1. JUNE 2013
1
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
Darina Peneva,
Managing Director
d.peneva@stantonchase.com
During the last several years we are living in times when
some of the most often used words are economic crisis,
decrease of purchasing power, stagnation and even
recession. At the same time companies in all sectors are
targeting further development of their businesses as
well as increase of both sales and work efficiency. How
could this happen in such a complicated environment?
The answer is very simple – the key factor for success is
human capital. HR professionals are once again facing
challenging times.
The main request for them is to help business leaders
manage successfully risks such as shortage of skills and
skill gaps, succession planning, globalization of the labor
market, managing virtualized teams and maintaining
highlevelofperformance.Inaddition,thetaskofbuilding
long-term loyalty is more and more related to the
demand for developing alternative incentive schemes
that would“touch”employees and motivate them to stay
in the company. Among the key priorities for HR is focus
on the roles at all levels of the organization in regard to
the expertise, skills and competencies needed to secure
achievement of the strategic business objectives.
The topic for talent management is as hot as always.
However, companies start realizing that it is not always
possible to retain the best talent in all functions. Thus
their focus is gradually being adjusted mainly to the
strategic roles in their organizations. Among the
competenciesmostrequired
from HR professionals are
business understanding,
development of business
thinking and alignment
of their language and
actions with those of the
business. Last but not least,
technologies are becoming
more and more important
for the overall HR process
in terms of the use of tools
for information analysis and
strategic decision-making
regarding human capital.
Current challenges in talent management
Editorial
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
In tune with the local,
connected to the world
1
We are pleased to announce
that Stanton Chase Bulgaria was
awardedtheregionalPerformance
Excellence award for outstanding
performance in 2012. Internally
the company celebrated its
best year by personal and team
recognition awards.
The award for target
overachievement and billing went
to the Industrial practice group
team – Dobromir Minkov and
Bissera Stoyanova.
The Technology team celebrated
highest rate of client satisfaction
and team efficiency – Darina
Peneva and Elena Rusanova.
Two teams were awarded for
highest placement rate – Life
Science & Healthcare and
Consumer Products and Services
– Biliana Djambaska and Irina
Andonova.

2. JUNE 2013
2
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
During the last few years Bulgaria became an attractive destination for outsourcing of particular functions and activities such as:
inbound and outbound BPO in call centers and support centers; software development; finance & accounting; payroll, HR, etc.
In 2012 the outsourcing sector achieved its highest growth not only within the ICT industry but also in comparison to the other
economic sectors in the country.The number of employees in the sector is app. 14 000 – 15 000 FTEs and is expected to increase
up to 40 - 45 000 FTEs by 2017. Meanwhile, revenues in the sector are expected to double within the next 2 years.
Bulgaria is among the preferred countries for outsourcing due to several factors: high level of education, strong technical
competencies, competitive language skills, low level of both salaries and running costs, and last but not least, attractive
geographical positioning close to clients’ organizations. All these boost opportunities for the sector in comparison to other
typical outsourcing countries. However, expectations are very high both in terms of level of fees and quality of service. Thus
local outsourcing companies are focusing their activities in attracting new clients from mature markets in Western Europe
and US where they are facing extremely high competition. In addition, high demand for employees on the entry level of the
organizations forces companies to search for a pro-active and long-term partnership with high schools and universities so to
assure their successful development. According to the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association our country has very good chances to
be among the top 10 countries for outsourcing in the word.
Outsourcing and software development companies have been very actively recruiting for the last several
years.We have noted several tendencies for 2012:
- outsourcing companies explored opportunities to start up offices in the countryside, in towns with
universities and relatively high level of unemployment;
- bilingual professionals were needed for entry level positions at some newly opening BPO centers as
well as at already existing call centers;
- sales positions for external markets opened at local outsourcing companies intending to widen their
range of services;
- there was an increasing lack of competencies on operational management level, due to fast growth
and well-developed policy for internal promotions;
- programmers, senior software developers and QAs with proven track record were mostly needed
at local software development companies; foreign competitors seemed to be more attractive to
experienced developers.
- sales and marketing positions opened most frequently in telecoms due to the current regulation
situation and the high competitiveness of the market.
