An AltoPartners Global White Paper showcasing the changes, and challenges, within the Luxury Goods sector

You can get it here.

Luxe recruitment trends worth watching:

1. Increasingly companies are looking outside of the industry to hire not just tech skills, but also HR, Marketing and Communications skills. “It took a bit of time, but they learned the industry and our Communications & Public Affairs Director was voted Best C&PAD 2018.” L’Oréal

2. Promoting from within is a key trend. This has had an impact on HR policies designed to accommodate mothers with family responsibilities, while others have implemented internal development curricula and mentorship programmes. This has opened up more opportunities for gender diversity in senior roles, given that women dominate the lower and middle management layers in the industry. “Women who have to fetch children at 16:00 should not be disadvantaged.” L’Oréal “We have extended a challenge to all employees to develop their full potential and are really investing in those who respond to the call to develop themselves professionally.” Swarovski

3. In the search for a deeper customer connection, not only are companies looking outside of the industry to fill traditional roles, they are also looking for people that even two years ago would not have found a home in the personal luxury goods space, such as sociologists, semioticians, digital designers, brand soundtrack developers, curators, animators, app designers, ideation experts, data miners, and algorithm relationship managers.

4. Most sought after leadership qualities: Stamina; resilience; sincerity. An ability to lead from the heart. Engaged.

5. Top skill: an ability to thrive in a multi-cultural environment. Unsurprisingly, given the globalisation of supply chains and customer bases across age and geography, the ability to listen and encourage inclusivity at all levels was highly prized.

6. The employee as key stakeholder and brand ambassador: It’s no longer about hiring people who merely ‘look’ the part. Brands are also paying more attention to their internal communications: becoming more attuned to what your employees think and working hard on their “employer’’ brand by listening to what employees think and having a better understanding of what their brand offers to prospective employees.

7. Youth diversity: Boards are increasingly seeing the value of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist of Millennials and Gen Z (the latter alone is expected to account for 40 percent of global consumers by 2020). Expect to see more Shadow Committees, à la Gucci, of employees under 30 with direct access to the C-Suite.