The effects of quarantine are kicking in, and recruitment during COVID-19 is not the same as before.
Europe has gradually closed down and all of the countries represented in the MeetFrank job market. People are experiencing restrictions of movement and physical interaction at workspaces. And companies have thus found themselves in an unprecedented situation.
As global markets panicked and economic activity stopped in many sectors, the hiring slowed down in many companies. The recruitment sector, in general, seems to be in trouble as the recruitment giant ZipRecruiter has laid off roughly 40% of its staff.
Candor’s live feed on companies that are hiring, freezing hiring or laying off workers. – Source
Candor has released an extensive overview of over 1700 businesses, with 60% reporting hiring freezes. It is also clear from it that software development companies, although strongly affected, seem to be in the best spot when it comes to the hiring-layoffs ratio. Some will perish, some will come out of this even stronger.
But statistics aside, the crisis is most immediately felt by those who work with people and this is where HR managers and recruiters come into play.
As physical interaction has fast become a total non grata, companies that already have or can switch to remote workwith minimal effort will have a clear advantage.
How is the current situation affecting recruiting efforts though?
We’ve spoken with recruiters working for some established tech companies – Bolt, Veriff, Supermetrics – about their practices of handling the crisis and steps to mitigate the short-term effects and mid-term effects of a social lockdown and economic uncertainty.
We hope that sharing their insight and MeetFrank data will help you navigate the tough times ahead.
Companies are hiring less, but more for remote work
As anticipated, the global crisis has started to have an effect on the job market as well.
At MeetFrank, there has been a considerable drop in job offers, with a 13% fall taking place in March, compared to the steady growth that was happening the same time last year.
The number of job applications saw a drop throughout in February and the first half of March, when the pandemic had already conquered headlines globally and the uncertainty regarding the economy started kicking in.
According to Bolt’s recruiterAnna Golubchenko, this outcome is actually natural as people are cautious about job change especially in times of changes.
She added that ‘depending on how long the outbreak will last and its impact on businesses in the long term, we can expect more applications once the companies start to react and optimize their workforce according to the new demand and market conditions.’
This seems to be in process already as there has already been a steep rise in the number of applications to the jobs in the MeetFrank app that begun on the second week of March.
According to MeetFrank’s data, the number of remote work offers has nearly doubled compared to the situation in January.
The rise in the number of remote work applications is even more drastic – a105% rise in the third week of March, compared to the same period in February and a staggering 135% rise compared to January.
At MeeFrank, we’ve reacted accordingly by launching a new remote work-only section in the app helping companies to make the transformation to remote work. You can also read our blog article about the benefits (and dangers) that remote work offers for companies and workers.
How are recruiters experiencing the effects of the pandemic? For what roles are companies still hiring?
During a pandemic, avoiding physical contact (and washing hands) has become the utmost act of responsibility and this forces companies to make fundamental changes to their processes.
Recruitment is naturally one of the activities where a face-to-face meeting has always been a norm – well, not anymore!
Finnish marketing software developer Supermetrics recruitersMarika SalkolaandViivi Marttinensaidthey are still recruiting to all our open positions, but the biggest problem lies with deciding on starting dates, especially for candidates outside of Finland as the country is about to close entry for all foreigners.
“The biggest change for us has been shifting our whole recruitment process fully online, with all interviews happening through video. We believe this will be the way we’ll continue for the time being. Naturally, we will also have to plan a great online onboarding process for our new employees, which is totally new for us,” commented Salkola.
She predicts that the company might have to slow down recruitment in some teams, but currently, recruitment is moving forward unaffected. Supermetrics is currently hiring software engineers, sales executives, a performance marketing manager, a CMO, and other roles..
Supermetrics workers must be feeling sorrow for not being able to work from their awesome-looking Helsinki office – Source
According to Kristiine Kukk at Estonia’s identity verification software developer Veriff, they have already found a new satisfactory way to continue hiring in the time where everybody is working remotely.
Using some outside help, they have prepared a remote onboarding process that helps to bring people over smoothly into a team that is working 100% remotely. “All in all, we are continuing the same as we did before,” Kuke said.
Veriffcontinues to hire for all the same roles – we are looking for technical professionals – for example, front-end engineers – and other skilled professionals like legal counsel and sales professionals.
How are the job applicants reacting to the crisis?
Fears of a viral pandemic mixed with the fear of losing your work and thus, income – the workers have a two-sided sense of fear on their minds at the moment.