- IT spending in all sectors was reduced and as a result vendors were devoted to optimizations.
Our prognosis is that the market will be more than welcome for experienced professionals.
Darina Peneva
d.peneva@stantonchase.com
Elena Rusanova, Research Associate, Technology
e.rusanova@stantonchase.com
Bulgaria - a paradise for ITO and BPO services in the CEE region
The opportunity, the challenge and the risks
The professionals needed
2

3. JUNE 2013
3
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
Consumer Products and Services
overview and tendencies
An executive recruiter calls me -
now what?
Despite the difficult market situation, 2012 was interesting and
challenging for the Consumer Products and Services prac-
tice group at Stanton Chase and the companies we partner.
Тhis was the most successful year for the practice group
since the business of Stanton Chase was established
in 2006 – we marked a noticeable increase in recruit-
ment projects in the sectors we service – consumer
products (including manufacturing), out of home /
B2B / foodservice, distribution services (including re-
tail), luxury products and marketing services. Strong
competition for highly specialized financial and sales middle management roles, as well
as for specific leadership roles in the manufacturing operations, was what we observed
in 2012. Most of our assignments were within the supply chain and commercial func-
tions.
In 2013 companies continue to pursuit the right talents to drive their businesses, fo-
cusing not only on ex-
pertise and experience,
but also on attitudes
and personal qualities
such as independence, ability to influence and to drive changes.
A challenge we continuously face is the low level of mobility of
professionals within Bulgaria; yet, the tendency to migrate to the
capital remains valid.
Hiring decisions for 2013 in big FMCG companies, as expected, are
driven by the following: changes in top-management teams, pro-
motions on a group/ corporate level, organizational alignments and geographical movement of regional hubs. We anticipate
businesses to continue recruiting top- and middle-managers as well as experienced project managers for their commercial and
supply chain operations. Supporting functions (financial, HR, etc.) are less often on demand.
Even if you are not used to these types of calls, act professionally
and present yourself with self-respect. The last thing on the
researcher’s mind is to make you feel uncomfortable and to
jeopardize your relationship with your current employer.
- Executive search firms work on behalf of their clients to help
them fill in key positions in their organizations
- In order to do that, they identify the best match between the
client’s needs and your profile, which includes:
• Work experience
• Areas of professional development
• People and/ or project management skills
• Personality match with corporate culture of the client
- The role of the executive consultant is to be as open as possible
about the company and the position. Have in mind that
sometimes a search might be confidential.
- It’s up to you to validate the attractiveness of the opportunity.
Do not take it personally if you do not make it to the next round. If the preliminary research
identifies 200 prospects, in most cases probably 50 to 60 will make it to the so called long-list and
only up to five in the short-list. It’s up to the client to make the final decision. And it was them who
provoked the search in the first place.
Irina Andonova, Senior Consultant CPS
i.andonova@stantonchase.com
Yuliana Popova, Research Associate, CPS
u.popova@stantonchase.com
According to Business Monitor International’s report,
revised 29th April 2013, Bulgaria is expected to reach a
slight level of recovery in 2013, with forecasted real GDP
growth of 0.5%. The forecasted fiscal deficit in 2013 is
0.3% of GDP. Thenationaldebtisexpectedtocontinuefall-
ingfromthecurrentlevelof17.8%ofGDPto12.6%by2020.
A researcher at Stan-
ton Chase pre-selects
professionals with the
necessary expertise
and checks their in-
terest in potential op-
portunities for career
change.
A consultant at Stan-
ton Chase leads the
project and evaluates
key competencies
and professional mo-
tivation and validates
work experience de-
tails
3

4. JUNE 2013
4
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
Duringthelastcoupleofyearsmost
manufacturing plants in Bulgaria
have been forced to decrease their
costs, on the one hand, in order to
achieve lower prices of production,
and to increase efficiency and
productivity, on the other. There is a positive tendency in that
direction – the GDP per worker increased with 3.8% for 2012
compared to the previous year. However, customers have
became more demanding when it comes to delivery time,
quality of production and overall service. As a whole, Bulgarian
plants in the industrial sector produce mainly for foreign
markets. Most of the production is
labour intensive, a kind of internal
outsourcing of big international
industrial companies. The rest are
the so called “ex-socialist time”
privatized plants that are trying
to adapt to the new local and global business environment.
