left their own country seeking safety abroad. In addition to a shortage of production workers, there is a large gap in management positions. However, those left behind in Ukraine are looking for normality and are willing to work and make their own contribution to the economic development of the country. As a result, the trend is towards the development and expansion of the country and the local economy. Some of our clients from the automation industry report a good economic and financial situation in Ukraine. In the next step, it is important for our clients to fill the management positions appropriately. In this situation, companies need talented and motivated crisis managers who should be selected carefully.
Another trend we see in the current situation is a great opportunity for female managers in the future. For various reasons, female managers will dominate management positions in Eastern Europe. Therefore, our advice to companies that already have a business in Ukraine or want to expand is to develop a training and integration program for female leaders today.
LK: Are there any interesting projects now or recently successfully completed projects that you would like to highlight?
TV: We have successfully completed a project for a client in the Western European region of Lviv. Our client is a market leader in its industry and has had a successful business with a local production for years. This involved a C-level position in finance. We were able to successfully fill this position with a talented young manager from the region. The negotiations and renegotiations went quickly and smoothly, so that at the end of the day this manager signed the employment contract. We also recently filled the position of "Managing Director Slovakia" for a global market leader in electrical engineering (10,000 employees), and another mandate for a "Managing Director Czech Republic & Slovakia" is currently still ongoing.
We are happy to provide you with tentative yet in-depth advice based on our many years of expertise.
Do you have any questions?
Let our headhunters advise you individually and without obligation.
