Interview in the Budapest Business Journal TOP50 HR Executives.
BACKGROUND INFO
Zoltán Czellecz works as company manager for Work Force, one of the largest staffing firms in the Hungarian market. He oversees all business lines of the firm and is responsible for their sustainable growth.
Czellecz earned his master of science degree at the University of Pannonia with a specialization in HR management. During his studies, he joined the global market-leading staffing firm of that time as a recruitment trainee. Since that moment, Czellecz has spent his entire career in the HR services industry and worked in various sales and operations-oriented roles over the years. He has held various managerial positions in Hungary and the Gulf region and joined WorK Force in 2020. Czellecz is married and the father of “two great kids.” His hobbies are sailing, traveling, and reading.
“I still see significant gaps between what our education system produces and what Hungarian employers require. We can start with the evident mismatch of fresh graduate profiles and the junior vacancy profiles available. The lack of IT professionals, engineers, or teachers is an issue that has been with us for many years now, without the hope of a significant change.”
WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TAKING UP HR AS A CAREER?
We’re living in exceptional times which have a massive impact on the role of HR. Those who become successful in this profession have to be great sales people and excellent negotiators with a solid understanding of marketing and digital solutions. Personally, I believe that a highly empathetical attitude remains a “must have” as long as human beings are present in workplaces. This colorful perspective should be a great reason to take up HR as a career.
WHAT ARE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES FACING HR IN THE HUNGARIAN MARKET?
The inflation pressure is tremendous, leaving a direct footprint on employee turnover rates. The exiting colleagues are no longer just an economic issue; the trends and their scale are biting into company cultures. Minimizing these effects while business demand is still unpredictable is a massive challenge for HR teams. In my opinion, inspiring and stable leaders who can build and develop communities will be the closest allies of HR professionals.
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION, BOTH FOR THE HUNGARIAN WORKFORCE IN GENERAL AND FOR HR SPECIALISTS IN PARTICULAR?
I still see significant gaps between what our education system produces and what Hungarian employers require. We can start with the evident mismatch of fresh graduate profiles and the junior vacancy profiles available. The lack of IT professionals, engineers, or teachers is an issue that has been with us for many years now, without the hope of a significant change. When we narrow this question down to quality aspects and focus on the knowledge and skills of those entering the labor market, we face a mismatch between demand and supply again.
More employers are opening up their own training programs or mini-campuses to train candidates before hiring them, and recently, HR service providers joined this group as well. Employers who have started to turn towards candidates from Asian countries to fill their unskilled jobs are exploring similar opportunities for skilled blue-collar or graduate vacancies. This will clearly add to their competitive advantage in the near future.
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MADE IN YOUR SECTOR?
Incorporate an approach to hiring managers based on current market realities would be more than helpful. That is easier said than done, but despite all changes and challenges around us, we still see an unchanged expectation towards recruitment where managers expect talents just in time with the right skill set, knowledge, and attitude. Time to fill can easily reach several months in such cases, causing an eye-widening financial loss for the business.
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Source: Budapest Business Journal – The Most Influential HR & Recruitment Executives in Hungary 2023
