Practical assignments are a key part of some companies’ recruitment processes, while others consider them misleading, unnecessarily demanding or even a waste of candidates’ time. So when does a work sample test genuinely improve hiring decisions, and when can it become counterproductive?

The fundamental purpose of a practical recruitment task is straightforward: it should provide employers with a realistic picture of a candidate’s professional abilities, accuracy and approach to work.

At the same time, a well-designed assignment can also benefit candidates.

It gives them an opportunity to experience the type of work they would be expected to perform and assess whether the position actually matches their expectations.

In principle, therefore, a carefully designed work sample can provide useful information to both sides.

In practice, however, employers can still make the wrong hiring decision after using an assessment — while potentially losing strong candidates who decide that the task demands too much time or does not fairly represent the job.

The key question is therefore not simply whether to use work sample tests in recruitment, but when, how and for which positions they genuinely add value.

The position itself should determine whether a test is useful

Aliz Hornyák, Country HR Director at Alstom Hungary Kft., believes practical assignments can be particularly useful for some positions while being much less suitable for others.

At Alstom, for example, practical assessments are currently used for welders and locksmiths.

These jobs involve clearly demonstrable practical skills that can be assessed through a relatively short exercise using transparent and objective criteria.

In these situations, the connection between the task and the actual work is direct.

The candidate demonstrates a skill they would genuinely use in the role, and the employer can evaluate the result against clearly defined standards.

White-collar roles can be much harder to reproduce in a test

Hornyák sees a different challenge with many white-collar positions.

Performance in these roles may depend on:

• several interconnected tasks;
• company-specific knowledge;
• collaboration with colleagues;
• access to internal systems and information;
• decision-making over a longer period;
• individual working style and interpersonal qualities.

A short recruitment assignment may therefore capture only a small part of what determines success in the actual role.

It provides a snapshot rather than a complete picture.

A practical test should not be treated as absolute proof

Even when the task itself is relevant, the result can be influenced by circumstances that have little to do with the candidate’s actual professional ability.

According to Hornyák, these can include:

• the amount of time the candidate has available;
• access to appropriate equipment;
• the candidate’s current workload;
• stress during the assessment.

For this reason, a test result should ideally be interpreted alongside other evidence rather than becoming the sole basis for a hiring decision.

That broader evaluation can include interviews, references and, where appropriate, feedback collected during the probationary period.

Not every company uses assignments in the same way

Ágnes Lovas, Senior IT Recruitment Consultant at Vision Recruitment, sees considerable variation between organisations.

In her experience, practical assignments can be particularly important for smaller companies where the contribution of each individual employee may have a significant effect on organisational performance.

Larger multinational organisations, where responsibilities are distributed across broader teams and processes, may be less likely to rely on them.

However, company size is only one factor.

The industry and the nature of the position are often more important.

Some professions lend themselves more naturally to work samples

Assignments can be more useful in roles where the quality of a tangible output is central to performance.

Lovas highlights areas such as:

• marketing;
• Business Intelligence;
• certain visual or creative positions;
• some technical and IT roles.

They have also traditionally been common in technology recruitment, although Lovas observes that their use has been declining in some IT recruitment processes.

The first question should be: do we really need it?

From a headhunter’s perspective, one important responsibility is helping the employer determine whether an assessment is necessary at all.

The existence of a practical test should not simply be accepted because it has always been part of the process.

Recruiters and hiring managers should ask:

• What exactly are we trying to measure?
• Can the task reliably measure it?
• Will the result meaningfully influence the hiring decision?
• Could the same information be obtained more efficiently?
• How much time are we asking candidates to invest?

If there is no clear answer to these questions, another assessment method may be more appropriate.

There may be better alternatives

Lovas points out that previous work can sometimes provide a more realistic picture than a newly created assignment.

Depending on confidentiality and data-protection requirements, candidates may be able to share or adapt an earlier piece of work.

This can offer several advantages.

The candidate does not need to spend several additional hours creating something purely for a recruitment process, while the employer can review an output that reflects real professional work.

Potential alternatives to a take-home assignment may include:

• a portfolio;
• an anonymised previous project;
• a discussion of a completed case;
• a structured technical interview;
• a shorter live exercise;
• a detailed walkthrough of previous work.

The assessment should match the actual job

One of the most common mistakes is creating an assignment that measures something only loosely connected with the role.

Hornyák warns against trying to test too many capabilities simultaneously or expecting company-specific knowledge that an external candidate could not reasonably possess.

A useful assessment should focus on the essence of the position.

If the job primarily requires analysis, the task should test relevant analytical capability.

If communication is critical, the assessment should create an opportunity to evaluate communication.

The closer the exercise is to the real work, the more useful the result is likely to be.

Time investment is one of the most important limits

For many candidates, the biggest problem is not the idea of demonstrating their ability.

It is the amount of unpaid personal time required.

White-collar professionals are often participating in recruitment processes while working full time.

A substantial take-home assignment may therefore need to be completed:

• in the evening;
• at weekends;
• alongside family responsibilities;
• while preparing for other interviews.

If the assignment becomes too demanding, the employer may inadvertently measure how much free time a candidate has rather than how capable they are professionally.

Candidate reactions are mixed

Hornyák observes that some candidates genuinely appreciate practical assessments.

They see them as an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a more tangible way than a traditional interview allows.

The task can also provide useful insight into the future position.

For these candidates, the exercise itself may make the opportunity more engaging.

Others experience it primarily as an additional burden.

This is particularly true when the assignment requires substantial preparation and must be completed outside working hours.

Vision Recruitment sees a slightly more negative tendency

Based on Vision Recruitment’s experience in white-collar recruitment, Lovas describes candidate attitudes as generally somewhat negative towards work sample assignments.

Some candidates consider them a significant inconvenience, particularly when the required time investment is high.

This creates a real recruitment risk.

Strong candidates may simply withdraw rather than complete the exercise.

Every extra recruitment stage creates potential candidate drop-off

An employer may reasonably believe that another assessment will improve hiring accuracy.

But every additional stage also creates another opportunity for candidates to leave the process.

This is especially important when strong professionals are participating in several recruitment processes at once.

They may compare:

• the time investment required;
• the number of interview rounds;
• how quickly employers respond;
• the quality of communication;
• whether assessments feel reasonable.

A lengthy test may therefore make one opportunity less attractive than another before compensation or job content even becomes decisive.

The timing of the task matters

If employers decide that an assignment is genuinely necessary, they should also consider when to introduce it.

Giving a substantial task to every initial applicant can create unnecessary work for both candidates and evaluators.

In many cases, it may be more reasonable to use the assessment later in the process, once basic suitability and mutual interest have already been established.

This means only candidates with a realistic chance of progressing need to invest the additional time.

Clear expectations are essential

Lovas emphasises that employers need to communicate concrete requirements before candidates begin the assignment.

They should understand:

• what they are expected to produce;
• how long the task should reasonably take;
• the deadline;
• which tools they may use;
• whether AI tools are permitted;
• how the result will be evaluated.

Ambiguous instructions create unnecessary uncertainty and can make the result harder to compare fairly.

The evaluation criteria should be defined in advance

Hornyák stresses the importance of using predetermined evaluation criteria.

The assessment should not become a situation in which one interviewer simply “likes” one candidate’s work more than another’s without being able to explain why.

Transparent criteria help employers evaluate consistently and help candidates feel that the process is professional and fair.

Relevant criteria might include:

• accuracy;
• quality;
• reasoning;
• structure;
• professional judgement;
• creativity where relevant;
• communication of the solution.

Feedback may be even more important than the assignment itself

Both experts highlight feedback as one of the most important parts of the process.

The greatest source of frustration is often not completing the task, but investing substantial time and then receiving a generic rejection — or no meaningful explanation at all.

If a candidate spends several hours demonstrating their abilities, the organisation should ideally acknowledge that investment with useful professional feedback.

A good rejection can still create a positive candidate experience

Lovas recommends providing concrete feedback from the professional hiring manager wherever possible.

This might address questions such as:

• What did the candidate do particularly well?
• Which areas could be improved?
• What was missing compared with the requirements of the position?
• What could help them perform better in a similar assessment in the future?

