Ana Garcia - Team Leader Finance & Banking

Challenging economic conditions have clearly affected accounting and finance departments around the world, but many managers continue to have difficulty finding skilled professionals and remain concerned about losing their best team members to other opportunities.
Even where hiring has slowed, The Netherlands reported a surplus of audit professionals for open positions.

For the last three months, the number of audit jobs advertised on different boards has increased. This suggests the appetite and need to recruit auditors begins.
Based on the trends seen over the past months and from regular discussions with audit directors across the world, we predict there will be a shortage of auditors to fill the number of jobs available.

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Antal International, having established itself in 5 continents with branches in all major emerging markets, offers a discipline focused solution to clients, providing a global solution applied locally. We represent companies looking to acquire new talent & also provide an exceptionally personal service for employment seekers.

We have cultivated close partnerships with medium & large local firms, also those with international presence (Econcern N.V) offering structured growth campaigns for key disciplines. Our growing network compiles Senior level Consultants, Project Managers & Developers within all facets of Power Generation & Engineering, the two intimately linked.

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The comforting thing with most areas of IT, is that every business in the world requires some kind of IT system, software and functionality. Compared to other sectors, the ICT market has not been as dramatically affected in the economical crisis. It seems today, that there are still many ICT companies that are hiring, notably in the areas of; Business Continuity, Security, Storage and SaaS. Unlike the hardware sector who seem to be one of the worst off at present.

Many organizations, especially the small-medium sized ones (50-250 employees), are still hiring and more importantly, expanding in this market. Some global companies have set up new offices in the Netherlands and see this tough time as a great opportunity to grow. However, there are still some unprecedented occurrences in the ICT sector.

Companies are more and more interested in the ‘Rising Stars’ or Generation Y people, who are individuals who have a good education, are young (under 30 years old) and who have 2-4 years experience in their relevant field. These individuals tend to be less cost to companies, so they can hire them without having too many budget issues, and also keeping the Finance Director content.

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The ICT sector has been and always will be the key to all organisations in the world. With this in mind, the ICT sector has not been as badly affected as other sectors, for example, the automotive industry, finance and construction industry who have seen the worst side to the economic crisis.

The good news for a lot of us, is that we can see some good developments in the current market situation. In the ICT sector, there are signs that companies are getting more confident in hiring new professionals, by either replacement or even expansion recruitment.

After speaking with leading professionals like yourself recently, we have found that there is still a need for companies to have an effective recruitment partner to help them locate the real talent that they require both locally and globally.

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THE CREDIT CRISIS AND THE DUTCH ECONOMY 2009-2010

The credit crisis has plunged the world economy into the deepest recession since World War II. In the second half of 2008, the credit crisis touched the Netherlands. The number of job vacancies, however, is still high and the average purchasing power rising with relative strength. It is sure to say that 2009 will not be experienced as a crisis year by everyone.

The current recession is of an entirely different nature from the one at the beginning of the 80’s. Low profits and lack of incentives were the key problems at that time. Now we are dealing with speculative bubbles resulting from a surplus of savings on the one hand, and poor regulation and supervision on banking systems, which failed to keep pace with financial innovation, on the other. This combination of macro and microeconomic factors led to the current crisis. The crisis could have substantial long-term effects on the level of prosperity.

How can investment into new human talent maintain a company’s competitive advantage?

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With total annual sales of almost € 23 billion, the Dutch ICT market, particularly for telecommunications hardware, software and services, is buoyant. 

Ever changing economic and political environments mean that the local labour market is dynamic and changing all the time. Individuals are keen to develop their careers and better their financial situation. These changes mean that employers need to start changing their attitudes and expectations towards recruitment; the backgrounds and experience of individuals they consider, where they recruit these from and how they attract and develop them.

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Having procured headhunted candidates in the Dutch ICT Market for several years, the feedback I am continually getting from clients is that the sector is undergoing an increasing shortage of skilled commercial and technical talent and that this is impacting their business more so now then at any other time since the dot com era.

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Businesses are being urged to take a tough line on late payment, after fresh figures revealed huge impacts on revenue streams.

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The recent surge in the Alternative Energy market’s innovation and subsequent celebration has been galvanised by the latest governmental incentives and general consensus on energy security. Without concerted efforts, however, to find qualified individuals, who are increasingly an exotic rarity, these hopes and aspirations promise no opportunity for realisation.

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The total Netherlands market for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) amounts to about 5 percent of the total European ICT market and is the sixth largest in Europe.  The Dutch ICT market amounted to USD 27.4 billion in 2001. The Information Technology (IT) market alone, consisting of hardware, software and computer services amounted to USD 13.1 billion in 2001. The telecommunications market, equipment (about 30 percent) and services (70 percent) amounted to USD 14.3 billion in 2001.

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In 2007 the Dutch economy remains firmly on the growth-path that started in 2004. This year it expects a growth of 2.75% (2006: 2.9%) This growth is driven mainly by exports and government spending. During 2007 the short-term interest rate has been raised by the ECB, to prevent overheating. Long-term interest rates have also responded to the stronger economic activity. Last year the long term interest rate was 3.8%, this year it is expected to increase to 4.25%. Also, a slight increase in the level of inflation is expected for this year and the next.
Construction Market output is growing at an even stronger rate than the overall economy and is fuelled mainly by growth in the residential sector, followed by infrastructure development. The non-residential construction industry has become in the last 2 years ever more fragmented with many small, family owned companies.
In connection to this, the real estate labour market in the Netherlands remains tight, unemployment figures are low (4.2%) and the number of vacant positions extremely high Problems in the labour market are worsening due to the extensive increase of the new projects and lack of the highly skilled staff. This lack of skilled staff is an increasing problem for such construction companies. Total staff take-up in the C&P in Netherlands was approximately 30.000 in 2007 and  we expect take-up for 2008 to be in line with last year’s figure.

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Despite few economic clouds on the horizon, such as increased interest rates and the concerns over sub prime lending in the US, audit recruitment market remains strong with few pockets of weakness.
There is still an acute shortage of candidates in Risk Management, though there are signs that the market may be reaching one of the highest points.
There is slightly better candidate availability in Internal Audit, Compliance and Information Security; however, there is exceptional competition for the best candidates, with an increasing trend towards paying a premium for specialist experience and skills.

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De groei van personeelsadvertenties vlakt af, zowel op papier als op internet. Dat bleek uit woensdag gepubliceerde cijfers van onderzoeksbureau Nielsen Media Research.

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De jeugd heeft de toekomst. Dat weet de jeugd soms op het arrogante af ook heel goed. Ik dacht als 18-jarige: wacht maar, het is een kwestie van tijd en mijn tijd komt wel! En dat bleek ook.

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Werkzoekenden die ouder zijn dan 45 hebben weinig perspectief op een nieuwe baan, al is de arbeidsmarkt nog zo krap.

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AMSTERDAM – Parttime werken is voor de meeste vrouwen de oplossing als zij ook nog voor een gezin moeten zorgen. Ook de vader voelt zich daar het beste bij, zo blijkt uit een onderzoek van Motivaction onder ruim duizend mensen.

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VOORBURG – Nederlanders die werk zoeken, doen dat het liefst op eigen houtje. Het Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen, dat kan bemiddelen tussen deze mensen en werkgevers, is niet populair.

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