Career World Champions 2010: Spain is ahead of Germany and the UK

Munich, June 22 2010 – Whilst international stars such as Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo have been competing with their teams to claim the FIFA World Cup championship in South Africa, Experteer has been searching for career world champions. Experteer ( www.experteer.co.uk ), the executive online career service, conducted a Europe-wide survey* of 2,500 senior-level professionals to elicit critical feedback about their careers - from factors they value in their current positions to professional development via networking and career coaching.

Challenges in Austria and team spirit in Spain

Regarding job satisfaction, challenging tasks were the most important factor for 52% of respondents. Notably, 70% of Italian and Austrian executives rated this factor as having the greatest job appeal. Germany followed up the midfield position with 59%. Like competitive professional football players, these executives highly value the challenges their positions bring.

The top motivating factor amongst French and Spanish senior-level professionals is a team environment, which forms the basis of good working relationships – and equates to valuable synergies on and off the ‘pitch.’

One factor that ranked consistently lower across most countries was the image of the team. Only the British valued the reputation of their company most at almost 20%, whereas the Germans rated it least at 3%.

Offense vs. Defense

An essential element that cuts across football and careers is the offense – the preparation and initiative, plus the confidence to drive change and seek goals.

The British and German executives rated their career development – from setting goals to achieving targets and scoring promotions – highest at 70% and 60%, respectively. In contrast, for a country famous for their “catenaccio” (“bolt”) approach, Italians are more defensively positioned in the workplace. Almost a third of respondents from the country of the current world champions described their own career as not very successful.

To coach thyself or be coached

One key reason for the successful career of certain players and teams lies directly on the shoulders of stellar coaches and their leadership. In parallel, certain successful executives have professionally benefited from coaching consultants.

Among our respondents, the Germans value career coaching the most at 40%. Eighteen percent already benefit from an advisor. The Dutch (15%) and Swiss (13%) followed up at a distant 2nd and 3rd value rating. Conversely, almost two-thirds of Italians said they had already given up on coaching. Likewise, 39% of the British find no use for coaching for their professional success.

Player transfers: Not without my headhunter!

Senior-level professionals who, like valued players, want to advance their careers need to strategise their transfers onwards and upwards. The key element for successful job change across the majority of our respondents is headhunters. As talent scouts of the economy, they are considered particularly important in filling new positions, especially in Spain (40%) and Austria (39%). The UK rated professional connections higher (39%) though, and the Dutch (33%) and Italians (29%) valued online job boards most.

* Experteer surveyed more than 2,500 executives and senior-level professionals worldwide in the period between 18 May and 8 June 2010.