The European productive fabric (and especially the manufacturing sector) is undergoing a transformation that requires new technical skills. International recruitment is an indispensable way to fill these niche vacancies and maintain the global competitiveness of European companies.

Despite this pressing need, SMEs hardly use legal migration channels. The aim of the Eurobarometer is to understand the barriers in order to design tools, such as the future EU Talent Pool, to facilitate this flow in an orderly and legal manner.

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Attempts to contract outside the EU

To what extent are manufacturing SMEs willing to open their selection processes to the international market?

• Manufacturing at the top of the productive sector: 15% of EU manufacturing SMEs have tried to recruit talent outside EU borders in the last two years. They slightly exceed the overall average for all sectors (14%).
• SMEs stand out for the good: 39% of EU SMEs have sought workers from outside the EU. Having a human resources department or minimum structure is the key factor in daring to take the international leap.
• Spain in the average: SMEs in Spain are at 15% of international recruitment attempts. The key qualitative data is that, while in Europe the most sought-after non-EU profile is construction or hotel and catering workers, in Spain the second most sought-after profile outside the EU is civil and structural engineers (15%), far exceeding the European average (9%).

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The great barriers of the process

When analyzing the companies that did try to contract outside the EU, the obstacles of manufacturing SMEs and the Spanish market show opposite realities:

• Language: In Europe: Language is a problem for 24% of global SMEs. In Spain: Only 10% of Spanish SMEs see language as a barrier. The obvious cultural and language link with Latin America acts as a protective shield for Spanish companies against the rest of the EU.
• Bureaucracy: In Europe: Visa procedures and administration are the number one obstacle for SMEs as a whole (31%). In Spain: Only 14% of Spanish SMEs identify it as their main problem.
• Identify and locate candidates: This is where the tables are turned. In the EU, 25% of SMEs are concerned about finding suitable candidates at source. In Spain: It rises to 44%. SMEs in Spain suffer much more than their European competitors in finding reliable recruitment channels, verifying resumes and approving the technical skills of workers before bringing them in.

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Institutional support and loneliness of manufacturing SMEs

The report uncovers a generalized isolation of companies in international procurement processes, a chronic problem that is accentuated in Spain.

• 78% of EU manufacturing SMEs confess to not knowing of any public or institutional support services to mitigate talent shortages through outsourcing (in line with 79% overall).
• In the EU manufacturing sector, 81% of SMEs had to manage the entire process purely in-house. Manufacturing SMEs mostly operate alone. In Spain: Isolation is almost absolute and stands out very badly. 93% of Spanish SMEs managed international sourcing internally, without any external support.

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In conclusion: Spanish manufacturing SMEs have a golden opportunity vis-à-vis Europe thanks to the linguistic harmony with the Latin American market, but they are trapped in a system where they do not know how to search for or verify professionals at source, operating completely alone and with their backs to the resources of the administration.