Construction workers wanted

A combination of a construction boom and a lack of trained laborers in the sector is fueling unusually strong demand for construction workers in Poland these days. Site managers and property valuers, as well as road designers, are all highly sought-after, now that EU funds are boosting highway construction.

Growth in the construction sector is now spilling over into the financial services market, where demand for specialists is ballooning. According to Hays, a British HR consultancy company, financial institutions need more staff to fill their expanding real-estate finance departments. In other areas of the finance sector, tax advisers, accountants and financial inspectors are also in heavy demand.

There is also a constant demand for specialists in companies' internal auditing due to the American Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which must be adhered to by companies listed on American stock exchanges, and thus by their Polish subsidiaries.

Other fields suffering from staff shortages are the industrial, pharmaceutical, FMCG, and logistics sectors. "A trend that is characteristic for almost all industries is replacing expatriates with domestic specialists," says Hays' country manager, Mieczysław Błoński. Also crucial for the Polish labor market is foreign companies starting activities in Russia and Ukraine. "Polish managers more often represent foreign companies in those countries. Their advantages are a knowledge of Russian and experience in an emerging market," says Błoński.