Due to the precariousness of the English language, in recent years’ companies in the Contact Center & BPO sector have decided to close thousands of jobs in the region and relocate their investments to other markets where they have no difficulty in recruiting qualified personnel.
Reports at a global level show that the command of English is one of the weaknesses at a Central American level.
On August 29 and 30, the HR Forum will be held in San José, an event that will address issues such as talent and recruitment, human resources strategy, the relationship between employees and aspects of legislation, among others.
The congress will be held in English at the Hotel Intercontinental and will bring together more than 200 people, with representatives of the more than 305 multinational companies that will arrive in the country, informed CINDE.
The difficulties faced by companies in hiring high-profile executives are driving growth in the recruitment market in the country.
With the advent of more multinational companies in the sectors of logistics, banking and insurance, there is growing demand for qualified personnel to fill positions of managers, vice presidents or directors.
The rapid development of the Panamanian economy means there is now a demand for high-level executives to replace those from the headquarters of companies operating in the country.
An article in Capital.com.pa reports on the success of the international consultancy firm Amrop after its arrival in Panama two years ago to serve the market for search and evaluation of high-profile executives.
In Latin America the growth of air services is from 6 to 8% per year, and the forecast is that it will accelerate to 12 or 14% in the next 5-10 years.
An article in Capital.com reports that "It is expected that demand for air travel in Latin America will exceed that of other regions in the next 20 years, which will be a challenge for Latin American airlines in terms of the use of advanced technology, increasingly reliable security systems and first class service for customers so as to compete in this dynamic market, issues that are being examined during the ninth forum of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) which is taking place from today in Panama City . "
In a competitive environment, companies must understand that it is better to retain qualified personnel rather than to invest funds looking in the market for workers.
A report entitled "Cutting Edge Talent 2020" by Deloitte, is based on a survey of global executives in large companies. Their conclusions apply to any market where there are shortages of workers with the necessary skills to get into competitive businesses.
The Net Employment Outlook for the first three months of 2012 is +24%, putting more pressure on a market with a serious shortage of qualified human resources.
While efforts are being made to the train people locally, foreigners continue to come into the country to meet the demand of international companies based there.
Eric Quesada, Regional Director for Manpower, said: "Today there are significant challenges for companies to find staff, specially skilled staff. The foreign population is constantly increasing, as people come to fill the positions that are not being covered locally. "
The 1400 technicians currently covering all areas, are insufficient to advise farmers.
This situation is further complicated by the fact that approximately 85% of the Ministry of Agricultural Development’s technical staff are in the process of retirement.
"Although the country has institutes for training agronomists, it is difficult to compete with the salaries offered in the private sector, said Sebastian Mirones, Secretary General of MIDA.
The Global Skills Shortage Survey 2011 by Manpower reveals that employers are finding it increasingly difficulty to fill jobs with qualified personnel.
One in three employers (34%) worldwide said they are having difficulty filling positions due to lack of available talent, an increase of three percentage points compared to 2010.
The global economic downturn may have masked the talent shortage for several years, but the global recovery, despite its slowness, has made the tension created by lack of talented workers more evident, now that organizations who have reduced staff levels are finding that they need more of the right kind of people to make progress and support the company strategy.
In the absence of specialists the Social Security Department has announced it will hire180 foreign doctors.
The vacancies are in the areas of cardiology, surgery, anesthesiology and internal medicine in the district of Panama and the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Cocle, Colon, Chiriqui, Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas.
"This is the first request for foreign medics by the institution this year, based on Resolution 2 of 1985, which allows the CSS and the Ministry of Health to hire foreign professionals in various areas via competitive tender or if within one within 30 days of a convocation no national candidates come forward.
Training of qualified personnel at all levels is absolutely insufficient to meet the demand of an economy with such high growth rates.
In Panama, the gap between demand and supply of employment, both in quantity and quality, is expanding at the same pace as the growing list of infrastructure projects in execution, which is increasing the arrival of multinational companies, saturating hotels with the number of business travelers and tourists.
Panama is the regional center with the fastest growing activity in headhunting, with the search on for CEOs, presidents and senior professionals.
The arrival of recruitment agency Amrop in the Panamanian market has increased competition in an already competitive area of human resources search and selection.
The company Amrop Panama, which has a presence in 55 countries and 89 cities defines its "niche within the market in high management positions and independent members of boards for corporations, national companies and prestigious families, raising the level and profile of candidates in a highly specialized process", published Capital.com.pa
Amrop Peru announced the start of operations in Panama and Central America.
With an estimated investment of one million Dollars over the next three years, the company will begin its expansion to Central America from Panama.
Amrop founding partner of Peru, Fernando Guinea, noted that "the excellent conditions of the Panamanian economy and prospects for Central America led us to the investment", published an article in Andina.com.pe.
Remote video interviews are being used more and more in recruitment, reducing costs by up to 19%.
Another of the benefits is a reduction in total recruitment processing time, which can be by as much as 25%, according to a report from Wainhouse Research referenced in an article on Americaeconomia.com.
"While telepresence is a way of communicating remotely, the applications of this technology are much broader and more interesting than a simple telephone conversation since it also enables companies to evaluate interviewees' body language for indications of whether they are nervous, relaxed, comfortable, confident and even whether they are lying."