Skills-hungry employers meet escalating salary expectations

THE SALARY expectations of candidates looking for jobs in the clearing and forwarding industry have increased considerably, but with the current skills shortage, companies are willing to meet these demands. “Candidates with skills and experience know that they are sought after,” Samantha Konkol of EMK Staffing Solutions told FTW. “The biggest problem which is distorting the picture is employees playing the market to get more out of their current employers. “Bigger companies generally want specialists with a specific skill to perform a specific role,” according to Konkol. “Often there is no time to train, and little mistakes can translate into huge financial losses in this industry. We offer a series of tests set by industry experts that gauge the skills and abilities of the applicant focused on the function they are applying for.” The recruitment game is based on relationships in Konkol’s view. “The days of spec filling are gone, and we have to bridge the gap between HR and recruitment. Not only do we have to sell a candidate to a company, but we also have to sell a company to a candidate, and this means getting intimate with the culture of the firm we are working with.”