A study of industry trends, companies and candidates behavior during 2012 for the Executive Search profession by the SommerGroup.

Looking at local Executive Searches, there is a trend of border movement amongst executives when carrying out position search for Peru, as well as hiring foreign candidates for positions in Chile. We also observe high availability of Argentinean and Spanish candidates interested in working in our country. This matches the demands of our multinational or national customers that have recently been into a strong internationalization process and request positions knowing about expatriate matters in order to address the mobility of executives to and from Chile.

We also see a trend of global mobility in 2012, with an increase in functional reports abroad and Chile-based positions reporting to their international managers. There has also been an increase in the management of building multidisciplinary/complementary teams, even from different areas within the organization.

The demand for professionals with English language proficiency continues to be a rising trend, which is a major concern in Chile given the current low number of professionals and executives having a bilingual level (36%, according to poll SommerGroup ®’s poll, 2012). We must continue to work on this outstanding initiative so that our executives can access attractive job opportunities abroad and be equally competent in our country in order to take a high position, which undoubtedly holds a strong penetration as Chile has a very good country image, with the best freedom index in Latin America according to the Canadian Fraser Institute.

Chile’s recent score on personal freedom reached 8.2 and on the economic sector reached 7.99, surpassing the United States, which in the business index, reached 7.93. This allowed Chile to be ranked 16th in the overall index of human freedom. On the other hand, the effects of the European crisis are not impacting Chile, and there is a widespread perception that the country will successfully overcome the instability and that hiring will continue to grow.

With the positive closing of 2012, we began 2013 with our team doing their best in order to respond far beyond the labor market requirements, having the deep conviction that both our clients’ and our candidates’ every single need is dynamic and demanding; thus, identifying and meeting these needs will be our challenge and permanent commitment.

Overall the study found an increasing need for professionals and executives in the commercial industry, followed closely by operations, IT and Logistics. The progression of technology across all sectors resulted in an influence on all employees. Nowadays, technology serves all areas, encouraging efficiency, speed, immediacy, accessibility, systematization and standardization of methods.

Likewise, technology from commercial areas, customer service, logistics and others is providing tools and systems that give opportunities such as self-service, transaction optimization, process automation, efficient and/or remote management of information, production of systemic solutions, and implementation of business intelligence.

Today, web channels, online channels, applications (apps), software, social networking have become extremely significant. We can also see the initial but growing demand for innovation, which is already strategic in more mature organizations, seeking to generate models, services and products.
Similarly, there is responsiveness to safety, sustainability, environment, corporate social responsibility; respect for ethical values, stakeholders and community throughout the value chain.

About SommerGroup International Executive Search

SommerGroup® is a member of the IMD International Search Group, Executive Search association present in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. They specialize in identifying the best talented individuals available both in the local and international labor markets.

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