Recruiters have felt the sense of unease emerging and Bolt’sAnna Golubchenko has offered a viable scenario for the course of events: “People are cautious about job change overall and in times of changes, such tendency grows. Depending on how the outbreak lasts and its impact on businesses in the long term, we can expect more applications, once the companies start to react and optimize their workforce according to the new demand and market conditions.“
She also predicts that “international applications will probably recede for a while, as most countries have closed their borders and flights have been canceled, so moving abroad is physically hard and people are not willing to take a double risk of a new job and the new country at an uncertain time.
Many people are also using the slowdown to take some time off and work on the projects they’ve been postponing for months.
Some people rediscover the projects they didn’t have time for before
In Finland, for Supermetrics the major changes haven’t kicked in yet. “Everyone has shown a lot of understanding towards the current situation and understands the process might be a little slower or the starting date might have to be a little further into the future than normal,” commented Marika Salkola.
In Estonia, Veriff has started moving candidates into video interviews instead of inviting them to their office already a few days before the emergency was declared. According to Kristiine Kukk the feedback from candidates was not positive at first as they felt like the company is overreacting.
The situation changed immediately after the state of emergency was declared: “Everyone has been very understanding. Usually, during the first 5 minutes of interviews, we discuss the situation of the country they’re currently at, how they are feeling about working from home. You can feel the people taking the very humane approach and come together with finding solutions!” she added.
How to get through the crisis as a recruiter and prepare for recovery?
“Keep calm and carry on!” doesn’t seem to suffice in these times (did it ever?). The crisis demands for swift action from the head of HR, who might even be the person to tell the CEO’s how to act in this situation while recruiting decisions and communicating those decisions, is more vital than ever.
According to Kristiine, Anna, Marika and Viivi the key aspects of overcoming the crisis are:
🔊Communication
Anna Golubchenko, Bolt: “No matter what your strategy is – whether you continue to hire or pause hiring, communicate your next steps clearly to your active candidates.
Bi-weekly updates for everyone who are on hold will be a nice touch even if you actually do not have any news. Embrace yourself for a few nasty Glassdoor reviews and think about a long-term strategy for recovering: where to source? Which tools to use? Where to post? Maybe add additional benefits like working from home, childcare or health insurance that have proven to be in demand during the quarantine”.
💕 Empathy
Marika Salkola, Viivi Marttinen, Supermetrics: “Show empathy. Even healthy people might have anxiety or stress about this situation, which is unlike anything most of us have had to go through before.
Remembering that your own company consists of people and those people might feel the effects of the covid-19 pandemic in different ways. Support and show understanding, now if ever it’s important for all of us to be there for each other.”
🤜💥🤛 Supporting your company
Kristiine Kukk, Veriff: “I think the key here is that recruitment is here to support the business. The key here is to take the humane approach, be understanding and solutions-oriented.
There are recruitment communities like Recruitment Thursday and Facebook group “Straight outta candidates” where people have come together and try to find solutions to the day to day challenges. Some companies are very heavily affected by the current situation and we already have some recruiters who are cooperating with each other to find a new job or a short term challenge.” Marika Salkola, Viivi Marttinen, Supermetrics: “Try to adapt your recruitments to the current situation by running the processes online. If your employer is pausing ongoing recruitments, then now is the perfect time to take a step back and think about how to improve your processes, rethink the hiring needs and schedule for the rest of the yearin the ideal situation and worst-case scenario or to brainstormfornew recruitment marketing materials!”
Smells like Team Spirit: Supermetrics holds regular web meetings and socialising events to keep the spirit high
Other great ideas that Supermetrics launched were introducing daily remote hangouts and encouraged their team to continue our social events online, offering child care benefit for employees with small children, introducing more flexible with the working hours – people can now you work whenever they are able to; communicating actively about how the company is doing financially to alleviate stress people might feel.
What lies ahead in the upcoming months?
Anna Golubchenko (Bolt) is confident that there will be a change in the job market that is in favor of companies. “Some businesses will be severely affected and have to lay off people or offer unpaid leaves. In the first case, that means the number of applicants will grow naturally and as the demand for jobs grows, there will be a slight drop in salaries.” As we noted before, this already seems to have started according to MeetFrank data.
Anna went on to theorise that unpaid vacations will allow people to pick up short-term gigs and freelance projects varying from couriers, drivers, retail workers, and customer support as well as software development, marketing, and design.
