UK losing war on talent as recession bites

According to research released today, the UK is losing the war on talent as senior executives look overseas to further their careers and escape the economic downturn. The study of the job moves of 13,269 executives in 2007/08 was commisioned out by leading European recruitment website Experteer. The study reveals the UK suffers from a talent imbalance of 8 per cent with more senior executives seeking opportunities overseas than arriving to fill vacancies.

The study identified Switzerland as the most attractive economy for executive talent in Europe with a net inflow of 42 per cent, whilst France (14%), Germany (12%), and the UK (8%) recorded the largest exoduses. Of candidates taking up postings outside their country of origin two thirds (64%) originated from European countries, whilst (36%) arrived from elsewhere in the world. Across Europe around 13% of candidates took up roles outside of their home country with executives from finance, professional services and IT sectors the most likely to relocate.

Torsten Muth, UK Managing Director at Experteer commented: ìIt is clear that the credit crunch has hit the UK hard, we have seen a significant increase in interest for overseas job placements. Talent is now far more mobile, and we see increasing numbers of footloose highly talented individuals willing to relocate across Europe.î

Polish plumber followed by Dutch Director

Central and Eastern European Countries collectively experienced a net 18 per cent outflow of talent higher than any other region in Europe. Forty percent of those taking up positions abroad were either functional or sector specialists or project managers. Relative to their size, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium account for a greater proportion of the most senior talent ( 5 years experience) than the European average though this is balanced by an in-flow of junior talent.

Capital connections

Average wages for candidates shifting overseas were between Ä50-75,000 per annum with functions such as sales and marketing twice as likely to finance and procurement to shift overseas. At the very highest level of remuneration (>Ä150,000) the UK attracted significantly higher proportions of overseas candidates than other countries. This incoming talent to the UK though was disproportionately restricted to London, with 57% of inbound executives relocating to the UKís capital city. This contrasts with a mere 7% of German immigrants choosing to move to Berlin.

UK executives seeking opportunities overseas should be aware that remuneration by job function varies significantly across Europe with the highest rewards for Managing Directors to be found in Germany and Switzerland, whilst middle managers find the highest relative pay in the UK and Italy.

CAREER LEVEL COUNTRIES RECORDING HIGHER THAN AVERAGE SALARY
Director / Business Unit Leader DE, FR,IT, UK
Graduate / Trainee FR
Manager / Team Leader DE,IT,UK
Managing Director (Large Enterprise) DE
Managing Director (Small to Medium Enterprise) CH,DE
Senior Manager / Head of Dept. DE, FR,UK
Senior Specialist / Project Manager DE, FR, UK
Specialist DE, FR,IT

Case study of UK National relocating to Europe

Name: Nina Zimmerman
Age: 33

Nina was born and bred in South Woodford, London and chose to attend Queen Mary college at the University of London to study European studies & economics. Offered the opportunity to participate in the Erasmus scheme as part of her studies, Nina spent a year in Germany improving her familiarity with the language. This early introduction to Europe convinced Nina that her future career would be best served outside of the UK.

ìHaving grown up in London I was keenly aware that despite acting as a hub for European business, the outlook of those working in London could be quite insular. My time in Germany convinced me that moving to Europe could offer me a short cut into a truly globalised career that was more closely aligned to future growth.î

Ninaís first job was with media giant Bertelsmann based in Hamburg and her contacts from her year on the Erasmus programme helped her get quickly settled into the community. Nina went on to become Business Development Manager for T-online, owned by Deutsche Telekom, near Frankfurt.

ìWhilst my German has improved immeasurably, English is often the defacto language in the office because we deal with subsidiaries right around the globe. When I first arrived I found it easy to settle in to the culture and swiftly found myself feeling as much a European as a Londoner or Briton. Whilst there are British ex-pat communities in the European business world I find these are far less important than in other international markets as there are relatively few cultural differences.î

Nina currently works as a senior marketing director in Munich. She has an 18 month old daughter and is happily married to a local.