Employers plan to expand their teams by the end of the year

The job market is in an unprecedented state of flux. Employers are constantly on the lookout, and the statistics clearly reflect this. Nine out of ten employers plan to make hires by the end of the year, with 50% of them stating that salaries and bonuses are the most effective incentives for attracting candidates, according to a survey conducted by an online recruiting platform in Romania. "91.2% of the employers who participated in the most recent survey conducted by eJobs Romania stated that they plan to make hires by the end of the year. 5.4% say they have frozen all hiring, while 3.4% are unsure how things will unfold by year-end," the survey data reveals. Among those with open positions, 44.4% estimate that the number of new colleagues they will add to their teams in the next 3 months will not exceed 5, 20.4% have plans for 6-10 new hires, 18.5% estimate their recruitment numbers will fall between 11 and 50. According to the survey, 7.3% of employers have more than 51 and up to 100 open positions, 5.4% have between 101 and 250, and 1.3% have between 251 - 500. Additionally, 2.6% are running massive recruitment campaigns and plan to hire over 500 people by the end of the year. When asked about the strengths they believe they have to help attract candidates, 50.3% ranked salaries and offered bonuses as their top advantage, 40.1% mentioned consistent and transparent communication, and 37.2% included flexibility in scheduling and management as key differentiators from their competition. Other factors mentioned included fringe benefits, the team and work environment, career advancement opportunities, remote work, and work-life balance, as stated in the company's press release. Bogdan Badea, CEO of eJobs, stated: "Employers are aware that a good salary can significantly expedite their search for the right people for their open positions. However, they also know that other factors are starting to matter because more and more candidates are looking for the 'complete package' when they want to change jobs. That's why companies have been investing considerable sums in their employer brand and the image they build in their relationship with candidates and employees for several years now." According to the cited study, 45.1% of respondents believe they are in a company with a strong employer brand. 35.6% are still working on it and are at the beginning of their employer branding efforts, while 19.3% say they do not have an employer brand. In this regard, 48.8% of the companies participating in the survey stated that, for this year, the employer branding budget represented 1% of their turnover. 20.2% invest between 1% and 2%, 16.7% between 2% and 5%, 10.5% between 5% and 10%, and 3.9% allocate more than 10% of their turnover to the employer branding budget. Bogdan Badea also said, "Although it may seem small, in absolute numbers, we are talking about sums that can exceed 1 million euros per year, especially for very large companies that hire massively every year, especially those operating in industries with a high level of personnel turnover. However, it should be mentioned that 28% of respondents stated that they have completely abandoned the employer branding budget in 2023." The survey was conducted in September of this year, with a sample of 494 companies.