Constructive feedback can turn an unsuccessful recruitment outcome into a useful professional experience.

Poor feedback can damage the employer brand

The opposite is also true.

A candidate who dedicates significant personal time to an assessment and then receives no meaningful response may leave with a much more negative impression of the company.

This can affect:

• future applications;
• recommendations to other professionals;
• online employer reputation;
• the organisation’s wider employer brand.

The experience matters even when the candidate is not hired.

The assignment should not resemble unpaid client work

Employers should also consider whether a task asks candidates to produce something unusually extensive or commercially useful to the organisation.

A recruitment assessment should primarily test capability.

It should not feel as though candidates are being asked to complete substantial real-world work without compensation simply to remain in the selection process.

Keeping exercises hypothetical, limited in scope and clearly focused on assessment can help maintain appropriate boundaries.

Work sample tests should complement, not replace, professional judgement

No single assessment method can provide a complete picture of a candidate.

A strong recruitment process may combine several sources of information, including:

• structured interviews;
• professional experience;
• previous projects;
• references;
• short practical exercises;
• candidate motivation.

The objective is not to accumulate as many assessment stages as possible.

It is to collect enough relevant evidence to make a well-informed decision.

When can a practical assignment genuinely help?

Work sample tests in recruitment can add value when:

• the task directly reflects the real responsibilities of the position;
• the required time investment is proportionate;
• the employer knows exactly what it wants to measure;
• evaluation criteria are objective and defined in advance;
• the candidate receives clear instructions;
• the task contributes meaningfully to the final decision;
• the employer provides useful feedback afterwards.

When should employers reconsider using one?

A practical task may be counterproductive when:

• it takes several hours without a clear justification;
• it measures skills that are not central to the role;
• it requires knowledge only an existing employee could possess;
• the same information could be obtained from previous work;
• evaluation is highly subjective;
• every applicant receives the task before basic screening;
• the employer cannot provide meaningful feedback.

A good assessment respects both recruitment quality and candidate time

The debate around practical assignments is not simply about whether they are good or bad.

Their value depends on design, relevance, timing and execution.

A concise, realistic task with transparent evaluation can provide information that is difficult to obtain from an interview alone.

A lengthy or poorly designed assignment can do the opposite: discourage strong candidates, extend the process and damage the candidate experience.

The right question is not “Do we use a test?”

Instead, employers should ask:

“What information do we still need in order to make a good hiring decision, and what is the fairest and most efficient way to obtain it?”

Sometimes the answer will be a practical work sample.

In other cases, a portfolio, structured interview or detailed discussion of previous work may provide better evidence with considerably less burden on the candidate.

The strongest recruitment processes recognise that assessment quality and candidate experience are not opposing objectives.

When work sample tests in recruitment are relevant, proportionate and transparently evaluated, they can support both. When they are introduced simply as another hurdle in an already lengthy selection process, they may ultimately cost employers some of the very candidates they hoped to identify.

Source: Behaviour – HR Magazine

The concept of user experience, or UX, originally emerged in the technology sector and described how simple and intuitive an application or online service was to use. Over time, the meaning expanded to cover almost every interaction between a service provider and its users. Recruitment is no exception: candidates also experience a journey, and the quality of that journey can significantly influence how they perceive both the vacancy and the employer.

UX in recruitment

In an increasingly competitive labour market, the experience candidates have during recruitment is becoming an important part of successful hiring.

Candidate experience in recruitment covers every interaction a professional has with an employer or recruitment partner, including:

• job advertisements;
• career websites and digital application platforms;
• communication with recruiters;
• interviews and assessments;
• the speed and transparency of feedback;
• the level of personal attention candidates receive.

“When candidates have a positive experience, it can increase the number of applicants while also strengthening the company’s reputation and employer brand,” explains Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment.

The candidate experience starts before the application

Making recruitment more user-friendly begins with providing candidates with accurate and relevant information.

Traditional job advertisements normally contain the essential details of a position, such as:

• main responsibilities;
• experience requirements;
• professional expectations;
• location;
• basic employment conditions.

For many candidates, however, these details are not enough to decide whether an opportunity genuinely suits them.

They may also want to know:

• How flexible is the organisation?
• What happens if an employee needs to stay at home with a sick child?
• Does the company promote managers internally?
• What does career progression look like?
• Does the organisation expect rapid career advancement or encourage long-term stability?
• How seriously does the employer take work-life balance?

These questions can be just as important as the formal job description.

Communicate company culture before candidates apply

Lovas argues that candidates benefit when employers communicate their values and vision from the very beginning of the recruitment journey.

This allows professionals to identify which opportunities are genuinely relevant to them before investing time in an application.

The employer benefits too.

If candidates understand the working environment, expectations and company culture in advance, fewer unsuitable applicants enter the recruitment process.

This can reduce the workload of recruiters and hiring managers while making the overall selection process faster.

More information can improve recruitment efficiency

Transparency is sometimes treated mainly as a candidate benefit.

In reality, it can improve efficiency for both sides.

A candidate who knows what to expect is better positioned to make an informed decision about whether to continue with the opportunity.

An employer therefore spends less time interviewing people whose priorities are fundamentally incompatible with the role or organisation.

This is one reason detailed, realistic recruitment communication can be more effective than simply trying to make every vacancy sound as attractive as possible.

Candidates should not have to search for basic information

Once someone decides to participate in the recruitment process, important information should ideally be easy to access.

Candidates should not need to repeatedly contact the recruiter or search across several websites to understand what happens next.

Providing information proactively can help candidates feel that they are being treated as clients of the recruitment process rather than simply as CVs moving through a system.

As Lovas explains, this can reinforce the feeling that the recruiter is working not only for the employer, but also supporting the candidate.

Good preparation can improve interview performance

Clear communication becomes particularly important before interviews and assessments.

Candidates should understand:

• what stages the recruitment process contains;
• what the employer expects at each stage;
• whether there will be a technical assessment;
• how they should prepare;
• which tools or equipment may be required.

Even relatively small pieces of information can materially improve the candidate experience.

Practical information can make a major difference

Lovas recalls recruitment processes where candidate preparation had a significant effect on results.

In one case, a large number of candidates had initially been rejected because they used artificial intelligence during an assessment where its use was not permitted.

Once candidates were clearly warned about this requirement in advance, significantly more progressed successfully to the next stage.

The lesson was straightforward: if a requirement matters, candidates need to know about it before the assessment begins.

Technical interviews need practical preparation too

The same principle applies to technical assessments.

For example, candidates completing live coding exercises may benefit from being told in advance to prepare:

• two screens where appropriate;
• their usual keyboard;
• the required software;
• a suitable technical environment.

These details may seem minor, but they allow the candidate to focus on demonstrating professional ability instead of solving avoidable logistical problems.

Reduce unnecessary interview stress

Job interviews are stressful for many candidates even when they are highly experienced.

Employers and recruiters can reduce uncertainty by sharing basic information beforehand.

For example:

• How many interviewers will participate?
• Who will they be?
• How long will the interview take?
• Will there be technical questions?
• Will there be an assessment?
• What are the next stages?

Knowing these details allows candidates to enter the interview with greater confidence.

It also creates a more professional impression of the organisation.

The goal is not to make interviews easier

Improving the candidate experience does not mean removing meaningful assessment or giving candidates answers in advance.

The objective is to create a fair environment in which candidates understand what is expected of them.

This allows employers to evaluate professional ability rather than a candidate’s ability to guess how an unfamiliar recruitment process works.

Key steps for improving the recruitment experience

• Create transparent and attractive job advertisements. Explain not only responsibilities and requirements, but also the company culture and why the position matters.
• Simplify the application process. Reduce unnecessary administration and use intuitive online forms, integrations and autofill where appropriate.
• Communicate transparently. Explain each recruitment stage, provide timely updates and give feedback even when the candidate is unsuccessful where possible.
• Make interviews less stressful. Share practical details in advance, prepare interviewers properly and use structured interviews.
• Personalise the experience. Understand individual candidate priorities and maintain direct communication throughout the process.
• Collect feedback and improve continuously. Candidate feedback can reveal unnecessary friction and help refine future recruitment processes.

