The professional events of Hammel & Hochreiter are generally very popular with executives, human resources experts and other professional visitors. The HH Salon in February distinguished itself among our other events in several aspects. Exceptionally large interest was shown by all participants of the market: employees, interim managers, employers, service providers were all interested in the topic covered, namely the current issues of the employment (labour) market. It was no wonder that the nearly two-hour long, scheduled program went by interactively, in a sensational, vivid atmosphere.
The keynote was set by the results’ summary of a management survey carried out by Hammel & Hochreiter. Ms. Zsuzsanna Szvetelszky, Dr. of social psychology summarized the survey as she was the professional coordinator of it. You can read more details on the survey here:
Kindred by Choice – The Outcome of the HH Salon Survey
The opening presentation was followed by a panel of managers and experts of practice, moderated by Ms. Györgyi Kristóf.
Ms. Judit Forgács – executive director, HR director, IT Services Hungary
Ms. Andrea Juhos, Dr. – executive partner, coach, Lee Hecht Harrison Hungary Career Consultants Kft.
Ms. Dominika Kelemen-Raths – Managing Partner, Austria & Hungary, TARGET Hungária Kft.
Ms. Veronika Pistyur – CEO, Bridge Budapest
Ms. Mónika Slomska – Senior Transformational Leader, TATA Consultancy Services Hungary
Mr. Krisztián Zsédely – Sales Manager, Profession.hu
The discussion involved the analysing of several gripping matters: how did the employment market change and how employers and employees should be adjusting to that? How did the role, the perception, the responsibility and competence of HR within enterprises and companies change? What strategies did leaders of companies follow to provide for their succession? How differently should new generations on the labour market be approached? What was the latest news on the legendarily low rate of mobility of the Hungarian manpower? Could leading professionals be persuaded to work on the countryside and if yes, how? What did the outflow of workforce truly mean? How realistic it was to shift among sectors or corporate cultures? How feasible it was for a Hungarian to apply for positions abroad based solely on the working of the labour market?
It also came into question, what it was worth to be considered, inspected and tested when an applicant applied for a position. To what extent should past practice and experience be considered or should the applicant’s competence and potential be weighed more? It was also given a thought or two, in what aspects employers or employees can rely on personnel consultant agencies, man-hunter agencies, interim service providers and professionals? What was the level of transparency of companies? Thus, how precise could there be the information, based on which certain key positions were announced and were to be applied for?
It is extremely difficult to distil the vivid moments of this nearly two-hour long event in a short summary, so we are just cherry-picking among the most important statements.
Many remarks were given on the recent challenges and functions of HR professionals; let that be about man-hunting services, HR executives or out-sourcing consultants, it can generally be stated that the role and scope of duties of the professionals in this sector are reshaping greatly. The pressure on HR professionals is greater and their responsibility is getting larger in assuring business continuity by providing their employers with the suitable workforce.
There was a general agreement that beside introducing the young generation into the labour market, it is getting more and more essential to assist the 40 plus and even the 50 plus generation in reactivating their career or in the shifting their career paths.
There were comments on mobility and more precisely the lack of it, however considerable change can be observed in this respect. It is a common experience that people migrate to the west and on the other hand, it is a serious problem to persuade professionals and managers with special knowledge to work in certain regions on the countryside. The trend that prevailed until some time ago that aspirants to a job in Budapest could expect higher salaries and wages is turning around: those who undertake a job on the countryside are doing it only for a considerable income premium. For some reason, there is certain aversion towards distances, albeit that the country in not large really, and even in the case of a demanding family, one or two overnights on the countryside are still feasible, even more, if it was combined with cleverly organized commuting. Well, Hungarians are overly emotional and loyal to their land and localities which is sometimes contradicting with professionalism.
There was an enthusiastic dispute over the realities of shifting among sectors and corporate cultures. A set of the arguments affirmed that shifting between sectors is possible when it is completed with the necessary studies and new knowledge. The strongest argument of the other side of the disputing parties was that the demand for settled sector specific experience is declared in the evident requests of companies. This issue lead us to another relevant one: what were the demands of a company? Experience gained in the past and outdated protocols of operation or open-minded persons, skills and the potential of real personalities? The parties in the discussion were unified in their opinion that potential should be given more space and emphasis over the past which is far too predominant today. Here you are! There is one more item on the to-do list.
It is always an exciting part of every HR conversation when it comes to young ones. This time we learned that the new generation entering the labour market are quite different and not only in their skills of using gadgets. They look for delightful experience in their jobs, and moreover, they prefer to have something to do with that experience and not just to have them fall into their hands. In this respect, companies have to be able to woo these young ones if they wanted to rely on them. In other words: the employee of the 21st century cannot be won over by the means of the 20th century. In exchange, we can get lot more mobile people who can globally be set out to work and are ready to study more.
Where do we stand with the older workforce? Several surveys claim unanimously that after reaching a certain age, priorities transform considerably. Sensible and meaningful methods of pastime come to the forefront let them be in connection with goals regarding health issues and quality of life. In a typical trajectory of a career there is always a limit hiding where the person gets stuck, beyond which the career is not his or hers. Only the best among the best can reach the peak because considering the number of the peaks it is way less that the number of those who reach the senior age. Those who are lucky to live as long will become seniors in their career. This is why probably the most valuable piece of advice along the evening was that above the age of 50, everyone must have a Plan B, even if it seemed to be untimely. This Plan B can cover anything between networking to a shift in the career path, study new things and even retiring. The point is, that we should be consciously choosing and taking charge of our situation, not letting ourselves to be drifted with the current, as this way we can make sure that everything would turn out the way we would like it to.
Rumbling around, hiding within the criss-crossed organizational structure can be maintained only for a short time, sooner or later one gets caught. It is the more important as it becomes less frequent that one spends a lifelong career at same company or employer. The period that one can be spent in a specific position becomes shorter.
We can declare as one of the main consequences of the event that one needs to be consciously prepared for a change. It is equally important to boldly reach out for the help of professionals, councillors and/or coaches. We shouldn’t forget about the fact that it is our Personal Brand that makes us unique and distinguishable when we choose to follow our Plan B as an employee, as an interim or as a founder of a new enterprise.
