Skip to main content

European Cooperation: Spain and Germany together in an Executive Search process within Talentor International

Recently in Servitalent, as Talentor Spain, we had the opportunity to collaborate closely and pleasantly with one of our partners in the network of headhunters Talentor International, Talentor Germany

We had a distended conversation with Gerhard Stahler, CEO of Talentor Germany, and were able to ask him some questions about the successful Executive Search process in which both parties were involved. 


We start by asking Gerhard about the most important factors to be considered by a foreign company when looking for talent in Germany, to which Gerhard responds:

  • There is a big difference if you are a Spanish start-up or if you are a company already established in the international market, as of course the strategies they have to resort to are different. 

    First of all, you have to consider that for typical Germans the most important thing initially in a procurement is the following of laws and regulations, followed by the connection or relationship between both parties. This means that in Spain they are more used to establish the personal relationship first and then the formal part, contrary to what is commonly used in Germany. 

    Something important is also to understand culturally the German candidates, they are generally risk averse, they tend to stay a long time in the same company or in an economically and professionally secure environment, they are very analytical when considering a change of job opportunity, so foreign companies must offer them a reliable opportunity with the option of professional growth, plus is common that they expect an annual salary increase.


And Gerhard, what can you share with us from your personal experience working with Spanish companies or talent search processes in Spain for German companies?

  • As a board member of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Germany for 8 years, I had the opportunity to work with many Spanish companies, learning that you should not generalize the business situation in Spain as a whole, as it is a country with many regions and cultures. It is also a different experience if you work with a family company or an international one. The behavior of both is very varied, but it is important, whatever the case may be, to make it clear to the company that the business market situation in Germany and Spain is different. It is advisable for headhunters to analyze how the client company reacts in its local market and whether the conditions, especially the salary conditions, are acceptable in the German market (in my case), so that the selection process can be carried out successfully.
     

What about the most demanded positions in the German market, what can you tell us about that? 

  • In Germany technical engineering jobs are highly offered and demanded, allowing candidates to have a high level of negotiation in terms of salaries and constant job change if the opportunity is good.

    Positions in the IT sector are highly competitive, and those in the I + D sector are not easy to find in Germany, so depending on the industry and direction of the company will be the positions most easily found. 

    In the German market communication skills are very important, having an acceptable level of English is required. I had the opposite case in Spain, of a German candidate hired in a company in Barcelona who did not speak Catalan or Spanish, in fact he had not worked abroad, but they were looking for him because he was a native German speaker and because of his high specific skills for the position, so communication skills took a back seat.


Gerhard, what are the most notable differences in working with the Spanish companies, did you identify any differences in the Executive Search process you conducted with us?

  • In the process that we carried out together, I can say that being an international company highly recognized in its sector with knowledge in this type of process, the experience was very cooperative. The company showed us all its support from the beginning, listened to our recommendations regarding hiring and was open to negotiate the candidate's salary, a very important aspect.

    One of the most important suggestions I made to the CEO of the Spanish company was to contact the candidate directly, explaining the opportunity they had for him and showing their interest in his candidacy, since for German candidates it is very important to have the certainty that the company is interested in them and that it is worth the risk of changing jobs. While it is true that German candidates like professionalism in the selection process, they are also looking for that personal touch from the company.


Finally we wanted to know, how was the experience of collaboration with us Servitalent (Talentor Span) within the Talentor International network? to which Gerhard commented:

  • I really appreciated the very close communication and the link we created between both partners. I really appreciated that Servitalent supported my recommendations and passed them on to the client, showing my point of view as if it was a Spanish point of view, convincing the client with the best suggestions and ideas."It was a good experience, but better is, to talk about it".