They witness
- Bernard Albertidirector at the consulting firm Kyu
- Vincent RoironSouth-West Regional Director of Expectra in Toulouse
- Claire-Marie Chaffindirector of development and corporate relations at ESTP Paris
- Safae Mouaouia23 years old, student at ESTP in Master 2 Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and vice-president of the ESTP forum
- Herve Dagandmember of the Observatory of construction trades, the joint body that carries out studies on employment and training in the sector
- Celine Whitemanager of the recruitment firm dedicated to construction “Fed Construction” at the Lyon office
- David HerlemManaging Director of Partnaire (190 locations in France including 35 dedicated to construction)
Construction: between 11,000 and 27,000 executive recruitments
Bernard Alberti
“In France, the tension of recruitments in the construction industry is general. This is not just a local concern but a national problem. It primarily concerns manual workers but also, to a lesser extent, managers, recalls Bernard Alberti, one of the leaders of the Kyu consulting company which has just published its 2022 Barometer of “recruitment tensions in the construction sector”.
Year after year, the sector has recruited some 270,000 employees in 2021 including 10% managers and 23% employees, technicians, supervisors (ETAM). A strong increase in recruitment since total recruitment was 240,000 in 2018.
For executivesthis represents between 11,000 (source Pôle Emploi, BMO 2022 survey) and 27,000 (source Observatory of construction trades) recruitment projects.
BTP: highly hunted candidates who know how to negotiate
“So far so good”, says Vincent Roiron, South-West regional director of Expectra in Toulouse. This subsidiary of Randstad, specialized in the recruitment of Etam-Managers, carries out, in France, nearly a third of these activities in the Building-public works (BTP).
The year 2022, in this sector, has been more than exceptional. I had never experienced this. Missions that do not succeed due to a lack of candidates, a growth in our missions of around 30% between the first half of 2021 and that of 2022.
Vincent Roiron, South-West Regional Director of Expectra in Toulouse
Young construction graduates: they choose their employer
Claire-Marie Chaffin
For young graduates, 2022 was also a great year. “The hiring of our graduates is in good shapeconfirms Claire-Marie Chaffin, director of development and business relations at ESTP Paris, the flagship school in the sector ranked by the weekly Usine Nouvelle 3rd best school in this sector, behind Centrale Nantes and Cesi. In September 2022, 80% of companies hosting one of our engineering internship students made them a job offer. The 2022 vintage will therefore be good with 78% of our 2022 students in post and therefore not looking for work. We also received 1,200 offers from companies interested in our students in 2021-2022 compared to 783 in 2020-2021”.
The 2022 pearls of recruiters in the construction industry
2022 will have spared recruiters nothing. The war of talents generates a new balance of power in favor of the candidates, and sometimes some jokes:
- A construction company with 150 employees, specializing in the structural work of collective housing, was looking for a works manager with 10 years of experience providing for a salary of 50,000 euros gross per year. The successful candidate requested and obtained 56,000 euros gross per year with a company car.
- An engineer working in real estate development presents itself on the market with salary claims of 60,000 euros gross per year while the employer was planning 45,000. The company had to bend.
- A candidate engineer with no experience was offered funding for a course to upgrade and some 45,000 euros gross per year. She refused the job because her future (ex) employer did not offer her a restaurant ticket. The HR manager still can’t believe it.
Safae Mouaouia
Another proof of the appetite of employers for these Bac +5 BTP, the ESTP forum which was held on December 6, 2022. “Two hundred companies attended the show this year compared to 180 in 2021, confides Safae Mouaouia, 23, student at ESTP in Master 2 in mechanical and electrical engineering and vice-president of the show. For my part, I want to do my end-of-study internship – it will start in February 2023 – in a consulting company as a junior auditor. I had no trouble finding my employer. Companies come to us. We are in high demand.”
Construction: 2 families of highly sought-after functions
In this world of construction managers, two positions are particularly difficult to fill, according to Hervé Dagand, member of the Observatory of construction trades, the joint body that carries out studies on employment and training in the sector:
- Site management functions: foreman, team leader, site manager in particular.
- The design and study functions : business manager, technical studies manager, draftsman and all those who work on CAD-CAD software.
Trades frames of the most stressed building
Source: DARES, 2021
- Mechanical and metalworking technicians
- Electrical and electronic designers
- Engineers and study executives, research and development in computer science
- Supervisors and equivalent in the manufacture of electrical equipment
- Building and public works engineers
- Adjusters
- Surveyors
- Roofers
- Site managers, works supervisors
The construction industry hires Bac + 2 + 3, for lack of engineer profiles
Herve Dagand
“The level of requirements from employers has increased, remarks Hervé Dagand. Managers today need to have increasingly complex technical skills to manage a construction site but also to master the regulations, the costs, the environment and to have managerial skills to manage, for example, the neighborhood of the construction sites…”. In this context, engineers are particularly welcome but, for lack of thrushes, the sector also recruits en masse Bac +2-3. The latter represent nearly 50% of hirings even if the Bac +5 allows access to jobs more quickly on larger sites.
Salaries up 15% compared to 2021
In this sector, a young engineer – these are ESTP estimates – will start at around 42,000 euros gross per year. This was the 2021 rate according to the school. This amount was 41,000 euros gross per year in September 2020.
“In 2022, we faced customer requests that we were unable to fill. There were many missions but few candidates, continues Céline Blanc, head of the recruitment firm dedicated to construction Fed Construction at the Lyon office. So the candidates negotiate their salaries upwards. This is for example the case of a works supervisor who asked for 50,000 euros gross per year and who obtained them when the employer planned 45,000.
In 2022, I observed salary increases of around 5,000 euros gross per year for a given position. But this can reach + 10,000 euros for experienced foremen on large-budget sites.
Céline Blanc, head of the recruitment firm dedicated to construction “Fed Construction” at the Lyon office
In high-tension jobs, the salary is therefore discussed with a candidate who finds himself on the right side of the handle. He can even discount 10 to 20% more than the rate proposed by the employer. “It will last as long as the market holds, adds David Herlem, Managing Director of Partner Employment Agencies. But it may be less dynamic in the 2nd half of 2023”, lCeline Blanc
A trend reversal for 2023?
Because, in this intoxication of good news, the risk for 2023 is to wake up with a hangover. All the specialists note some weak signals, carrying (future) bad news.
Between the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2022, the number of construction assignments increased by 35%. But the rise in energy costs, that of the price of materials, coupled with a rise in real estate rates, means that our customers are worried about possible, for the smallest companies, cash flow difficulties and potential defaults in the long term.
David Herlem, CEO of the Partnaire group (temporary and employment agency)
As for public works, the future does not appear much brighter. Because the latter depend a lot on public order. However, municipalities, regions and the State must deal with a very large public debt.
The building trades most under pressure (all types combined)
Source: DARES, 2021, KYU processing
- Masons
- Building technicians and study managers
- Site managers, works manager
- Building and public works engineers
- Carpenters and fit-out and insulation workers
- Electrical and electronic technicians
- Carpenter
- Roofers
- Electrical and electronic designers