Experiencing a decline in ride-hailing Bolt itself has actually already changed a lot in their operations, putting several functions on hold, while also adding new services and products like food and groceries and even a bookstore to their list of companies available at Bolt Food. According to Anna Golubchenko there will be more important functions added, as the countries go deeper into lockdown.
Puänt Books is one of the new stores available at Bolt Food now. – Source
Kristiina Kukk (Veriff) states that everything depends on the state of emergency and whether it is possible to relocate candidates. They are considering hiring relocating candidates first as remote workers and moving them to Estonia as soon as the situation allows it. “As Veriff’s business grows, recruitment will go on as well. Hopefully, in the next two months, the situation will calm more as well.”
To help job-seekers around the globe, we have launched the Remote Work Feed in our app. All new companies hiring with MeetFrank will have a free trial and we will extend it throughout the crisis. Help the community by adding all your remote job offers to the MeetFrank app. Get started.
At times like these, working remotely is not an option but a new fact of life for many. But yet, while slurping the double amount of coffee per day while still in your pajamas, it would be nice to know how your new routine compares to the good old office life.
We took a look into the benefits and downsides of remote work to give you more insight into whether it’s actually productive.
And the best way to do it? – Looking at companies who have been remote for years already. Without any external motivator. Because they like it. And in most cases, also benefit from it.
Going to the office is so 2019…
In the age of apps that combine collective work, communication and video conferences, working in the same office has become less of a necessity for many companies.
Recent studies have expressed that people working from home are more efficient, less likely to leave their job and that working in an open office (the most common type of offices) actually hinders productivity. Paradoxically, there also seems to be less communication in open spaces, as people are working in conditions where they can’t concentrate, become withdrawn and cooperate less.
Other big factors are the nightmares related to commuting to the downtown offices in metropolises, the massive office rental prices and the problems that rigid 9 to 5 office work creates for people with familiesor basically any of life’s emergencies.
Add to this the fact that, according to the study by Buffer, 98% of workers would like to work remotely at least some of the time and 57% are doing it all the time already – and one could say that verdict against the good old office work was complete already before the crisis.
According to studies, remote workers are more productive – Image source
However, humans are by nature collective beings that have an evolutionary history of physically doing things together. Decades of office work is deeply rooted in our culture and collective psyche. So the question arises: how many of us are truly capable of going fully solo when it comes to the working environment?
We have looked at several examples of companies that rely on remote work, put together a list of pros and cons and named some of the practices used by companies who embrace remote work as part of their company’s DNA.
Some of the more out-of-the-box practices we discovered are:
Basing the whole work operation and communication of a company on written text and creating real-time blogs running on the WordPress P2 theme
Rewarding remote working team members with regular team-building events in exotic locations
Team-building regularly playing the strategy game Civilization 5 on a company server
How to make a company thrive while working remotely?
Whatever the personal feelings of either the executives or workers are towards remote work, it is clear that not all industries can allow for remote work.
Thus, the tech sector has been, by and large, enjoying a luxury that people in several other sectors couldn’t afford, as a lot of the work does not require physical interaction between people.
Interestingly enough, up until the pandemic, among the companies hiring at MeetFrank, more than 51% allowed remote work their employees. Yet only 9.5% of the job offerings mentioned the remote work option in the offer description during the last three months.
This seems to indicate that managers are fine with occasional remote work but working fully remotely has not yet become a thing for these companies.
However these days, most companies are changing their attitude. The common line goes like this:
More companies are asking their employees to work remotely
These companies have remote work in their DNA
So how do companies make the lack of physical connection work for them?
Mostly, by using tech, of course.
There’s an ever-growing pool of apps for communication and group work – Slack, Airtable, Fleep, Asana, Basecamp, Office 365 for the work environment and Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts for video communication and holding meetings.
But trendy tech gimmicks can only get you so far, as many team managers have realised.
For example, the global remote company Automattic has its team members transcribing posts deemed too long for a Slack conversation into a custom made WordPress template for a better reading experience.
Also, all conversations, meetings and documents are always accessible to the entire company, for the sake of transparency. The company has made the text so fundamental in its operations that even work interviews are held via text chats, to evaluate the candidate’s textual expression abilities.
Shopify’s chic Toronto office. Image credit: Shopify
Online shopping retailer Shopify has remote workers all around the world, with teams scaled by making sure employers work hours within their own time zone, thus making sure the merchants will have support available 24/7, most likely in their native language.
In Klaus, Tallinn-based startup offering conversation review and QA platform for customer support teams, Slack play a central role in the management of a company as over 50% of the team works remotely.