An unsuccessful application can still provide value

A positive candidate experience does not require every recruitment process to end with a job offer.

An unsuccessful candidate can still leave the process feeling that their time was respected and that they learned something valuable.

Lovas notes that throughout her career she has interviewed many IT professionals who viewed technical assessments not only as obstacles to employment but also as professional challenges.

For these candidates, constructive feedback after an unsuccessful assessment can be particularly valuable.

Feedback can improve a candidate’s next application

Useful feedback can help candidates understand:

• which skills need further development;
• where their interview performance could improve;
• what was missing from the technical assessment;
• which areas they should prepare differently next time.

A candidate who receives meaningful feedback may therefore leave an unsuccessful process better prepared for their next opportunity.

That experience can also influence how they remember the recruiter and employer.

Rejection is part of the employer brand

Most candidates entering a recruitment process will not ultimately receive the job.

That makes rejection one of the most common candidate interactions an employer has.

How that rejection is handled can therefore have a significant effect on reputation.

A candidate who receives respectful communication and useful feedback may still speak positively about the organisation.

Someone who receives no response at all may remember the employer very differently.

Reducing uncertainty is one of the biggest improvements recruiters can make

For candidates, a pleasant recruitment process often means a fast and smooth one.

However, delays cannot always be avoided.

The recruiter may be waiting for:

• internal approval;
• a hiring-manager decision;
• another interview;
• budget confirmation;
• a decision-maker returning from a business trip;
• other circumstances outside the recruitment team’s control.

In these situations, communication becomes even more important.

Silence creates more frustration than delay

A delayed recruitment process does not automatically create a poor candidate experience.

A candidate who understands why the process is taking longer may be willing to wait.

A candidate who hears nothing for several weeks has no way of knowing whether:

• they are still being considered;
• another candidate has been selected;
• the position has been cancelled;
• the company has simply forgotten to respond.

This uncertainty can encourage candidates to withdraw or prioritise other opportunities.

Regular updates help candidates manage their options

When recruiters explain why a decision has been delayed, candidates can make better decisions about their other opportunities.

Even a short update confirming that the recruitment process remains active can significantly reduce uncertainty.

The candidate does not necessarily need a final answer immediately.

They need to understand where they currently stand.

Information should flow in both directions

Transparency is equally valuable for employers and recruiters.

Recruiters need to understand what is happening elsewhere in the candidate’s job search.

Useful information includes:

• whether the candidate is involved in other recruitment processes;
• how advanced those applications are;
• whether another offer is expected;
• what the candidate’s decision deadline may be.

This information can sometimes determine whether a recruitment process ultimately ends in an accepted offer.

A company cannot move quickly if it does not know the candidate’s timeline

Imagine that a company is planning to make a decision next week, but the preferred candidate expects another offer tomorrow.

If nobody knows about that competing process, the employer may lose the candidate simply because its internal schedule was too slow.

Open communication gives recruiters the opportunity to warn hiring managers when faster action is required.

Personalisation matters

Candidates do not all want the same things from a job.

Some prioritise:

• salary;
• home office;
• technical challenge;
• career progression;
• work-life balance;
• management responsibility;
• international projects.

Understanding these motivations allows recruiters to provide information that is genuinely relevant to the individual.

This makes the experience more useful than a standardised process in which every candidate receives exactly the same message.

Recruiters can act as guides through the process

A specialist recruiter or headhunter can play an important role in improving candidate experience in recruitment.

The recruiter can help candidates understand:

• the employer;
• the vacancy;
• the interview process;
• the expectations of the hiring manager;
• the likely timeline;
• the next steps.

This additional support becomes especially valuable in demanding technical recruitment processes.

Candidate experience also improves recruitment outcomes

A positive recruitment experience is not merely about being polite to applicants.

It can influence measurable recruitment outcomes.

Better information may reduce unsuitable applications.

Interview preparation may improve assessment completion.

Faster communication may reduce candidate withdrawals.

Better relationships may increase offer acceptance.

Candidate experience can therefore be considered part of recruitment effectiveness rather than simply an HR communication issue.

The recruitment process is part of the employer brand

A candidate’s first substantial experience with an organisation may be the recruitment process itself.

That means interviews, emails, response times and recruiter behaviour all communicate something about the company.

If the recruitment process is:

• organised;
• transparent;
• respectful;
• responsive;
• personal;

candidates may reasonably expect the wider organisation to operate similarly.

A chaotic recruitment process can create the opposite impression.

Candidate UX should be continuously improved

Just as companies optimise digital products based on user behaviour and feedback, recruitment processes can also be reviewed and improved.

Employers can examine:

• where candidates withdraw;
• which stages take too long;
• which instructions create confusion;
• what candidates say about interviews;
• how long feedback takes;
• why offers are rejected.

These insights can reveal practical changes capable of improving both candidate satisfaction and recruitment performance.

Job searching does not have to be an unnecessarily negative experience

Searching for a new job will almost always involve some uncertainty and stress.

Recruiters cannot eliminate every difficult element from the process.

They can, however, make sure candidates understand what is happening and what is expected of them.

As Lovas summarises, both recruitment providers and corporate HR teams can do a great deal to improve the experience of IT professionals and other candidates.

Without support, recruitment can become extremely stressful for the “users” of the process.

With continuous guidance and transparent communication, HR professionals can influence not only whether the recruitment ends successfully, but also how candidates remember the entire journey.

That is ultimately the purpose of strong candidate experience in recruitment: making a demanding process more transparent, respectful and useful for everyone involved.

Source: ITBUSINESS

Hungary’s Shared Service Centre and Business Services sector has developed into an important part of the economy. As the industry moves beyond traditional support functions towards higher-value regional and global services, expectations towards employees are changing as well. Strong language skills remain highly valuable, but increasingly they are only one part of a much broader skill set.

Hungary has built a strong position in the SSC and BSC sector within Central and Eastern Europe, but maintaining that position increasingly depends on the availability of qualified professionals with the right combination of skills.

Business service centres are evolving.

Many organisations that originally focused on relatively standardised support activities are gradually taking responsibility for:

• regional and global processes;
• complex business operations;
• data and analytics;
• automation;
• IT services;
• higher-value decision support.

This transformation is reshaping the SSC skills and competencies employers are looking for.

Language skills remain essential

Despite rapid technological development, foreign-language capability continues to be one of the most important requirements in many SSC and BSC positions.

Vivien Jécsi, HR Leader at Genpact, emphasises that even as chatbots and automated systems become increasingly sophisticated, communication with customers and colleagues across different cultures still requires human understanding.

Multilingual employees can provide something technology alone cannot easily replace: contextual communication and cultural awareness.

This remains particularly important in roles involving:

• customer service;
• finance;
• procurement;
• HR;
• sales support;
• international business operations.

Language knowledge matters at every seniority level

Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment, similarly confirms that there continues to be strong demand for professionals with foreign-language skills in both entry-level and senior SSC/BSC positions.

The value of language skills increases further when combined with specialist professional expertise.

For example, a candidate who speaks several languages and also understands finance, procurement, engineering or technology can become significantly more attractive to employers.

ERP knowledge is becoming increasingly important

Language skills alone are no longer enough for many roles.

Lovas highlights the increasing importance of experience with enterprise resource planning and other corporate business systems.

For some positions, familiarity with these systems is no longer simply an advantage.

Its absence may significantly reduce a candidate’s chances of progressing in the recruitment process.

Employees who understand how complex corporate processes are supported by technology can generally adapt more quickly to large international organisations.

Technical and engineering knowledge is gaining value

The changing structure of the SSC/BSC sector has also increased demand for technical professionals.

According to Lovas, employers have shown growing interest in candidates with electrical engineering backgrounds, as well as professionals supporting manufacturing-related functions.

At the same time, business service centres increasingly require IT professionals in areas including:

• IT operations;
• software development;
• data management;
• automation;
• cloud technologies;
• digital transformation.

