On the other hand, on the real estate market, developers' country managers cashed in tens of thousands of euros, whilst real estate brokers received bonuses worth one million euros.
Real estate is a field where a major exit can add six digits to the accounts of those directly involved in negotiating a deal. "People with money, those who invest, are also the best-paid," says Ulrik Rasmussen, a partner with Pedersen & Partners, one of CEE's biggest executive search firms.
As a result, real estate developers and investors gain the most. Some of the country managers of developers that operate on the market earn 20,000 euros, while others earn even more.
The biggest income Rasmussen has seen in his four years at Pedersen & Partners was that of a managing partner who worked with a real estate developer that operated in the CEE, which includes Romania. "The candidate who was hired, and who is not a Romanian, will receive no fixed salary, but, instead, at every exit of the company, will receive 40% of profits, which is huge".
Moreover, investment funds that specialise in real estate are much more flexible when it comes to sharing their profits with their senior managers as the risks they take on are much greater, and they expect to get a return on investment much faster than a developer. However, some companies still prefer fixed wages, to which other forms of bonuses are added.
A senior project manager earns between 3,000 and 8,000 euros per month in gross terms, whist a developer's country manager sometimes earns as much as 25,000 euros.
Earlier this year, results reveal a Romanian architect earned 20-25 euros per hour, four times less than in Western states, according to a ZF survey.
In addition, because of the shortage of skilled workforce across the whole market, most architecture firms announced salary hikes in order to retain their employees.
Another category of well-paid employees is that of consultants, which, together with architects, make up the category of "service providers", as Rasmussen calls them.
Although they can earn a lot, they are not part of the top league of developers and investors.
For a 100m-euro deal, the fee collected for consulting services revolves around 1m euros.
The fee-per-deal makes up the largest part of the compensation package, while real estate consultants' monthly incomes rise with the size of arranged deals.
The high incomes are also a consequence of the fact that the real estate market has grown much faster than the workforce one.
Recruiting or executive search firms' task is not an easy one.
Besides being hard to find, real estate employees are also hard to evaluate.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
