"Whereas a year ago we could only find two brazen kids asking for a fixed salary of at least 1,000 euros; who were used to sitting in the showroom and waiting for customers, and thought they were doing a good job, we are now seeing hard-working people come to us who settle for 600 euro salaries and understand that tough times are ahead, so they are willing to stay at the office from morning until evening," says Valentin Ilie, CEO of real estate consultancy firm Coldwell Banker Affiliates of Romania, one of the biggest players that has recently entered the market.
Real estate and banking had been the stars of the salary market until a few months ago, where one could easily earn quite a lot. The aggressive expansion of the banking networks and the real estate transaction fever in recent years had been directly felt by the pockets of those that brokered them. The average salary in a bank, the highest across the entire economy for months on end revolved around 1,000 euros a month. On the other hand, a good real estate consultant would earn 4,000 euros per month and a very good one would earn 10,000 euros a month. Project managers, very few and in high demand from real estate businesses, who would ask for 3,000-4,000 euro salaries have adjusted expectations to what the market has to offer now.
"Project managers are willing to take job offers that pay 1,000 euros even though they were accustomed with high earnings," says Cristina Postolache, general manager of Skill Team, a human resources company.
Recruitment specialists believe this is the beginning of a correction on the workforce market, faced with raises of over 20% and a severe shortage of skilled personnel.
"Until a few months ago, companies would hire people without carefully checking to see whether they really needed to recruit. Now employers are more sensitive to costs and employees to the actual value they can provide to a company," says Madalina Balan, general manager of Hart Human Resource Consulting, a recruitment and assessment company, who adds that she is getting CVs from managers and team leaders who are looking for work not only for them, but also for the entire team.
On the other hand, part of the employees put recruitment on stand-by.
"Very few of them have the courage to recruit now. Most employers are either laying off people or waiting to see what happens," says George Butunoiu, owner of the eponymous consultancy and executive search firm. The headhunter adds that some employers are considering lowering wages as of next year.
"The newcomers, quite few actually, who would easily get 2,000 euro salaries before, will get 20-30% less. Employees already working at a company will see their fixed salary go down by 15-20%".
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