"Personalwirtschaft" roundtable: People are becoming a factor of trust

All good things come in twos: On March 27, 2025, I had the opportunity to take part in the "Personnel Consulting/Executive Search" roundtable for the second time. The discussion format organized by the HR trade magazine "Personalwirtschaft" (F.A.Z. Verlag) was not quite as broadly themed as last year: Among other things, it dealt with the weakening economy and the resulting consequences for the personnel services industry. And, of course, the perennial topic of artificial intelligence was not to be missed. What insights did I take away from the event? Our industry is also under pressure to adapt. For me, this means that if technology supports more and more processes, people will become increasingly important as a factor of trust - a great opportunity for us personnel service providers.

While I still felt like an exotic at the round table when I first attended last year, I now had the impression that not only was the topic of interim management more present among those present, but also that the personnel services industry is changing in general. Which is good and important, because I personally am increasingly convinced that there is only one constant: constant change. This can be seen from the line-up of the round table, which differed from last year. Sitting at the table with me were Bina Brünjes (Hays AG), Caroline Gellrich-van Brakel (Page Executive), Dr. Michael Faller (Baumann Unternehmensberatung AG) and Dr. Thomas K. Heiden (Heiden Associates). In addition to personnel consultants and executive search professionals, there were also experts who specialize in executive recruitment and outplacement. The composition of the participants alone is proof to me that the industry is changing and becoming more permeable.

Uncertain economic situation depresses demand

The demand situation has also changed. What applies to the interim management sector can also be felt in the executive search market: the difficult economic situation - both nationally and internationally - is causing companies to investigate very thoroughly whether they are currently looking for missing executives. The structural crisis in the automotive market in particular is having a negative impact, while there are many good inquiries in the pharma sector and for strategic transformation projects. These reports largely coincide with the results of our last trend barometer. So what happens when more and more high-caliber executives are available? According to the statements of my fellow panelists, on the one hand, many are striving for a position on an advisory board - we are also seeing an increased influx in interim management. On the other hand, the air is becoming increasingly thin for "low performers". There was talk of enormously expensive severance payments that the large DAX companies are currently (having to) pay in order to make staff redundant. These are all developments that show how dynamically everything is changing at the moment. I am increasingly getting the impression that many things within the economy are being structurally called into question more than ever before - including in middle and upper management.

We need to utilize the potential of baby boomers and the generation of heirs!

Surprisingly, I was the only one to formulate this so clearly: Nothing stays the same. Quite the opposite: the speed of all social, political and economic transformation processes is accelerating. However, in addition to demographic change, I consider the generation of heirs to be a key driver. The baby boomers, who will have retired from working life in the coming years, are in the top third of the demographic bell jar. But for me, this is only half the truth. Because there are certainly people of retirement age who feel fit and want to get involved in their careers. But in many places, they are unintentionally sidelined.

Who are in demand on the job market, on the other hand, are younger people. However, some of them are in such a good financial position that they can decide not to work. For those who are part of the community of heirs, the question of meaning is central - professionally, privately and socially. So what can be done? On the one hand, we would be well advised to emphasize the meaning behind jobs and their added social value in order to attract well-off young people to participate in the workforce. On the other hand, we need to make the labor market more fluid and resilient, especially in the senior management sector. In my opinion, we will only have any chance of overcoming the shortage of specialists and managers if we succeed in allowing both groups of people to participate in working life. With our Connected Workforce concept, we are ready to support all those companies that want to fill professional gaps - temporarily, but also permanently.

Humans are becoming increasingly important as trusted advisors

It was also exciting to see what role artificial intelligence can - and will - play in all of this. For me personally, it's not about whether AI will put the consulting industry "game over" or usher in the "next level" (the motto of the BDU Consulting Day in November 2025 will be "HR consulting 2030 - game over or next level?"). As I see it, AI has already achieved the status of "built in". AI is a natural part of many solutions that are used in our industry on a daily basis. We at Deutsche Interim AG have also added an AI component to our Matchmaker, which company representatives can use to search our database for suitable specialists and managers. But does artificial intelligence make us superfluous as a recruitment agency? Not at all! When AI creates the CV and automates the application process, the human being becomes increasingly important as a "trusted advisor". It is the advisor who uses common sense to check whether the candidates' CVs are not the result of a machine hallucination.

The job market must become more permeable

Accordingly, I do not share the opinion of one participant that EU regulation will destroy progress in the field of AI. Rather, I consider our strict data protection regulations to be a great asset that safeguards our social values and can effectively prevent the abuse of power by tech oligarchs. Perhaps technological developments on the one hand and social and demographic changes on the other will lead to the job market as a whole becoming more permeable - i.e. away from traditional permanent employment and towards a flexible and skills-based way of working. I would welcome such a development. Let's see if I can attend the roundtable again next year and report on progress.

Would you like to find out more about the connected workforce? In our brochure of the same name, you will find a compact overview.