This reflects the sector’s shift away from purely administrative support towards increasingly technology-intensive work.

Digitalisation and AI are transforming SSC careers

The pandemic accelerated digitalisation and automation throughout the business services sector.

As organisations became more dependent on digital processes, employees increasingly needed to work confidently with advanced technologies.

Jécsi notes that this creates a challenge because digital capability does not always develop as quickly as the technologies companies introduce.

Employees are increasingly expected to use AI and analytics tools to process large datasets and turn information into useful business insights.

Data analytics is becoming a core business capability

Tools such as Power BI and Tableau illustrate how business-service roles are changing.

Employees are no longer expected merely to process information.

They may increasingly need to:

• analyse data;
• identify trends;
• visualise results;
• draw business conclusions;
• support management decisions.

The combination of data analytics and artificial intelligence can further increase the value of these capabilities.

AI is also becoming part of internal business processes

In the original article, Jécsi described several AI-supported tools used within Genpact.

These included internal solutions designed to support employee feedback, customer service and HR information.

Examples included an employee-satisfaction chatbot, an AI-supported customer-service tool and an HR assistant providing information about policies, benefits and internal HR processes.

These examples demonstrate that AI in the SSC/BSC environment is not restricted to one specialist department.

It can increasingly become part of everyday business operations.

Automation is particularly relevant to high-volume processes

Shared Service Centres often manage large numbers of repetitive administrative transactions.

This makes automation especially valuable.

According to Lovas, automation can help:

• reduce manual errors;
• improve efficiency;
• standardise processes;
• free employees from repetitive work.

As routine tasks become more automated, the value of employees increasingly comes from work requiring interpretation, problem-solving and professional judgement.

Cloud-based working supports scalability

Cloud technologies are another increasingly important part of daily operations.

They allow international organisations to create systems that are more scalable, flexible and potentially more cost-efficient.

For employees, this means familiarity with cloud-based working environments can become increasingly relevant across a wide range of functions rather than remaining exclusively an IT skill.

Qualifications are no longer the only thing employers evaluate

Rapid technological development has also increased the importance of soft skills.

In some roles, employers may consider adaptability, problem-solving and learning ability at least as important as a candidate’s formal qualification.

This does not mean degrees and professional knowledge are irrelevant.

Rather, employers increasingly recognise that technical knowledge alone may become outdated if an employee cannot adapt when processes, technologies or organisational structures change.

Change has become part of everyday SSC work

Lovas highlights how frequently business service organisations restructure their operations.

Processes may move between countries.

New functions may arrive from other locations.

Working arrangements may change.

Artificial intelligence may transform how existing tasks are performed.

Employees therefore need to remain comfortable in environments where change is continuous rather than exceptional.

Adaptability is becoming a core SSC competency

The ability to adjust quickly is particularly valuable when organisations:

• introduce new technologies;
• move processes between locations;
• reorganise teams;
• redesign workflows;
• change working models;
• create new functions.

Employees who can learn new processes and remain effective during transition may have a significant advantage.

Continuous learning is essential

“Continuous learning and openness are the key to everything,” Jécsi explains.

The reason is simple: technical expertise that is highly valuable today may need to be updated significantly within only a few years.

Professionals who want to remain competitive need to keep developing their knowledge throughout their careers.

This includes both technical and interpersonal capabilities.

A growth mindset helps employees adapt

Jécsi also emphasises the importance of a growth-oriented mindset.

Employees need to be willing to:

• learn from mistakes;
• develop new skills;
• experiment with new technology;
• accept changing responsibilities;
• respond constructively to feedback.

This becomes particularly important as business service centres take responsibility for more strategic and higher-value activities.

Problem-solving is becoming more valuable

When routine processes are increasingly automated, employees spend more time handling situations that cannot be solved through a predefined workflow.

They need to identify problems, understand their causes and develop effective solutions.

This makes structured problem-solving an increasingly important SSC skill.

Critical thinking complements AI

The growing use of artificial intelligence makes critical thinking more important, not less.

AI tools can provide information, identify patterns and generate recommendations.

Employees still need to evaluate whether those outputs are relevant, reliable and appropriate for the actual business situation.

The valuable professional is therefore not simply someone who can use an AI tool.

It is someone who can interpret its output intelligently.

Employees increasingly need to understand the business behind the process

As SSCs evolve into BSCs and global service organisations, employees are expected to understand more than the individual task assigned to them.

They increasingly need to understand:

• the wider business objective;
• how their process affects other departments;
• customer expectations;
• the financial or operational consequences of decisions.

This broader business perspective is particularly important in higher-value and strategic functions.

Project-management skills are gaining importance

As organisations move towards faster and more dynamic ways of working, project-management capability becomes increasingly valuable.

Jécsi highlights knowledge of methodologies such as Agile and Lean.

These approaches can help employees manage:

• cross-functional projects;
• process improvement;
• automation initiatives;
• organisational transformation;
• new technology implementation.

Process optimisation is becoming a specialist skill

Automation is not simply about applying technology to an existing workflow.

Organisations first need to understand whether the process itself can be improved.

Employees working with automation may therefore need to:

• analyse existing workflows;
• identify unnecessary steps;
• redesign processes;
• select suitable automation opportunities;
• measure the results.

This makes process optimisation a valuable capability in the evolving business services sector.

Learning platforms can help organisations close the skills gap

Employers also have an important role in supporting continuous development.

In the original article, Jécsi describes Genpact’s internal Genome learning platform, which provides personalised learning opportunities across areas ranging from soft skills and storytelling to digital capabilities and generative AI.

This type of learning infrastructure helps organisations continuously develop existing employees rather than relying exclusively on external recruitment whenever new skills become necessary.

Soft skills become more important as technical work becomes automated

One of the paradoxes of automation is that the more technology takes over repetitive tasks, the more valuable distinctly human capabilities can become.

These include:

• communication;
• critical thinking;
• creativity;
• adaptability;
• collaboration;
• problem-solving;
• cultural understanding.

Technology can support these activities, but it does not automatically replace them.

The strongest candidates combine several skill groups

For many SSC/BSC positions, the ideal profile is no longer defined by one isolated competency.

Employers increasingly value combinations such as:

• foreign languages + finance;
• languages + ERP expertise;
• engineering + business knowledge;
• data analysis + communication;
• IT + process understanding;
• AI capability + critical thinking.

These combinations can significantly increase a candidate’s market value.

What are the most important SSC skills and competencies?

Based on the trends discussed in the original article, some of the most valuable capabilities include:

• foreign-language skills – particularly in international customer and business operations;
• ERP and business-system knowledge – increasingly important across corporate functions;
• digital literacy – confidence with technology and digital workflows;
• data analytics – the ability to turn information into business insight;
• AI literacy – understanding how to use AI tools effectively and critically;
• adaptability – responding successfully to continuous organisational change;
• problem-solving – handling situations that cannot be automated;
• critical thinking – evaluating information and making sound decisions;
• project management – particularly in transformation and process-improvement environments;
• continuous learning – maintaining relevant skills in a rapidly changing market.

Language skills open the door, but they may no longer be enough

Foreign-language capability remains one of the defining advantages of many professionals working in the business services sector.

However, as SSCs evolve into increasingly sophisticated BSC and global-service operations, employers require considerably more.

The strongest candidates increasingly combine language capability with technical, analytical and interpersonal skills.

The future belongs to professionals who keep their skills current

The transformation of the business services sector means there is no permanent list of skills guaranteed to remain sufficient throughout an entire career.

Technology will continue to change processes.

AI will reshape individual tasks.

Some activities will become automated, while new and more complex roles will appear.

For professionals, remaining competitive therefore depends increasingly on the willingness to continue learning.

For employers, the challenge is not only finding candidates with the right SSC skills and competencies today, but also creating an environment where employees can continue developing the capabilities they will need tomorrow.

Source: Behaviour HR Magazine

Technological development, the Covid pandemic and rapidly changing labour-market conditions have transformed recruitment strategies. Finding the right white-collar candidate from an increasingly limited talent pool has become significantly more challenging. How long should companies wait for the ideal candidate? When does it make sense to involve an external recruitment partner? And which is ultimately more expensive: using a headhunter or leaving an important position vacant for months?