A slight, but good tendency during 2012 was that some
of the international investors in the production sector
started to outsource and opened not only labour intensive
productions, but also more technological ones with focus
on engineering and R&D activities.
Most owners and top executives try to decrease labor costs and believe that the big number of unemployed experts actively
looking for a job will give them the chance to attract professionals on relatively lower salaries than it was possible several
years ago. However, we still are in “the eye of the hurricane” and few top professionals have the experience and ability to go
through the current economic situation. In that respect skilled and experienced people with the appropriate abilities to lead
their companies though the crisis are not that easy to retain and attract. At the same time the employers are able to evaluate
the abilities of their employees in real tough situations and find a lot of gaps in their skills.
Employers are becoming more and more demanding and look for“super stars”without being ready to revise their salary
policy regarding professionals of this calibre. Meanwhile these professionals are aware of their importance as key players in
their current teams, which makes it more difficult to attract them.
Employers are looking for better for less, while employees with outstanding performance are looking for safe, predictable long-
term business relationships.
The above described situation is a deficit of skilled employees and there is no equilibrium point in the demand and
supply of top professionals.
Some managers in the sector are still not convinced that in order to attract top performers they should sometimes pay even
more than it was considered relevant in 2007 (before the so called Crisis). Of course, it is part of our challenge as consultants to
identify the new leaders who could support and boost the business of our clients.
The Industrial sector in Bulgaria is searching for professionals with multifunctional or cross functional expertise
for positions that require: financial and maintenance
comprehension; project management and production/
engineering abilities; design or maintenance managers with
soft skills abilities; business development managers with
industrial engineering experience and very good financial
understanding. The problem with the lack of foreign
languages in engineering, production and maintenance
teams still exists.
TopmanagersandownersoftheplantspresentedinBulgaria
should continue investing in their human capital to keep the
company’s talents in their organization. They should continue
their development programs, attracting the most appropriate
leaders as a good example. In that respect employers could
also create the appropriate business and working environment
where their personnel feel sufficiently motivated: better on-
boarding,clearsuccessionplans/careerpathandclearcompany
structure with separated responsibilities.
Demand and supply of top professionals for the Industrial sector:
no equilibrium point in 2012
4
JUNE 2013STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
Dobromir Minkov
d.minkov@stantonchase.com
Bissera Stoyanova
b.stoyanova@stantonchase.com
Statistical background – the official unemployment
for 2012 is 12.3 %; the annual economic growth
is 0.8 % , inflation - 4.4 % (Jan’2012 – Jan’2013).
The Industrial Тeam
Dobromir Minkov
Partner
Bissera Stoyanova
Research Associate

5. JUNE 2013
5
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
The Life Science & Healthcare Sector is one of the most stable sectors of the Bulgarian economy - it
has remained at the level of 4% of GDP for more than 10 years. Although growth in sales of medicines
slowed down in 2012 (to only 5.2%), it is obvious that the market continues to grow despite the crisis.
Nowadays, the pharmaceutical business operates in a highly dynamic and challenging environment
– it faces constant and on-going changes in state regulations, delayed payments of the state to the
pharmaceutical manufacturers and decreased cash in the population, which considerably affects
the direct “private” purchases. At the same time, the National
Healthcare system does not function efficiently and
effectively. Although a noticeable growth in sales
of drugs is not expected for 2013, there are some
anticipations that the hospital market will
mark a rise up to 4%.Growth in sales of OTC
products, generic products and food
supplements is also expected to continue.
In 2012 a lot of pharmaceutical companies went through
optimizations and structural changes at middle and senior
management level. There are more and more legal and
compliance requirements which means that in 2013 along
with the typical demand for positions in Sales and Marketing,
we also foresee vacancies for experienced professionals with legal,
compliance and pharmacovigilance expertise and knowledge. The
Market Access Manager role within pharmaceutical companies will become
even more strategic.
