Luxembourg Jobs report confirms trends

The full effect of the recent financial crisis upon how professionals in the Luxembourg finance sector are recruited was highlighted this week in a report by Global HR giant, Hays.

The first point it made was something we can bear out as well. Finance firms in Luxembourg have been forced to either ensure all new staff have a wide variety of skills and be placed to cover many different areas of competence. Secondly the actual manner in how companies in the Grand Duchy hire has changed. A greater emphasis has not only been put upon “well rounded” applicants put on ensuring the recruitment partners can fulfill a variety of vacancies.

The report expanded on both points. The need for candidates with a varied, flexible range of skills was illustrated in a number of examples. Banks in Luxembourg (at the moment comprising twenty percent of all new jobs in the Finance sector) require more than ever language skills. However they noted that the rivaling of the dominant European languages English, French and German, with the need for applicants with the native tongues of the emerging markets. Banking professionals with Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, Hindi or Arabic are as much in demand as multi lingual central Europeans.

In the Back Office Luxembourg jobs the report noted that levels of hiring really varied between firms. Some are not looking, even reducing administration staff numbers, whilst others are recruiting in Luxembourg. One constant seems to be the need for individuals from a back office background who have project management skills, report producing talents or even a high level in using the latest productivity software like ERP systems and enterprise wide document management & knowledge management packages.

The final are the study looked at was the growth in recruitment for accountancy jobs in Luxembourg. It noted that at the moment nearly 60% of all open positions in the Grand Duchy’s finance industry were for Accountant, Auditors – internal & external, Financial controllers, bookkeepers or Budget planners. Here having a certification like the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) or Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) was worth its weight in gold.

What is clear from the report and what we see on a daily basis that the market for jobs in Luxembourg is buoyant, but more demanding than ever. Candidates should approach the recruitment market with an open mind and a wide skill set.