The labour market has changed the rules of recruitment considerably in recent years.

Technological development, remote working and changing candidate expectations mean employers can no longer rely exclusively on publishing a vacancy and waiting for applications to arrive.

“A well-written job advertisement and a neatly organised Excel spreadsheet used to be enough. Today, recruitment requires a much more marketing-oriented, data-driven and proactive approach,” explains Zoltán Vass, Head of Talent Acquisition at Roche.

This is particularly true in the white-collar market, where strong professionals may have several opportunities available and often have little reason to actively search for another job.

Recruitment therefore increasingly requires:

• proactive sourcing;
• strong employer branding;
• fast decision-making;
• candidate relationship management;
• data-driven recruitment;
• a clear understanding of candidate motivation.

Remote work transformed recruitment

Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment, also highlights how the pandemic accelerated the transition towards remote and hybrid working.

Traditional office-based positions became more flexible and, in many cases, less dependent on location.

Recruitment processes changed accordingly.

Virtual interviews and online onboarding became widely used, while candidates increasingly started evaluating employers according to factors that went beyond salary and job content.

Important considerations now frequently include:

• employee wellbeing;
• health-related benefits;
• work-life balance;
• flexibility;
• home office;
• sustainability;
• company culture.

Recruiters therefore need to understand the complete employee proposition rather than simply communicate the responsibilities of the vacancy.

What if the perfect candidate never arrives?

Highly specialised positions remain particularly difficult to fill because the number of qualified and available professionals can be extremely limited.

In these situations, companies sometimes make the mistake of waiting too long for a candidate who matches every requirement perfectly.

Vass argues that employers can respond in two important ways.

First, they can build a talent pipeline before a vacancy becomes urgent.

This means identifying and maintaining relationships with potentially relevant professionals even when the company does not immediately need to hire them.

Second, employers can introduce greater flexibility into their requirements.

This might include:

• reskilling candidates;
• allowing partial remote work;
• placing greater emphasis on transferable skills;
• reconsidering whether every technical requirement is genuinely essential.

Do not lose strong candidates while waiting for perfection

One of the greatest recruitment risks is rejecting strong candidates because they are not a perfect match on paper.

An employer may spend months waiting for someone who meets 100% of the original specification while losing candidates capable of performing the role successfully after a relatively short learning period.

The better question may therefore be:

Which requirements are essential from day one, and which can realistically be developed?

This distinction can significantly expand the available talent pool.

Recruitment speed directly affects hiring success

The length of a white-collar recruitment process can vary considerably.

According to Lovas, factors influencing the timeline include:

• the number of interview rounds;
• whether interviews are online or in person;
• the number of candidates involved;
• the availability of the hiring manager;
• internal approval processes;
• the speed of offer approval.

A process can therefore take anything from around a week to several months.

However, one principle remains consistent:

the faster a strong candidate reaches the offer stage, the greater the likelihood of successful acceptance.

Strong candidates rarely wait indefinitely

Highly qualified professionals may be involved in several recruitment processes simultaneously.

Even passive candidates who were originally approached by a recruiter can quickly become active once they decide they are open to changing jobs.

A slow employer therefore risks losing candidates to competitors that are able to make decisions faster.

Delays can be particularly damaging when they occur between interview stages without clear communication.

Candidates may interpret long silence as:

• lack of interest;
• organisational inefficiency;
• uncertainty about the role;
• poor internal communication.

Recruitment speed therefore influences not only operational efficiency but also employer reputation.

When should a company involve a headhunter?

Some white-collar positions become so difficult to fill that continuing the same recruitment method produces diminishing returns.

If a vacancy has been advertised repeatedly without generating suitable applicants, this can be a sign that the search needs a different approach.

According to Lovas, involving a specialist headhunting firm can significantly accelerate recruitment and help employers fill positions that have remained open for a long time.

A headhunter does considerably more than simply forward CVs.

A specialist recruitment consultant can provide:

• talent-market insight;
• direct candidate sourcing;
• recruitment strategy recommendations;
• candidate communication;
• process coordination;
• salary-market feedback;
• support during negotiations.

External recruiters provide market intelligence as well as candidates

Experienced headhunters work continuously within specific talent markets.

This gives them visibility into questions employers may find difficult to answer internally, such as:

• How many realistic candidates exist?
• Which companies employ the relevant professionals?
• What salaries are candidates currently expecting?
• How attractive is the vacancy compared with competing opportunities?
• Which requirements are restricting the candidate pool unnecessarily?

This information can help employers refine the search before spending additional months pursuing a profile that may be unrealistic.

The best candidates may never apply to a job advertisement

This is one of the most important differences between traditional recruitment and headhunting.

A company advertising a vacancy generally reaches professionals who are actively looking for another job.

A headhunter also approaches passive candidates — professionals who are currently employed and may not have considered changing roles.

These candidates can represent a substantial part of the relevant talent market, particularly in highly specialised areas.

Direct search starts with understanding where the right talent works

When beginning a new assignment, an experienced headhunter does not only define the candidate profile.

They also map the organisations where suitable professionals are likely to work.

The candidate’s previous employers can provide useful context because different organisational environments develop different capabilities.

Experience from a startup, SME or multinational organisation may produce very different:

• working styles;
• decision-making habits;
• levels of independence;
• process knowledge;
• professional skills.

Understanding these differences helps recruiters identify which backgrounds are most likely to translate successfully into the client organisation.

Headhunters increasingly act as strategic partners

Vass similarly argues that the role of specialist recruitment firms has become more important.

A strong headhunter should provide genuine market insight and contribute to the search strategy rather than merely sending candidate profiles.

They may also have access to passive professionals who would never respond to a public vacancy.

This makes external recruitment particularly relevant when the available active candidate pool is too small.

Which costs more: a headhunter or an empty position?

External recruitment has an obvious and visible cost.

A vacant position also has a cost, but it is often much harder to see.

Depending on the role, a long-term vacancy can create:

• lost productivity;
• delayed projects;
• lost revenue;
• additional overtime;
• management workload;
• pressure on existing employees;
• lower customer-service capacity.

For critical specialist or leadership positions, these indirect costs can become substantial.

When comparing internal recruitment with specialist headhunting, employers should therefore consider the total cost of vacancy rather than looking only at the recruitment fee.

Time-to-hire has a business impact

A six-month search for a critical professional may appear inexpensive if the recruitment budget remains low.

However, if that position would have generated revenue, completed projects or reduced pressure on other employees, the business cost can be far greater than the visible recruitment expenditure.

This means recruitment performance should ideally be evaluated through several indicators, including:

• time to hire;
• quality of hire;
• offer-acceptance rate;
• cost of vacancy;
• retention after hiring.

Candidate motivation needs to be examined carefully

Another challenge in white-collar recruitment is determining how seriously a candidate is considering a job change.

Not every applicant or potential candidate is equally committed to moving.

Some professionals may be:

• genuinely ready for a new challenge;
• testing their market value;
• curious about available salaries;
• seeking leverage for a counteroffer;
• simply exploring future possibilities.

It is rarely possible to identify motivation with complete certainty.

However, experienced recruiters can significantly reduce uncertainty through detailed conversations.

Good questions reveal genuine motivation

According to Vass, understanding a candidate’s motivation is one of the most important skills in white-collar recruitment.

Useful questions may include:

“What is motivating you to consider changing jobs?”

“What would an ideal next career step look like for you?”

Other useful areas to explore include:

• what the candidate likes about their current position;
• what they would change;
• their long-term career goals;
• their salary expectations;
• their preferred working model;
• which factors would cause them to reject an offer.

Counteroffers should be discussed before they happen

If candidates are strongly connected to their current employer, there is always a possibility that resignation will trigger a counteroffer.

Recruiters can help candidates consider this scenario before reaching the final stages of a recruitment process.

Useful questions include:

• Would you stay if your current employer increased your salary?
• Are your reasons for leaving primarily financial?
• What would your current company need to change for you to remain?
• Would those changes solve the original problem?