Mrs. Biliana Djambaska joined the company in 2006. She has gained 7 years of executive search experience working as a
researcher in assignments servicing multinational and leading local clients in 4 sectors – FMCG,Technology, Pharmaceutical and
Financial. In 2012 Biliana took up the position of Consultant for the Life Science and Healthcare practice group.
Ms.Yuliana Popova joined the company a year later to support the administrative, marketing and PR activities of the company.
During the years Yuliana supported different stages of the executive search process – mainly for FMCG, pharmaceutical and
financialcompanies.SinceNovember2012YulianahastakentheroleofResearchAssociatetosupporttheConsumerProducts
and Services practice group.
Mr. Dobromir Minkov joined the company in 2008. He took up the role of Senior Consultant for the the Industrial, Natural
Resources & Energy and Logistics & Transportation practice groups. This year, as a recognition for his efforts in the
development and promotion of the local organization and services, he was promoted to the position of Partner in Stanton
Chase International.
Life Science & Healthcare Sector
Reality Today
Promotions in Stanton Chase Sofia
JUNE 2012STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
Biliana Djambaska, Consultant
b.djambaska@stantonchase.com
5
JUNE 2013STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER

6. JUNE 2013
6
STANTON CHASE SOFIA NEWSLETTER
Key indicators according to local and global associations
of executive search companies
• According to a global survey by AESC (the Association of Executive Search Companies), senior executive mobility in 2013 will
be powered by the following 3 factors:
- Better role/ increased responsibility (75 % of 400 respondents)
- Increased total compensation (59 %)
- Change to a more stable industry (50 %)
• In terms of functions, the respondents identify greatest shortage of talents in Engineering, General Management/CEO/COO,
Board of Directors and Business Development
Stanton Chase Sofia
81B Bulgaria Blvd., floor 6, Sofia 1404
Tel: +359 2 962 2931; Fax: +359 2 962 8347
sofia@stantonchase.com
www.stantonchase.com
6
• The reason why organisations in Bulgaria hire executive
search companies include the profile of potential candi-
dates– top and middle management functions, confidenti-
ality, current market overview, deadlines and professional
execution.
Key indicators according to local and global associations of executive search c
Dobromir Minkov, Yuliana Popova
According to a global survey by AESC (the Association of Executive Sear
executive mobility in 2013 will be powered by the following 3 factors:
Better role/ increased responsibility (75 % of 400 respondents)
Increased total compensation (59 %)
Change to a more stable industry (50 %)
In terms of functions, the respondents identify greatest shortage of tale
General Management/ CEO/ COO, Board of Directors and Business Dev
42%
37%
32% 29%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Engineering General
Management/
CEO/ COO
Board of
Directors
Business
Development
Functions with greatest shortage
of talent globally
According to a survey by BESA (Bulgarian Executive Search Association)
130 top managers, the functions companies use executive search for ar
Marketing.
34%
15%
12%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Sales Finance Marketing
Functions for which executive search
companies are most often hired Bulgaria
The reason why organisations in Bulgaria hire executive search compan
of potential candidates– top and middle management functions, confid
market overview, deadlines and professional execution.
Key indicators according to local and global associations of executive search companies
Dobromir Minkov, Yuliana Popova
According to a global survey by AESC (the Association of Executive Search Companies), senior
executive mobility in 2013 will be powered by the following 3 factors:
Better role/ increased responsibility (75 % of 400 respondents)
Increased total compensation (59 %)
Change to a more stable industry (50 %)
In terms of functions, the respondents identify greatest shortage of talents in Engineering,
General Management/ CEO/ COO, Board of Directors and Business Development
42%
37%
32% 29%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Engineering General
Management/
CEO/ COO
Board of
Directors
Business
Development
Functions with greatest shortage
of talent globally
According to a survey by BESA (Bulgarian Executive Search Association), conducted among
130 top managers, the functions companies use executive search for are Sales, Finance and
Marketing.
34%
15%
12%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Sales Finance Marketing
Functions for which executive search
companies are most often hired Bulgaria
• According to a survey by BESA (Bulgarian Executive Search
Association), conducted among 130 top managers, the
functions companies use executive search for are Sales,
Finance and Marketing.
Biliana, Yuliana, Darina Dobromir and Bissera – a successful team
“Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream”