Half of HR managers keen to recruit expats

26 July 2006

BRUSSELS — Almost half of Belgian HR managers recruit workers from abroad or are planning to do so in the future, a new survey revealed on Tuesday.

The survey — carried out by online recruiting specialist StepStone — revealed two-thirds of Belgian HR managers look for expat workers in France. More than half of them also look for workers in the Netherlands.

British workers are also popular in Belgium: 40 percent of HR managers who look for new employees abroad also look for workers in the UK.

StepStone said this trend shows that companies are looking at new ways to remain competitive on a national and international stage and to overcome a domestic shortage of specialists.

Meanwhile, the survey showed Belgian workers are also successful abroad. If Dutch companies recruit internationally, half of them look for workers in Belgium.

Some 15 percent of HR managers in the UK, 13 percent in Italy and 12 in Germany look to recruit Belgians, newspaper ‘De Morgen’ reported.

The survey of 2,171 HR managers also revealed that companies primarily look for foreign workers in neighbouring countries.

That occurs especially in Scandinavia. More than 70 percent of Norwegian HR managers recruit in Sweden and 50 percent look for staff in Denmark. Just 13 percent of Norwegian HR managers recruit in the Netherlands and 8 percent in Belgium.

“Companies primarily recruit in their neighbouring countries to avoid language differences and culture differences,” StepStone official Jan Heiremans said.

“Only candidates from the United States and the United Kingdom are popular in all European countries because English is the official language in many companies.”

Subject: Belgian news