The thriving services sector has put considerable pressure on the recruitment industry, with local and foreign candidates being sought for vacancies – but they are trying to ensure that salary expectations remain realistic.

Patricia Tabone, the director of Personnel Resources Ltd, said in recent months the firm had seen a significant increase in what all candidates expect as far as salaries go.

“This is especially so when it comes to accounting personnel where applicants with very minimal qualification and/or experience are demanding salaries that way exceed what Maltese employers (especially within the profession) are willing to pay,” she said.

Vacancy Centre’s HR & training consultant, Robert Delia, said that on the whole, jobseekers considering alternative employment opportunities were aware of the financial packages on offer as they would have carried out research prior to applying.

“In growing sectors, particularly within the financial services sector, financial expectations vary according to the candidate’s personal attributes,” he admitted.

Another sector seeing phenomenal growth over the past years has been the gaming one, whose international clientele required multilingual employees as the companies, themselves international, operate in various jurisdictions.

One company that exploited this niche was Betting Connections, which had developed an international recruitment division within its first year of operation.

Duarte Amado, its managing director, said international recruitment already made up 40 per cent of its business.

“With over 30 recruiters, our team is made up of 13 different nationalities, servicing the industry in over 15 European countries!” he said.

However, this has its own challenges, and in 2015 the company dedicated an entire section of its office for video chatting rooms to be able to interview foreign candidates online.

We believe that in most cases the true personality of the individual reveals itself when a candidate is relaxed and relates to the interviewer

Mr Amado is also the managing director of Spot On Connections, a sister company which uses the same “30 Step” recruitment process, implemented successfully by a vast array of industries for over 30 years.

“Betting Connections was the first to use this process in Malta for the iGaming industry five years ago. SpotOn Connections effectively introduced this to the local market over three years ago, and it has been an incredible success ever since.

The 30-step method is, of course, only one of the many recruitment systems in place. The VacancyCentre uses its own personality profiling using tried-and-tested techniques developed over 28 years of recruitment services.

But Mr Delia said that the process should not be one-way: “Our candidate testing is complemented by advice that recruiters provide to each individual candidate, thus enabling him/her to further adopt employability skills.”

While these systems might be sufficient for most positions, more senior positions may require a specialised approach. However, the experience of the recruitment firm also plays a large role.

Patricia Tabone, the director of Personnel Resources Ltd, said that all candidates are given an in-depth interview where their experience and skills, likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses as well aspiration and how they see themselves is discussed so as to assess their aptitude and attitude.

“Only in the case of very senior positions do we do any psychometric testing or if a particular client request it.

“We believe that in most cases the true personality of the individual reveals itself when a candidate is relaxed and relates to the interviewer,” she said.