Searchlight Partners

Happy holidays, with our final 2021 market update.

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November Greek Talent Market wrap up.

Searchlight Partners, the Executive Search firm for Professional Services, Technology and Financial Services, publishes our first monthly Greek Market Wrap-Up and Mid-Term predictions.

Professional Services firms have not missed too many beats.

Despite the second lockdown, and countless days of working from home, over the last 8 months, Professional Services populations continue to grow. Recruitment is slow but steady and focused mostly in areas of growth (Human Capital, Digital, Financial Services Advisory, Risk), promotions are considerably higher than what we initially anticipated.

You may not be seeing a lot of Director/ Principal/ Partner announcements, but these come later in the year, along with Santa Claus.

You would wish to “Stay Tuned”.

Financial Services remains a dire place to be, with few, notable, exceptions.

The Banking market is expected to continue be a bear market for recruitment, as 3 out of 4 systemic banks have announced, once again, their final voluntary exit scheme. Well, this may or may not be the final scheme, but external talent acquisition once again grounds to a halt and we expect any moves of significant volume to come after Q2 2021. Naturally some banks that are changing specific teams (Alpha, Eurobank) will announce some new appointments, as will those who are in the process of reorganising (Attica).

NPL Servicers and Managers will remain quiet, as the current legislation and social climate does not offer a lot of room for manoeuvring, and most are in a conservation mode rather than growth.

Insurers are the only FS organisations that may maintain a steady stream of opportunities, but again, when two key players are holding back (AXA and Ethniki as both are in separate merger discussions) do not expect an awful lot of movement about.

You would wish to “Tune Out”.

Technology is, well, technology.

Technology organisations seem to be thriving, and their need for talent is almost completely unaffected by the global pandemic. The slew of major deals announced, the build-up of near-shoring capabilities (mostly in Thessaloniki), the acquisitions of, and the participations in, Greek organisations by global players are heating up an already hot market. We anticipate a growth in recruitment needs across the spectrum from large, global organisations, down to a number of well-funded start-ups and scale-ups.

You would wish to “Tune In”.