Discussing these issues early can reduce late-stage withdrawals.

Candidate relationships are built on trust

Vass emphasises that continuous relationship building is essential.

Candidates communicate more honestly when they feel they are being treated as professional partners rather than simply as profiles to be placed into vacancies.

This is particularly important in headhunting, where professionals often have little initial intention of changing jobs.

The recruiter must understand their motivations before presenting a credible argument for why the new opportunity may be worth considering.

Recruitment increasingly resembles marketing

A modern white-collar recruitment strategy shares many characteristics with marketing.

Employers need to:

• identify the right target audience;
• understand what motivates them;
• develop a compelling message;
• choose the right communication channels;
• build awareness and trust;
• measure which methods generate results.

A job advertisement is therefore only one communication channel within a much broader recruitment strategy.

Employer branding matters before the vacancy is published

A company with a strong reputation has an advantage before recruitment even begins.

Candidates may already know:

• what the company does;
• what its culture is like;
• whether employees recommend it;
• how flexible its working model is;
• what career opportunities it provides.

This familiarity can make both direct applications and headhunter approaches more effective.

An unknown or poorly perceived employer may need to invest significantly more effort in convincing candidates to enter the process.

A shorter recruitment process does not mean lower-quality selection

Speed should not be confused with carelessness.

An efficient recruitment process can still include rigorous professional assessment.

The objective is to eliminate unnecessary delays rather than meaningful evaluation.

For example, employers can improve speed by:

• combining interview rounds where appropriate;
• using virtual interviews;
• agreeing decision criteria before starting the search;
• keeping hiring managers available;
• pre-approving salary ranges;
• shortening internal offer approval.

These changes can significantly reduce time to hire without compromising hiring quality.

Recruitment strategy should reflect the difficulty of the vacancy

Not every position needs a headhunter.

A role generating a healthy number of relevant applications may be filled efficiently by an internal recruitment team.

External specialist support becomes more valuable when:

• the role has remained open for a long time;
• qualified applications are extremely limited;
• the relevant candidates are mostly passive;
• the search requires confidential handling;
• specialist market knowledge is needed;
• the cost of vacancy is high.

Waiting can sometimes be the most expensive strategy

Companies understandably want to control recruitment costs.

But reducing visible expenditure does not necessarily reduce total business cost.

If an organisation spends months searching unsuccessfully while the vacancy continues to affect productivity, an apparently inexpensive recruitment approach may become extremely costly.

The decision about when to involve an external partner should therefore consider business impact as well as recruitment fees.

Recruitment has become more strategic than ever

The labour market described in the original article demonstrates why a well-written vacancy alone is no longer enough.

Modern white-collar recruitment requires a combination of:

• speed;
• proactive sourcing;
• market knowledge;
• employer branding;
• candidate relationship management;
• flexibility;
• realistic expectations.

Technology can support many of these activities, but successful recruitment still depends heavily on understanding people.

The strongest recruitment strategy reaches beyond active applicants

The most suitable professional for a vacancy may never see the job advertisement.

They may already be working successfully elsewhere, not browsing job portals and not actively considering a change.

This is where proactive recruitment and direct headhunting become particularly valuable.

A strong white-collar recruitment strategy does not simply wait for candidates to appear.

It identifies where the relevant talent is, understands what would motivate those professionals to move and creates a recruitment process fast and compelling enough to convert interest into an accepted offer.

For employers, the real question is therefore no longer whether a vacancy has been advertised effectively.

It is whether the entire recruitment strategy is capable of reaching and convincing the people the company actually needs.

Source: Behaviour HR Magazine

Entering the labour market creates challenges for both graduates and employers, and agreeing on compensation can be one of the most difficult parts of the process. Candidates with little or no professional experience may find it difficult to assess their true market value, while unrealistic salary expectations can make recruitment significantly more complicated.

Today’s entry-level candidates are predominantly members of Generation Z and have grown up in a highly digital environment.

They have immediate access to salary information, career advice, professional content and social media, which can help them make more informed decisions — but can also create unrealistic comparisons.

For young professionals entering the labour market for the first time, it can therefore be difficult to understand what represents an ambitious but achievable expectation and what the market is actually willing to pay.

Ambitious or unrealistic?

According to Szabina Király, Head of HR at Hansa-Kontakt Kft., salary expectations among entry-level candidates had increased significantly in the years preceding the original article.

Several factors may contribute to this.

The cost of living increased considerably, particularly for young professionals moving away from home and paying rent independently.

At the same time, minimum wages also rose.

Király notes that the issue may not always be that graduate expectations are objectively excessive.

In some organisations, the salaries of longer-serving employees may have increased more slowly, making new candidates’ expectations appear disproportionately high.

Salary expectations and actual salaries do not always move together

Ágnes Lovas, IT Recruitment Consultant at Vision Recruitment, similarly observed a significant increase in the salary expectations of younger candidates.

However, she highlights an important distinction:

salary expectations and actual market salaries do not necessarily rise at the same rate.

The difference varies significantly between industries and professions.

In areas where demand for entry-level professionals is particularly strong, candidates may have greater room to negotiate.

In weaker or more competitive segments, employers may be considerably less flexible.

Why do graduates sometimes ask for too much?

One of the most obvious reasons is simply lack of market experience.

Someone entering their first professional recruitment process may have very little information about:

• typical salary bands;
• how employers value internships;
• which technical skills command a premium;
• how much language knowledge adds to market value;
• differences between industries;
• differences between Budapest and regional markets;
• the total value of benefits beyond base salary.

Without this context, candidates can easily choose a figure based on incomplete or anecdotal information.

Fear of asking for too little can push expectations upwards

Lovas highlights another common reason.

Entry-level candidates may fear that if they give a salary expectation that is too low, they will undervalue themselves and have no opportunity to correct the figure later.

As a result, some deliberately start with a higher amount.

This does not necessarily mean that the number represents their true minimum expectation.

In recruitment practice, candidates may initially state a relatively high figure and later happily accept an offer below that amount once they gain a clearer understanding of the market.

Career advice can also influence expectations

Young professionals are regularly encouraged to:

• be ambitious;
• know their value;
• negotiate confidently;
• avoid settling for the first opportunity;
• build a career on their own terms.

These messages can be positive and empowering.

However, without sufficient labour-market context, they may also contribute to unrealistic expectations.

For many candidates, the first few recruitment processes therefore become an important learning experience.

The market quickly provides feedback

Candidates usually adjust their expectations once they experience real recruitment processes.

If several employers reject the same salary requirement, or if offers consistently arrive within a lower range, the candidate receives concrete market feedback.

Most people adapt accordingly.

Others may continue searching for an opportunity that meets a very specific combination of salary, flexibility, role content and benefits.

Neither approach is automatically wrong — but waiting for the “perfect” role can extend the job search considerably.

Not all graduate skills have the same market value

Entry-level salaries vary significantly between professions.

Certain skills can substantially increase a candidate’s value even without several years of work experience.

Examples highlighted by Lovas include rare foreign-language knowledge and qualifications in areas where employers face particularly strong demand.

For example, electrical engineers may have stronger negotiating power in markets experiencing a shortage of relevant specialists.

By contrast, changing conditions in industries such as automotive or software development can weaken the negotiating position of entry-level candidates in those fields.

Rare language skills can make a major difference

A graduate who speaks a commonly used language may compete with a relatively large candidate pool.

A candidate who combines professional knowledge with a less common language may face significantly less competition.

This is particularly relevant in:

• Shared Service Centres;
• customer support;
• procurement;
• finance;
• international sales;
• multilingual business operations.

For employers supporting specific international markets, these capabilities can justify stronger entry-level compensation.

Experience remains an important part of the equation

One of the fundamental challenges in graduate recruitment is balancing potential with proven capability.

Entry-level candidates may have strong theoretical knowledge but little experience applying it in a professional environment.

Employers often need to invest in:

• onboarding;
• training;
• mentoring;
• supervision;
• professional development.

This investment influences how companies structure entry-level compensation.

The employer is not only paying for current productivity, but also investing in future potential.