The company’s founder Kair Käsper names Slack’s status reporting and setting concrete task timelines as vital for making remote work while citing Slack’s add-on called Geekbot as a good place to share non-work related stories (and bad jokes). The team also reserves an hour every week to have a call to discuss how the work arrangement is functioning.
Another noteworthy method of offering a sense of inclusion and equality for remote workers is the rule that whenever at least one of the people is attending a meeting via digital channels, everyone else will also do so.
Arkency, on the other hand, has structured their work processes so that being out of sync and working any time the employee wants, has become a value in itself. One of their more unusual team-building perks is the team server in the Civilization 5 strategy game.
Some companies rely on using perks such as travel and transport compensation for their employees. E-learning software development company Articulate offers telecommuting, equipment and technology stipend for setting up a home office, flexible, paid time off and annual retreats.
So, is remote work more productive?
As we can see there are plenty of methods used to make teamwork efficient and keep the workers motivated.
But how does remote work actually compare to office work? We’ve made a list of benefits of either one, so you decide for yourself.
Pros of working together
Team cohesion building and motivation benefits
Social interaction (can also be a disadvantage sometimes)
Managers have less visibility about people’s productivity
In-person meetings deem to be more productive than those over a call
The overall productivity in the team might both increase or drop, and it’s difficult to predict which one will happen
Some people like to have an office as a place to work from
Pros of remote work
Useful for expanding businesses (lower costs, possible to hire local talent who don’t have to relocate)
hire the best talent possible
lower costs on office/infrastructure, no costs for relocation
lower carbon footprint
motivated, professional workers tend to be more productive when working alone (fewer distractions created by colleagues) (should there be a reference to study with this claim?)
Less time spent on commuting
workers less likely to leave the company
workers less likely to fall sick
workers less likely to transmit viral illnesses
workers get to spend more time with their family and have more time to spend on non-work-related activities leading to less stress
The workforce becomes more diverse
The most popular remote work benefits as voted by workers – Image source
Although the pros of remote work seem to outweigh office work considerably, it has to be pointed out that going fully remote might still not be an ideal solution that works for everyone, be it a company, the manager or the employer.
Workers have cited problems like unplugging after work, loneliness and collaborating/ communication as top three struggles when working remotely.
Biggest struggles of remote work as voted by workers – Image source
In addition, for many people, remote work, mixed with the use of digital technology, might create the effect “always on”, blurring work and life boundaries and leading to stress, depression and anxiety. A United Nations report from 2017 detected that 41% of remote workers reported high-stress levels, compared to just 25% of office workers.
But having said that, overall, it is clear that remote work is becoming more popular among company managers, workers and researchers.
As Stanford University researcher Nicholas Bloom concluded in his much-referenced studies, remote work can lead up to a 50 decrease of worker attrition and a considerable rise in their performance. This came with a slight bit of warning though, as people working 100% remotely reported a growing feeling of isolation, so Bloom concluded that the ideal would be to balance working from home with occasional office time.
We found a massive, massive improvement in performance — a 13% improvement in performance from people working at home.”
This is something that a lot of people are actually doing, as the Swiss office provider IWG found out, 70% of employees in the 96 companies around the globe they studiedwork remotely at least one day a week, while 53% work remotely for at least half of the week.
So, does remote work work?
As with most things in life, there is no one definitive answer. Every major change in the lives of people (and people as workers) will have different consequences, depending on the context, the person and the company he/she is working in.
But it is clear that remote work was getting more popular rapidly already before the global crisis and that people will most likely be working more remotely than in the office quite soon anyway.
This will add new challenges for employers when it comes to team-building and work structuring for companies, while also, new frameworks need to be developed to reduce the potential feeling of isolation that occurs in workers.
As we learned from the examples before, some tech companies can get really creative in that.
“The right kind of communication is key to overcoming the trials and tribulations of virtual working. Employers need to put the right structures in place, such as scheduled video calls and regular team-building meetups, to build rapport. Bosses need to lead by example and create a culture where those outside the office feel valued.”
Overall, the positive effects of remote work seem to be considerably outweighing the good old 9 to 5 / 5 days a week routine of office work and all the logistical, and in the present context, health-related troubles it entails.
As we learned, communication, collaboration and creativity are the keywords for making remote work really work, for companies and individuals working for them.
When thinking of technology and Finland, probably the first things that come to mind are the historic tech giant Nokia or the gaming sector comets Rovio and Supercell.
