2023-11-10 07:26:23
Published on Nov 9, 2023 at 4:07 p.m.Updated Nov. 10, 2023 at 8:26 a.m.
The job market as a whole is slowing down; that of executives does not escape the trend. Without us yet being able to detect a turnaround after the two euphoric post-Covid years, as evidenced by the recruitment tensions for these profiles which are still very high. This is what emerges from the latest economic barometer published this Thursday by the Association for Executive Employment (APEC).
At 123,200 in the third quarter, the number of job offers posted on the association’s website fell by 13% compared to the same period last year, and by 4% over two years. With significant differences from one region to another (for example it is more marked in Ile-de-France which concentrates half of the positions).
No reversal yet
“Even if we remain above the pre-crisis level, we are getting closer to it,” pointed out the director general of Apec, Gilles Gateau during a press briefing. We are getting even closer as in the month of October alone, the decline was amplified (-16%) compared, it is true, to a very dynamic end of the year 2022.
“If we go below, then we can talk about a turnaround,” he added, knowing that the Prisme du travail temporary or Syntec federation (digital, engineering, consulting, events and training) draws the same observation.
Another sign of landing, the percentage of companies planning to hire at least one manager by the end of the year fell to 10% in September. That is two points less than in June, four less than last December. All in all, the 2023 vintage will have difficulty matching the 2022 record with 308,000 permanent or fixed-term contract hires of more than one year, as Apec anticipated in April.
The situation of executives, whose population is estimated between 3.9 and 4.4 million, however, remains very enviable. Correlated with business investment, their share in private salaried employment continues to rise: it was 19% in 2020, 5 points more in fifteen years, shows a statistical portrait of this population published this Thursday .
Measured by INSEE, their unemployment rate was 4.1% in 2022, and should be around 3.5% this year, even if seniors continue to suffer from a certain ostracism from employers.
Supported by a media campaign in particular, Apec has taken up its pilgrim’s staff to change mentalities while recruitment difficulties, although decreasing, remain very high to the point of constituting a concern as serious as the increase in energy costs: in September, 75% of companies that intended to hire a manager anticipated doing so, compared to 84% in March. The reason is always the low number of candidates, profiles different from those sought or competition from other employers.
Young executives are restless
Faced with this situation, the vast majority of recruiters adapt, notes Apec, by dropping the remuneration, skills or experience requested. “In other words, it benefits seniors less than young people,” summarized the Association’s director of studies, Pierre Lamblin. “There is a lot of irrationality in this ostracism,” added Gilles Gateau. An employer rejects a senior because he tells himself that he will not stay long (before retirement) in favor of a young person who will stay even shorter. »
Search for a better salary, which they very often obtain, working conditions more in line with their private life, return to study or search for meaning: young executives, in fact, are on the move. Among those under 35, 12% have started a retraining project, for example.
For the deputy general director of Apec, Laetitia Niaudeau, this desire for mobility is manifesting itself “earlier and earlier”. Another striking statistic: 42% of executives resign within two years of being hired, compared to 22% for all employees.
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