Salary is not the only priority for entry-level candidates

Although compensation is important, it is only one part of the decision.

Young professionals increasingly evaluate employers according to the complete working experience.

Common priorities can include:

• home office;
• flexible working hours;
• work-life balance;
• extra days off;
• mental wellbeing;
• workplace atmosphere;
• career development;
• training opportunities.

Time can sometimes be worth more than money

Lovas highlights free time as a particularly important consideration for some entry-level candidates.

Candidates may occasionally be willing to accept a lower base salary if the overall package includes more flexibility or additional leave.

This may reflect a stronger preference for travel, personal interests or simply a better balance between work and private life.

For employers, this creates an opportunity to build compensation packages that are attractive without relying exclusively on higher salaries.

Home office has become part of competitiveness

For office-based roles, hybrid working has also become an important expectation.

The widespread adoption of remote work during the pandemic changed how many employees think about the workplace.

For candidates accustomed to flexibility, several compulsory office days can influence whether they apply for or accept a position.

Employers therefore need to consider remote-working policies as part of their overall talent proposition.

Employers face a difficult salary balance

From the employer’s perspective, one of the most difficult challenges is finding candidates whose expectations fit the company’s internal compensation structure.

An organisation cannot simply increase every entry-level salary indefinitely.

If newly hired graduates receive compensation that is too close to, or even above, more experienced employees, internal salary tension can develop.

This can create retention problems among existing staff.

The challenge is therefore to remain competitive externally while maintaining fairness internally.

Business Service Centres can be particularly open to graduates

According to Lovas, Business Service Centres are among the employers that frequently recruit entry-level candidates.

Many provide several weeks or even months of structured training after employees join.

This allows companies to recruit for potential and transferable skills rather than requiring every candidate to arrive with complete job-specific knowledge.

In high-volume recruitment areas, employers may be especially open to graduates if they have:

• strong language skills;
• good communication;
• learning ability;
• digital confidence;
• the right attitude.

Training costs influence employers’ decisions

Companies also need to consider how long a newly trained employee is likely to remain.

If an organisation invests heavily in onboarding and professional development but the employee leaves shortly afterwards, the investment may not have time to generate sufficient value.

This can make some employers cautious when recruiting inexperienced candidates.

The issue should not be reduced to age or generation, however.

Retention is influenced by many factors, including:

• compensation;
• career progression;
• management quality;
• job content;
• flexibility;
• workplace culture.

Frequent job changes can sometimes accelerate salary growth

One reason professionals may move relatively frequently early in their careers is that external job changes can produce larger salary increases than internal annual reviews.

This creates a difficult situation for employers.

Companies invest in developing junior talent, but once employees gain valuable experience, competitors may approach them with higher offers.

Retention therefore needs to begin long before the employee receives another opportunity.

Entry-level employees also bring significant advantages

Despite the challenges, many organisations actively seek graduate talent.

Király highlights several positive characteristics frequently seen among newly qualified professionals:

• strong theoretical knowledge;
• willingness to learn;
• enthusiasm;
• adaptability;
• digital confidence;
• openness to company culture.

Young professionals may require more initial training, but they can also bring new knowledge, energy and different perspectives into an organisation.

A higher salary request does not automatically mean entitlement

It can be tempting to interpret ambitious entry-level salary expectations as evidence that younger candidates are unrealistic.

In practice, the situation is more complicated.

Higher expectations may reflect:

• increased living costs;
• housing expenses;
• inflation;
• salary information available online;
• skills that are genuinely in short supply;
• uncertainty about appropriate negotiation.

The candidate may simply be trying to understand their position in a market they have never experienced before.

Employers can make salary expectations more realistic

Transparency can help both sides.

Where appropriate, employers can communicate:

• salary ranges;
• the logic behind entry-level compensation;
• expected salary progression;
• training opportunities;
• career paths;
• the monetary value of benefits.

This allows candidates to evaluate the complete opportunity instead of focusing exclusively on the starting salary.

Recruiters can help bridge the information gap

Recruitment consultants can also play an important role in aligning expectations.

Because recruiters work continuously with both employers and candidates, they can provide practical feedback about:

• current market salary ranges;
• which skills command a premium;
• how realistic a candidate’s expectations are;
• which benefits may compensate for a lower salary;
• where the candidate has genuine negotiating power.

This is particularly valuable for graduates who have little experience negotiating compensation.

The best first job is not necessarily the highest-paying one

For entry-level candidates, starting salary matters, but it should ideally be evaluated alongside the long-term value of the opportunity.

A strong first position can provide:

• marketable professional skills;
• mentoring;
• recognised industry experience;
• foreign-language practice;
• international exposure;
• a clear career path.

These benefits can significantly increase future earning potential.

Choosing solely according to the highest immediate salary may therefore not always produce the strongest long-term career outcome.

Employers also need to adapt to new expectations

Every new generation entering the labour market brings somewhat different expectations and communication habits.

Rather than dismissing these differences, employers can examine which changes make sense for their organisation.

Flexible working, attention to mental wellbeing and a healthy work-life balance are not relevant only to younger employees.

These are increasingly common priorities across age groups.

Realistic expectations require reliable information

The debate around entry-level salary expectations is therefore not simply about whether graduates are asking for too much.

Young candidates are entering a complicated market shaped by inflation, changing skills demand, flexible working and highly visible salary information.

Employers, meanwhile, need to balance external competitiveness with internal salary fairness and the cost of training inexperienced employees.

The most productive approach is transparency from both sides.

Candidates benefit from realistic labour-market information and an understanding of the complete employment package.

Employers benefit from recognising that salary is only one part of what makes an opportunity attractive.

When expectations are discussed openly, ambitious graduates and employers can usually find common ground — and build an employment relationship that creates value well beyond the starting salary.

Source: Behaviour HR Magazine

The business services sector is one of the fastest-developing areas of the global economy. Hungary has also become an important SSC location, with more than 200 multinational organisations employing over 100,000 people according to figures cited in the original article. Yet as the sector expands and moves towards increasingly complex work, attracting and retaining qualified professionals has become more challenging. Career development, meaningful work, flexibility and employee engagement are becoming central to the question: what makes an SSC an attractive employer?

As the business environment changes, Shared Service Centres continue to evolve as well.

The employee experience can differ considerably depending on where an organisation is in that development process.

A newly established SSC may initially focus on building and standardising processes.

More mature Business Services Centres or Global Business Services organisations may take responsibility for complex regional or global activities involving significantly higher levels of expertise.

SSCs are moving towards higher-value work

AGCO Hungary, for example, originally developed as an IT centre before gradually taking responsibility for additional business functions.

According to Annamária Gaál, HR Leader at AGCO Hungary, the organisation was entering another stage of development at the time of the original article, moving towards a competence-centre model with more sophisticated, higher-value positions.

This evolution is important for employees as well as employers.

As business service centres take on more complex activities, they can offer broader professional opportunities and more specialised career paths.

Career development can make SSC work more attractive

One common criticism of service-centre work is that certain roles can feel repetitive or narrowly defined.

Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment, notes that some SSC positions may indeed be less varied than comparable roles within smaller organisations.

However, larger service centres can compensate for this through internal mobility.

Employees may have opportunities to:

• move between departments;
• progress into more senior positions;
• specialise in a particular professional field;
• join international projects;
• develop leadership capabilities;
• build a long-term career within the same organisation.

For candidates, the opportunity to move internally can be an important advantage that is not always immediately visible from the original job description.

International projects can be a major attraction

One of the defining strengths of business service centres is their international environment.

Employees may collaborate with colleagues, customers and stakeholders across several countries.

They may also participate in projects extending beyond the Hungarian operation.

For professionals looking to gain international experience without relocating abroad, this can be particularly attractive.

Employers should therefore make international exposure and internal mobility much more visible during recruitment.

Employees need to understand how their work contributes to the wider business

A particular employer-branding challenge for SSCs is that support functions may appear distant from the core activity of the parent company.

An IT, finance or HR professional working in a service centre may never directly interact with the organisation’s end customers or products.

This can make it more difficult to create a sense of purpose and belonging.

