Trend: World-leading entrepreneurs are investing in new hires this year

A report by global business investment firm Ernst & Young has found entrepreneurs all over the world are looking to hire new talent both in their own countries and abroad.

Ernst & Young surveyed 200 of the former winners of its Entrepreneur of the Year winners about their recruitment plans for its Global Job Creation report.

The report says 78% of the entrepreneurs said they planned to increase their workforce in 2013.

Ernst & Young’s global vice chair of strategic growth markets, Maria Pinelli, says in a statement: “In the past year, the world’s best entrepreneurs have shown remarkable resilience in the face of sharply variable business conditions throughout the major global markets.

“While macroeconomic risks such as the eurozone crisis, a slowdown in emerging markets growth and the US budget impasse have added to investor uncertainty, the world’s leading entrepreneurs are still looking to recruit in significant numbers.”

Slightly more of the female entrepreneurs surveyed were intending to hire new staff (73% compared to 68% of male entrepreneurs).

Entrepreneurs were focused on recruiting experienced team members. Just over half (51%) of the entrepreneurs were planning to recruit experienced (non-management) personnel.

Forty per cent of the entrepreneurs were looking for entry level staff, 14% with a degree and 26% without.

Asia-Pacific entrepreneurs were the leading geographical group when it came to hiring intentions, with 64% looking to hire this year, followed by Europe at 51% and the US at 29%.

Female entrepreneurs were also generally more confident about the economic direction of the countries they were based in (88% compared to 71%).