Maybe you’ve even heard of one of the biggest and coolest startup conventions in the world –- Slush – that takes place in Helsinki or that Aalto University opened a centre for startups…
From all the signs we’ve encountered that a lot more is brewing in the land of a thousand lakes! Here are some of the highlights of what we’ve learned:
The average salaries in the Finnish tech sector stand firmly above the European average
The competitiveness for Finnish jobs is lower than the EU average
The tech sector is experiencing a boost in investments
The startup scene is booming with over 4000 active companies
The Finnish tech sector in numbers
When Nokia, one of the biggest mobile phone producers during the 2000’s, sold its phone production brand to Microsoft and later failed, it was a big blow to the Finnish economy, but even more to their pride.
However, the layoff that followed, created a ripple effect and launched the success stories of Rovio and Supercell, the two gaming companies that became behemoths, employing the same people who lost their jobs in Nokia.
Fast forward to present day and we can see that the Finnish economy is at an even better place, as foreign investments are pouring in, the startup scene is booming and high tech production companies like HMD Global and Uros have taken over the torch.
Who are employers looking for in the Finnish job market?
In the European tech sector currently, the most in-demand workers are the software engineers and Finland is no exception as 66% of all the work offers are in that field. As the ratio of all applications for software engineering jobs is considerably lower – 52% – it can be said that software engineers are enjoying quite a low level of competition compared to others.
It is exactly the opposite for the next three jobs in terms of job openings as the ratio of offers and applications is leaning towards a greater share of applications for sales & business development (17% vs 12%), marketing & PR (14% vs 5%) and design (7% vs 5%), meaning that the competition is higher in these fields.
Top 6 jobs in terms of competition
Marketing & PR is by far the field with the highest competition in Finland with an average of 30 applications per job offer during the last three months. It is followed by design and sales & business development, both drawing in around 15 applications per job opening.
Job seekers of the more technical jobs can enjoy a relatively low level of competition as software engineering, data & analytics and IT & sysadmin all had around 7-8 applicants per job offer.
This also means that employers will have to go the extra mile to attract the top tech talent as the demand for them is high.
Although Finland follows a similar pattern with the rest of Europe – higher competition in the creative and lower in the technical fields – the average level of competitiveness for jobs is much lower than the Europe average, and so in all fields, we have data on. The biggest difference is for design jobs, as Finland’s competition is almost three times lower than the European average – 41 vs 15.6 people.
Salary offers of 6 most popular jobs
When looking at the average salaries of the 6 most popular jobs, Finland ranks way above the European average. The pattern is similar though: tech jobs, which, compared to creative jobs, enjoy a lower rate of competition when applying and a significantly higher payment.
Data & Analytics is the most well-paid job with a staggering €4113 average gross salary, followed by software engineering (€4021 gross) and sales & business development (€4081 gross), the only non-technical job among the better-paid ones, with IT & sysadmin not far behind (€3887 gross).
Marketing & PR and design, two of the fields with the biggest competition, are among the least paid jobs here.
% of jobs supporting relocation vs job seekers interested in relocating
Although Finnish employers receive, on average, significantly fewer applications than the European average, the companies are nevertheless more hesitant in seeking labour elsewhere. Looks like Finland is really missing some data & analytics specialists at the moment – it’s the job with the highest payment and a low rate of applications, so it makes only sense that its the job with biggest % of relocation offers (43%). Finnish work seekers, on the contrary, are slightly more interested in the relocation option than the EU average, with 16% of designers and 13% of data & analytics and marketing & PR job seekers up for the potential change of country of residence.
Top 5 countries with applications to relocate to work in Finland
Finland’s southern neighbours are the most interested with relocating there, as around 6% of all applications for jobs in Finland are done by Estonians.
Applicants based in Serbia follow, with a number of applications that’s over three times smaller, along with Romanians and Lithuanians, all making up around 2% of the total of % of applications made for Finnish jobs.
Top skills required in tech-related roles
With software engineers being the most wanted workers, it doesn’t come as too big of a surprise that the most sough-after skills in Finland are currently full-stack, backend and frontend development, alongside with JavaScript.
Top 10 Finnish companies, voted by job-seekers
Among the most popular Finnish companies* that MeetFrank users have voted they’d like to work for is OP, a group operating in the banking, investment and insurance services. It is followed by the Nordic banking conglomerate Nordea’s local branch, Finnair and the online retail platform Zalando. Another retailer in top is K-Group / Kesko – a grocery chain that is striving to become the world’s most sustainable grocery trade company.
