Why some recruitment searches fail in Spain
When a position has been open for several months without finding the right candidate, it is common to conclude that the market is particularly difficult.
Sometimes that is true. In other cases, the difficulty has more to do with how the search has been defined than with a genuine lack of professionals.
We frequently see positions for which candidates exist in Spain, but very few combine all the requirements in the specification at the same time.
A reasonable specification can narrow the market considerably
Difficult searches rarely begin with requirements that are obviously unrealistic.
A company may ask for experience in a particular sector, specific technical knowledge, customer exposure, several languages, a certain level of seniority and a particular location. Each requirement may be perfectly justified, but when they are combined, the number of available candidates can fall significantly. This is particularly common when the profile has been defined at headquarters and has not yet been tested against the local market.
Languages are a good example. There are roles in which German is genuinely necessary because the person will work regularly with headquarters, customers or German-speaking colleagues. In others, it may be a significant advantage without being essential. The distinction has a direct impact on the candidate market.
The same applies to location, exact experience in the same sector, compensation or the requirement to have previously held a very specific job title.
More activity does not always solve the problem
When the first candidates do not fit, a logical reaction is to broaden the search. More advertising, more sourcing, more identified profiles.
That works when the problem is mainly reach, but it adds much less value if the population meeting the essential requirements is very small. In that case, it is better first to understand which criteria are narrowing the market and whether all of them have the same level of importance.
For specialist positions, a relevant part of the appropriate professional market is also not actively looking for a change. Those individuals may be open to hearing about an opportunity but are unlikely to appear among the people responding to a job advertisement.
That is why we use Market Mapping and Direct Search where the mandate requires it, working on the potential market rather than only the active candidate market.
Early conversations reveal information that was not in the job description
A search starts generating information from the first candidate contacts.
A gap may emerge between planned compensation and market expectations. The most suitable profiles may be concentrated in another geographical area. The combination of technical experience and languages may exist, but mainly among professionals coming from adjacent sectors.
None of these signals alone requires a change to the mandate. What matters is whether they repeat. When several suitable candidates raise the same point, or when one particular requirement systematically excludes profiles that fit well elsewhere, that information helps build a better understanding of the market.
The search should incorporate that learning as it develops.
An example: Business Analyst working from Spain
In a search for a German IT company, we needed to identify a Business Analyst able to work remotely from Spain.
At first sight, the Business Analyst market is broad. The actual profile, however, required relevant Business Analysis experience, knowledge of the energy sector, the ability to work between business and technology and German as a mandatory language.
Once those requirements were combined, the relevant market became much smaller. The search therefore focused on identifying where professionals with that combination could be found and approaching them directly rather than simply trying to generate a larger volume of candidates with the same job title.
The assignment was completed successfully.
This type of search shows why the total number of professionals with a particular title says relatively little about the real difficulty of a mandate. What matters is how many people genuinely combine the necessary requirements, are open to considering a move and fit the conditions of the position.
What to review when a search has already been open for months
When a company comes to us after several months of searching, we do not necessarily start from zero. The previous process usually contains useful information.
Which profiles came closest to fitting, which requirements were most restrictive, why certain candidates left the process and how the market reacted to compensation all help determine how the search should continue.
In some cases, the original profile is still correct and what is missing is a more systematic Direct Search. In others, the accumulated market evidence shows that one or two elements of the specification need to be revisited.
Before relaunching an almost identical search, it is worth understanding what the market has already said.
Is your search proving more difficult than expected?
Akens\Nordburg supports international companies with specialist searches requiring Market Calibration, Direct Search and a deeper understanding of the candidate market.