A professional staffing company and an executive search firm report ongoing business in Cyprus – while the local recruitment team of security firm G4S are also busy.

The island nation is in the midst of a financial crisis with banks closed until tomorrow, with many people attempting to withdraw savings from accounts even after a proposal to levy a one-off tax on bank accounts was voted down by parliament. 

Search firm Pedersen and Partners’ country manager Caterina Constandinou says that while some business activities on the island have been put on hold, none of these have affected them as an executive recruiter. 

Meanwhile, the owner of StaffMatters Recruitment Specialists Tony Papadopoulos notes that certain areas of the recruitment industry in the country has grown through the recession, and suggests it has long-term potential.

And according to free London business paper City A.M., John Arghyrou, managing director of the Cyprus arm of G4S, said yesterday that “demand is greater than we can provide” for security provision at banks, also saying that “licensing rules prevented the firm from bringing in extra staff to handle the unprecedented workload”.

Speaking to Recruiter, Pedersen’s Constandinou says that overall, executive recruitment in recent years “has been going pretty well… I can’t say it’s affected by the recession”.

Asked whether projects had been put in hold across the country in recent weeks, Constandinou said “in general, yes”, but added “not in our industry” [executive search].

She predicted that banking sector candidates might have to become more open to working in new locations and sectors. Cypriots are generally mobile and “interested and keen to work abroad”, she says. One of a number of developing area that could be of interest might be the pharmaceutical industry being nurtured by the state, another being energy.

StaffMatters boss Papadopoulos also sees prospects for the country in a three to five year timescale in the shape of a growing oil & gas industry. “With the potential arrival of some of the world’s leading oil & gas companies contracted with the exploration of the natural resources, we anticipate to experience an increase in the number of jobs available in the market,” he says.

Papadopoulos adds: “Cyprus is still considered a financial hub for Forex [foreign currency exchange industry] and investment firms, and will continue to be so.” He says that most recruitment firms on the island are working in the Forex industry and have grown in recent years, while those reliant travel & tourism, construction and property-based industry have fared worse.

A major impact, though, is evident but has been the hardest to measure. “The events over the last week in Cyprus has definitely had a psychological effect on the people of this country, from both a personal and a business perspective,” he says. 

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