The startup sector is represented by the autodynamic pricing strategy company Priceff, the body monitoring smart-ring Oura and Smartly.io that offers automated, highly personalized social advertising.
*The popular companies list does not reflect the companies hiring actively with MeetFrank in Finland, but the companies our app users are interested in working for.
So, why work in Finland?
Finland is showing many signs of being on the way to becoming a European tech powerhouse, with some globally established high-tech companies, mixed with an exciting bunch of startups.
The salaries in Finland rank among the highest in Europe in the tech sector, while the competition for the jobs there is lower than the EU average.
A lot of the companies put an effort to become sustainable and the country ranks the highest in the world when it comes to living standards. What’s not to like?
Lithuania recently celebrated its first unicorn, as the second-hand fashion market place Vinted reached the magical 1 billion valuation marklast November. This was not a fluke by any means, however, rather an event that was long overdue, as the country has become the hotbed of fintech, with global players opening their local hubs and new exciting startups popping up everywhere in the capital city Vilnius.
Looking at the job market statistics in MeetFrank and researching the local job market, here are some of the highlights we discovered:
Lithuania is experiencing an explosion of startups, as the number of companies rose by 58% last year
Tech jobs in Lithuania are among the lowest in terms of competition in Europe
As Lithuania recently announced its own E-residency programme, following in the footsteps of Estonia and just launched the Startup Employee Visa to attract highly qualified foreign talent, it would be an understatement that things are happening in the small Baltic country.
The capital city is home to the futuristic hub, co-working space and community center called Blockchain Center Vilnius (HL: https://bcgateway.eu/) and to the largest fintech conference in the Baltics FinTech Inn. In addition, Rise Vilnius, recently taken over from Barclay by Swedbank, and rebranded as Rockit has been vital in nurturing startups and fostering tech innovations in the country.
All of this has been attracting international and regional talent to Vilnius that just made the biggest leap in the world talent ranking, moving 8 positions upwards, placing 28th among 63 countries – the highest among the three Baltic countries.
Currently, the Vilnius area is home to over 21 000 ICT sector and 6000 research & development employees, while the city is one of the youngest European capitals with more than 50% of residents younger than 40 years old.
Whom are employers looking for?
Similarly to the rest of the European job market, software engineers are among the most sought-after workers at the moment, with nearly half of all the job offers. However, only 20% of the applications are made for these jobs, marking a very low level of competition.
It is completely the opposite for sales and business development and marketing & PR, the second and third in terms of the number of job offers, as both have the % of applications per job offer that is considerably higher, thus meaning a higher level of competition.
Top 6 jobs in terms of competition
The competition for top tech jobs in Lithuania is way below the European average as the ratio of applications per offers is usually twice as little. Sales & business development and (tech) project management are the most competitive with slightly over 20 candidates per job.
As with the rest of Europe, marketing & PR is also among the more competitive jobs, but the rate of competitiveness is still quite low – 15 applications in Lithuania vs 35 as the European average.
Design – the most competitive job in Europe (41 applications per offer on average) – is almost five times less competitive in Lithuania with 8.7 applications per offer, although the pay gap with the European average (€1700 gross in Lithuania vs €2346 gross in EU on average) is also large.
Software engineering, the job that is most in-demand and the most well-paid in Lithuania (as in the rest of Europe), is also the least competitive in Lithuania, with IT & system administration following close.
Salary offers for 6 most popular jobs
The average salaries in the Lithuanian tech sector are currently around 40% lower than in the EU on average, but so are the living expenses in Vilnius. Among the 6 most popular jobs, software engineering tops the list as in the rest of Europe, with an average payment offer of €2727 gross.
Jobs for sales & business development, IT & sysadmin and (tech) project management offer around €2400 gross with IT & sysadmin having the lowest pay gap with the rest of Europe – €2365 vs €2747 gross.
Creative fields – designers and marketing – are currently lowest-paid jobs here with an average salary offer around €1700 gross, but the gaps with the European average are not bigger than with tech jobs.
% of jobs supporting relocation vs job seekers interested in relocating
When it comes to relocation, the readiness of Lithuanian companies to offer relocation is almost twice as low as the EU average. For the offers of top 6 jobs, 25% offer relocation, whereas the same figure for EU average is 43. This is understandable, as the opportunities for the companies are more limited, however, all signs show that Lithuanian companies are in a growing need for tech talent from abroad, so recruiters should try to find the means to offer this option more.