Employers therefore need to help employees understand how their contribution connects to the organisation’s wider mission.

Connecting service-centre employees with the parent company’s mission

AGCO provides an example of how this connection can be strengthened.

The company’s broader business is focused on agricultural machinery, precision agriculture and digital solutions for farmers.

Its Farmer-First strategy provides employees in supporting functions with a clearer understanding of the purpose behind their work.

Activities described in the original article included:

• bringing employees to brand-related events;
• introducing products through team-building activities;
• using workplace visuals and videos to communicate the corporate brand;
• organising regular connection events;
• providing insight into areas such as sustainability, soil quality and agricultural technology.

These initiatives help employees see the wider impact of work that might otherwise feel disconnected from the company’s core business.

Engagement cannot be created through salary alone

The original article referenced research by Follow The Yellow Communications and media-analysis company Neticle in which 84% of surveyed Hungarian SSC employees said they felt they could easily change employers if they received a better offer.

As a survey finding from the period discussed, this illustrates an important retention challenge.

Employees may be relatively open to switching companies when they do not feel strongly connected to their current employer.

This means retention needs to extend beyond compensation.

Employees are more likely to develop commitment when they can see:

• how their work creates value;
• where their career can progress;
• what they can learn;
• how they belong to the wider organisation.

Qualified professionals are becoming harder to find

As business service centres become more sophisticated, recruitment requirements also increase.

According to Gaál, SSC employers increasingly compete not only with one another, but also with international organisations and specialist employers in finance, IT and other sectors.

The shortage is particularly noticeable among highly qualified professionals.

This creates a fundamental challenge for SSC employee attraction and retention: the sector is expanding into more complex work at the same time as the pool of candidates capable of performing that work becomes harder to access.

Some SSC roles are entirely new to the Hungarian market

Lovas also highlights that companies increasingly bring positions to Hungary that previously did not exist locally in the same form.

This can make recruitment particularly difficult.

When there is no established local talent pool, recruiters may need to search across adjacent industries or identify candidates with transferable skills.

Employers may also need to:

• provide more extensive training;
• reconsider rigid experience requirements;
• search nationally rather than locally;
• use direct headhunting;
• develop talent internally.

Counteroffers make recruitment even more difficult

Employers are also placing greater emphasis on retaining existing professionals.

As a result, candidates progressing through an external recruitment process may receive counteroffers from their current company.

According to Lovas, these retention attempts most commonly involve salary increases.

However, increasing compensation does not necessarily solve the original reason the employee considered leaving.

If the main source of dissatisfaction involves career progression, leadership, flexibility or job content, a salary increase may provide only temporary motivation.

Counteroffers can therefore extend recruitment processes and make successful hiring less predictable.

Home office has become a critical recruitment factor

One of the traditional advantages of the SSC sector is flexibility.

Many business service employers offer:

• flexible working hours;
• broad benefit packages;
• hybrid working;
• relatively flexible leave arrangements.

However, Lovas points out that some organisations had begun reducing the number of home-office days available.

For SSC recruitment, this can have a particularly significant impact.

Why flexibility matters so much in SSC recruitment

Business service centres often have large numbers of vacancies and may require highly specific combinations of skills.

A candidate may need:

• specialist professional experience;
• advanced English;
• another foreign language;
• particular technical knowledge;
• experience within an international organisation.

Restricting recruitment to professionals living close to the office can dramatically reduce the available talent pool.

High levels of home office make it possible to reach candidates living significantly further away.

For rare or specialist profiles, this can make the difference between successfully filling a vacancy and leaving it open for months.

Remote work is more than an employee benefit

Flexible working is often described primarily as something organisations provide to employees.

From a recruitment perspective, however, it is also a strategic sourcing tool.

A company allowing significant remote work can recruit from a much larger geographical area.

This can help employers reach:

• professionals outside Budapest;
• candidates living in smaller cities;
• employees unwilling to relocate;
• specialists for whom regular commuting would otherwise be unrealistic.

The more specialised the role, the greater the potential value of geographical flexibility.

Different candidate groups value different things

Lovas emphasises the importance of understanding the motivations of the particular talent group an employer wants to attract.

Seniority, life situation, profession and personal preferences can all influence what candidates value.

For example, some younger professionals or employees with young children may place particularly strong emphasis on flexible working arrangements.

Other candidates may prioritise:

• international exposure;
• compensation;
• career progression;
• professional challenge;
• job security.

The most effective recruitment proposition therefore needs to reflect the actual target group rather than assuming that every candidate is motivated by the same benefits.

Career paths need to be visible

If employees feel that there is nowhere to progress, even attractive compensation may not be sufficient to retain them.

This makes career-path design particularly important in large business service organisations.

Companies can strengthen retention by showing employees possible next steps such as:

• promotion within the existing function;
• movement into another department;
• international assignments;
• project leadership;
• specialist career tracks;
• people-management roles.

These opportunities should not remain theoretical.

Employees need to understand what capabilities and experience are required to reach them.

Training and development strengthen the employment proposition

As SSCs move towards higher-value work, continuous learning becomes even more important.

Employees may need to develop:

• technical skills;
• language capability;
• leadership skills;
• digital competencies;
• business understanding;
• project-management expertise.

Training therefore supports both sides.

Employees gain greater career opportunities, while companies build the capabilities they increasingly need.

Wellbeing has become part of the employee experience

Gaál also highlights the growing importance of wellbeing.

Employee support can extend beyond traditional benefits to include services connected with:

• mental health;
• career counselling;
• legal guidance;
• financial advice;
• physical wellbeing.

Some programmes may even be available to employees’ family members.

This broader approach recognises that employee performance and retention can be influenced by factors extending beyond the workplace itself.

Managers play an important role in recognising individual needs

Wellbeing programmes are most effective when employees know about them and feel comfortable using them.

Managers therefore have an important responsibility to recognise when someone may need additional support and help direct them towards appropriate resources.

This requires leadership based on observation, communication and trust rather than purely on performance metrics.

A supportive culture can strengthen retention

Workplace culture has become another important part of the SSC employment proposition.

Employees increasingly evaluate whether an organisation provides:

• supportive leadership;
• open communication;
• inclusion;
• psychological safety;
• recognition;
• opportunities to connect with colleagues.

These factors can be particularly important in hybrid environments, where employees may spend less time physically together.

Employer branding needs to reflect everyday reality

For SSCs competing for scarce professionals, employer branding can help communicate the opportunities available within the organisation.

However, the message needs to correspond with employees’ actual experience.

If a company promotes flexibility but regularly restricts home office, or advertises career development without providing realistic internal opportunities, the employer brand will quickly lose credibility.

Strong employer branding therefore begins with the underlying employee experience.

What makes an SSC attractive?

The factors highlighted throughout the original article suggest that the strongest SSC employment propositions typically combine several elements:

• flexibility – meaningful home-office opportunities and flexible schedules;
• career development – visible progression and internal mobility;
• learning – training and professional development;
• meaningful work – understanding how the role contributes to the wider organisation;
• international experience – projects and collaboration across markets;
• competitive compensation – salaries and benefits that reflect market conditions;
• wellbeing – support for mental, physical and financial wellbeing;
• culture – a supportive and inclusive workplace environment.

Retention begins with understanding employee motivation

There is no single formula for successful SSC employee attraction and retention.

Different professionals want different things from their careers.

The key is understanding which factors matter to the specific talent group an organisation needs.

For one candidate, the decisive factor may be salary.

For another, it may be the ability to work remotely from another part of the country.

For someone else, international projects or a clear route into a senior position may be more important.

The future of the SSC sector is increasingly about people, not just processes

Business service centres were originally built largely around efficiency, standardisation and centralisation.

Those principles remain important, but the sector is increasingly taking responsibility for sophisticated, high-value activities.

That transformation makes skilled employees more important rather than less.

Employers capable of combining flexibility with professional development, meaningful work, competitive compensation and a strong employee experience will be better positioned to compete for increasingly scarce talent.

The challenge for SSCs is therefore not simply to offer jobs.

It is to demonstrate that those jobs can become meaningful careers.

Source: Behaviour HR Magazine