The shift in demand of talent due to the coronavirus

Since the arrival of the coronavirus, quite a lot has changed in the labor market. That fact has not been lost on us. Despite the fact that there is a shortage in staff in certain sectors, more and more people are finding themselves at home unemployed. The number of vacancies has dried up considerably in a short time. But are companies no longer looking for talent at all, and is all hope gone if you don't have a job? Fortunately, things are not as bad as it seems. We figured it out for you, continue reading.

The coronavirus is causing a huge drop in vacancies

As mentioned in the introduction, the number of vacancies has fallen enormously in recent months. Figures from Statistics Netherlands show that the number of vacancies continues to fall and that the number of unemployment is rising. The aviation industry in particular experienced a huge hit, where the number of vacancies fell by more than half. At the beginning of the crisis, companies mainly stopped posting new vacancies, but soon afterwards existing vacancies were also taken offline. Nevertheless, vacancies are still being added. Especially in healthcare, education, ICT and technology, new staff is being sought out.

There are major differences between the various sectors

In some sectors, employment has fallen sharply due to the corona crisis. Before the crisis, there was still a lot of demand for personnel in the catering, sales and transport & logistics sectors. But due to the corona measures, demand decreased dramatically. For example, the opportunities for restaurant chefs and bus drivers suddenly became a lot smaller. There is also suddenly a lot less work for stewards, travel agency employees, fitness trainers, hairdressers, artists and technicians in the cultural sector.

However, there is a shortage of personnel in the most promising professions. These professions also offered good job opportunities before the corona crisis. In many cases, the opportunities in these professions will remain good for some time to come, despite the corona crisis.

The overview of promising professions contains many care professions, such as care takers, nurses, community nurses, surgery assistants and GZ psychologists. Before the corona crisis, there were already serious staff shortages in healthcare. The corona virus has placed extra pressure on healthcare and with it the need for additional staff. There is also still a shortage of personnel among teachers, ICT workers, mechanics, accountants and gardeners. Not to forget the distribution of packages for PostNL or DHL for example.

Employers mainly look for temporary professionals

Nevertheless, it is predicted that the labor market will pick up again in 2021. Currently employers are mainly looking for temporary professionals. These are attractive because they can be deployed to fulfill business-critical functions with minimal training. But permanent vacancies are also slowly being filled again. For this, companies are looking for candidates who are agile, creative and communicative.

So Dutch employers expect to recruit new employees in 2021. Mainly in the manufacturing industry, healthcare, FMCG, private banking and audit, there is a great demand for new talent. Research shows that companies are specifically looking for talent that can make up for the internal lack of technical skills. In addition, a clear shift can be seen in the sought-after skills of candidates. Agility, creativity and communication have become more important as they contribute to the resilience and flexibility of employees. These character traits are extra valuable during challenging times. Finally, it is important for companies that candidates can be deployed quickly with minimal training.

Expats are still often recruited for critical positions that are difficult to fill

Despite the corona virus and more and more borders that are being closed, finding a perfectly suitable candidate is more important than the candidate's nationality and place of residence. This emerged from a study by the Brainport Talent Attraction Program. This is very good news for expats. Fortunately, due to the arrival of the corona virus, a lot is now possible remotely.

So, there is absolute hope for job-seeking expats in the Netherlands. You will still find plenty of vacancies with us too. Did you find your dream job despite all the changes on the labor market? Read here how you stand out as an expat with Dutch talent recruiters.