It comes as no surprise that the most sought-after roles, such as software engineering and sales & business development, are the ones who offer relocation the most.
On the workers’ side, however, Lithuanians are slightly more eager to relocate as the % of users interested in relocation is 14% vs the 12% that is the EU average. Curiously enough, the differences between fields are almost non-existent, as all fall between 12% and 15%.
Top 6 countries with applications to relocate to work in Lithuania
Whether it’s the weather or its blossoming tech scene, Lithuania is currently the most popular for northern countries as Estonia, Finland and Latvia are the top three countries with applications for Lithuanian tech jobs.
Curiously enough, India ranks 5th among the countries with interest, almost tied with that of Latvia and Germany – the holder or of the 4th place.
Top skills required in tech-related roles
Currently, 15 of the 20 most sought-after skills at MeetFrank are those of software engineering, with full-stack, backend and frontend development making up the top 3. The most in-demand coding languages are currently JavaScript, HTML & CSS, React and SQL.
For sales & business development, Lithuanian companies have named English, sales management, business management, cold contacting and sales representation as the skills that they are expecting from the candidates the most, while Lithuanian language is also expected on some occasions.
Marketing & PR experts need to have good skills in content and product marketing and market strategizing.
System administration, DevOps and computer user support were the top 3 skills required from IT & sysadmin candidates.
The hottest employers in Lithuania
Based on MeetFrank data, the hottest job providers in Lithuania are the UK’s first digital banking unicorn Revolut and the first local unicorn Vinted – a digital marketplace for second-hand clothing.
Telia, one of Scandinavia’s biggest telcos that also operates in the Baltics, is on the third spot, with Treatwell, an online spa & salon booking platform and the ride-hailing giant Uber following closeby.
Other local companies at the top are the conglomerate Modus Group, active in the construction of renewable energy and the car-sharing sector (Citybee), e-commerce assistant Oberlo, the state-run airport operator Lithuanian Airports, translation agency MB Galerita and the digital product development agency Telesoftas.
Also hiring with MeetFrank is the Lithuanian tech startup Deeper, designing cutting-edge smart devices and software for various outdoor activities.
Wrapping it up
Lithuania and its capital Vilnius are an exciting option for jobs or business activities to keep an eye on, as the country is hungry for international tech talent and has established itself firmly as a regional hub for fintech enterprise.
Although the average salary offers in Lithuania are still behind the European average as with the rest of Baltic countries, the low cost of living and the vibrant, startup-friendly atmosphere in the capital city Vilnius more than make up for it.
Looking for more? Here are the tech sector job market overviews for Europe andEstonia.
Having a reputation for punching above its weight when it comes to things digital and tech, the Estonian tech sector has been experiencing a solid-paced rise during the last five years.
But how does that affect the local job market?
Here are some of the takeaway facts we found out about Estonia’s job market:
The country has risen to the 20th position in Europe in terms of the total investment into startups while having the second smallest population after Luxembourg
With its 123 million worth of investments into deep tech in 2014-2019, Estonia ranks 18th in Europe, placing it on the second place among Eastern European countries, right behind Poland that has 29 times bigger population
Software engineers and IT talent are currently among the most in-demand workers with the lowest level of competition
Salaries of Estonia’s tech jobs are behind the European average but way above the national average
Estonia’s tech sector in numbers
The tiger reference 🐯 in the title of this article is not a literary gimmick (not totally at least), as it’s referencing to the Tiger Leap project – one of the revolutionary initiatives launched by the Estonian government in 1990’s and 2000’s that paved way digital information technology. These programs played a fundamental role in the buildup of state information infrastructure and education.
It is also most likely one of the factors that have led to the considerable success of Estonia’s tech sector, that is currently growing at a fast pace and attracted a strong € 250 million worth of investments in 2019. The country is proud of its 4 unicorns, having currently more per capita than any other country in the world: Skype, Playtech, Transferwise and Bolt.
All this makes for good country promotion material, but what’s actually happening at the work market?
Top 6 jobs Estonian tech companies are hiring for
As with the rest of Europe, software engineering job offers are currently at the top in Estonia with 49% of the job offers. The share of applications submitted for software engineering jobs is significantly lower – 37% – meaning that the applicants enjoy a low competition rate. And are in high demand!
IT & System administrators are the second-highest in need and also with a low ratio of applicant numbers. Creative fields like design and marketing & PR are among the last in the top 6, with a negative ratio of the share of applications, indicating high competition.
