According to Skills Panorama, an agency of the European Commission, Poland has a surplus of: market-oriented skilled forestry and fishery workers; food processing workers; wood working workers; garment and other trade-related workers; social, cultural and related associate professionals.
But that’s not the whole story: other occupations, including ICT specialists, healthcare specialists, managers, science and engineering professionals, skilled manual workers and teaching professionals, are shortage occupations precisely because the brightest and best of people with those skills have been likely to seek work in Western Europe, especially Britain. This is due to change and possible reversal with Brexit.
A high and growing percentage of Poland’s workforce is well educated. Cedefop, the European Centre for Vocational Education and Training forecasts that 56% will have high-level qualifications by 2025, from 30.47% in 2013. English-language skills are generally very good.
EURES, the Europe Job Mobility Portal, cites the most promising industries in terms of foreign investment and trade as: automotive, electronic, R&D, IT, biotechnology and food sectors. Most foreign direct investment in Poland flowed into the services sector, particularly information and telecommunications services as well as professional, scientific and technical activities. Foreign capital was also invested in the manufacturing sector, of which motor vehicle manufacture was the most attractive.
Unemployment is 12.8%, ranked 28th in the world, 60% more than United Kingdom, by NationMaster.com
The statutory minimum wage in Poland is around 3 times lower than in the UK, at 2,000 PLN/month (around 465 Euros), compared to the UK’s 1,525 Euros (based on 40/hr week).
Jobboardfinder.net, which searches almost 1,000 job boards in over 240 countries, lists the top five online recruitment websites as:
and explains that many of them are translated into English which greatly eases the process of recruitment in Poland, as you can publish your job listing without any problems and do the whole recruitment process in English.
Keeping up with the times, social media is hugely popular in Poland, so Facebook is also a key medium for communication, while GoldenLine is a Polish version of LinkedIn, ideal for head-hunting professionals and specialists.
So, what’s your next step? Polish Business Link offers advice and runs business networking events and seminars in English with expert Polish and British business speakers, diplomats and politicians. In addition, their members’ website is a treasure trove of resources, links and technical information about all aspects of Polish/British business, especially Recruitment in Poland.