Executive employment at a record level in Brittany – Le Journal des Entreprises
Breton companies recruited 9,500 executives in 2022, an increase of 10% compared to 2021, reaching a record level. This is revealed by the Association for Executive Employment (Apec) in its annual report. Among these recruitments, 3,300 are job creations, which represents an increase of 15.8% in two years. However, the increase in executive hiring is less marked than at the national level, which reached an increase of +15% (308,300). “But Brittany was the only region of France which had maintained its level of executive employment equal between 2019 and 2020. We therefore remain in an upward dynamic and have not had this catch-up effect as in other regions”, explains Olivier Maurin, regional delegate of Apec in Brittany. Moreover, since 2016, the region has remained globally more dynamic than its neighbours, with an increase of +56% against +30% for France as a whole. “We note that Ille-et-Vilaine concentrates the majority of executive jobs, with 55% of offers, followed by Finistère, which represents 21%”, adds Fabrice Landois, business relations consultant at Apec Bretagne.
IT still a field of excellence
The trades that concentrate the most executive job offers remain IT development and auditing/accounting. “If we add to IT development the professions of IT project management, infrastructures, which include those in the field of cybersecurity, this represents 3,128 jobs”, continues Fabrice Landois. That is one third of recruitments, IT remaining the area of excellence in Brittany. Thus, the number of executives working in Brittany is continuously increasing, with +2.6% in 2022, i.e. 131,160 people. “It’s 3% of French managers. Historically, the management rate, in the legal sense of the term, is low, because many companies, particularly in the food industry, entrust management positions to supervisors “, specifies Olivier Maurin.
Contraction of hirings in 2023
For 2023, the companies surveyed by Apec remain however on the reserve. In a tense geopolitical and inflationary context, the recruitment of executives in Brittany, as in France, could mark time. Apec expects 8,890 recruitments in the region for the current year (ie -6%). “Recruitment should progress in high value-added services, such as IT and telecommunications, engineering and R & D, banking insurance, notes Olivier Maurin. And the majority of Breton companies indicate that they are looking for profiles of executives with 1 to 10 years of experience.” Another trend: Breton executives will be hired more by ETIs and large groups (57% of offers) than by SMEs (43%) in 2023. “The trend is reversed compared to 2022”, adds Olivier Maurin.
Issues of attractiveness and employment of seniors
Once again this year, Breton companies will have to deal with the difficulties of recruiting, and adapt their compensation policies to the context of inflation. “One of the other HR challenges for 2023 will be to succeed in changing the outlook and practices on the employment of seniors”, concludes the regional delegate.