Competitiveness for the top 6 roles
Among the six jobs with the highest share of offers in MeetFrank, creative and performance-oriented fields like design, sales & business development, marketing & PR & media see the biggest competition for the job offers in Estonia.
On average 26 people apply for design job offers published in MeetFrank, which is the highest in Estonia but far behind the European average of the same field – 41. Also similarly to the European average, IT fields are lower in terms of competition as, software engineering has 10, Data & Analytics has 9 and IT & Sysadmin has 7 candidates per offer.
What are the salaries for tech jobs in the Estonian job market?
Although slightly behind the European average, it can be said that salaries offered in the tech sector in Estonia are relatively higher than those of the rest of the country.
Also, the payment is slightly more egalitarian in Estonia between the average payments in different fields as the tech/IT jobs are not that far ahead of the others than the European average is. IT & System administrators are the most well-paid among the most popular jobs, followed closely by project management, sales & business development and software engineering, while creative fields like design and marketing are earning about a fifth less.
As you scroll up, you will see that high demand creates high salaries: As software engineers are one of the most sought-after experts in Estonia, it also reflects in their salary level.
It’s a fairly common knowledge that Estonian tech companies are also looking towards other European markets when it comes to finding top talent.
How popular is relocation among Estonian tech companies and job-seekers?
Are companies and job-seekers open to relocating?
It turns out workers currently based in Estonia are, on average slightly less interested in relocation than the European average. This is the case for software engineering and sales & business development job seekers.
A curious case is IT & system administration, that has the highest % of interest for relocation (25%) while the field has the highest salaries of all top jobs in Estonia and the lowest level of competition. This is over 4 times higher than the European average (6%) for the role.
Sales & business development and data & analytics people are the most content in Estonia, with only 11% and 12%, respectively, interested in relocating.
Top 5 countries with applications to relocate to work in Estonia
We know that around 25% of Estonian job-seekers are open to relocation.
But what about the other way around? Do people from other countries want to relocate to Estonia? The job-seekers in the MeetFrank platform seem to be willing enough.
Although Lithuania has an emerging tech scene of its own and the average payment is close to Estonia, it is surprisingly the country with the highest rate of readiness to relocate to Estonia. That is most likely due to geographic proximity.
Estonia’s northern neighbor Finland follows second and Ukraine, currently the country with the biggest migration to Estonia in general, comes third.
Top skills required in tech-related roles
Let’s take a look at which skills make you most likely to get hired in the Estonian job market. At least in the MeetFrank app!
With software engineering being the most in-demand profession at the moment it shouldn’t come as too big a surprise that the top sought-after skills are regarding that field. Full-stack, backend and frontend development and most common development languages HTML & CSS, SQL and Javascript are what’s expected of engineers these days.
Business development, project management, sales management, English and also Estonian are expected from sales & business development managers, while English is also the highest sought-after skill for customer support.
IT & Sysadmin candidates are currently most valued for their system administration and DevOps skills, while content marketing is the top skill expected from marketing & PR candidates. The most in-demand skill for designers is UI & visual design.
Top 10 Estonian companies, voted by job-seekers
In the MeetFrank app, the most applied-to companies are the tech unicorns.
Out of the four unicorns ever be been nurtured in Estonia, two are hiring at MeetFrank being they are the country’s most popular companies. These are the low-cost money transfer service Transferwise and the ride-hailing platform Bolt (formerly known as Taxify).
The third is the mobile banking app Monese and fourth Veriff, offering safer face recognition service – one of the features that are vital for Estonia’s E-Residency project.Starship, founded by Ahti Heinla (one of the founders of the mythical Skype) is now working on packaging robots with Starship that is also currently hiring across people in Estonia and several locations in the US.
MeetFrank is also regularly used by non-startups and /-tech companies, as indicated by the presence of two Swedish companies: the packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions, and paper production giant Stora Enso and commercial bank SEB.
In a nut-shell
Estonia’s tech labour market, although comparatively small, is experiencing fast growth and offers a bunch of interesting companies to work for.
Several of them have recently grown to become international success stories such as Transferwise and Bolt, with many others boasting the potential to become the country’s next unicorns.
The average payment in the tech sector is slightly below the European average, but so are the prices in the country’s capital Tallinn, where most of the companies are hiring. The city embraces several tech hubs, a thriving startup community, having made it to the league of Europe’s top cities in terms of tech development and financing.
