Top hiring sectors in Montenegro

Christine is right to comment on the negativity of one of the responders here but sadly the content of their post is largely true. If the local authority and government policy of raising revenue through punitive fines continues into next summer I cannot see how this will not affect tourism businesses in 2014 and thus the seasonal travel and tourism hiring sector. This policy makes normal business planning almost impossible and very stressful. Businesses are constantly waiting for the inspectors to arrive and impose fines for unbelievable and often tenuous "crimes". e.g. Failing to label soap dispensers in toilets as "Soap Dispensers" - 250 Euro fine. Failing to individually bill bar & restaurant orders prior to delivery of the order (rather than keeping a tab which can then be settled with a credit card in one transaction at the end of the meal) - 1,000 Euro fine. These are real examples of fines suffered by people we know. Locals and Ex-pats alike.

Outside of travel and tourism, and I can only comment on the Kotor Bay area, another likely hiring sector is construction. There are a number of large construction projects kicking off or already well underway in the Bay area. For those seeking work the challenges are the rate of pay and competition for work. Unskilled and semi skilled labour rates are very low and generally filled by migrant workers from the Balkan region. Associated clerical and higher management positions are often filled by ex-pats but are generally advertised locally too. It is alleged that one developer was somewhat overwhelmed by over 4,000 job applications. I understand they largely abandoned their normal recruitment processes and opted to follow known "connections" to source employees.

When trying to identify business opportunities you often hear ex-pats saying "what we need in Montenegro is ..." followed by some innovative idea. What most people forget is the biggest hindrances to investing in innovative ideas in Montenegro are :

1. Local and national laws which facilitate indeterminate indirect taxation (fines).
2. Market size. The country has a population of approximately 700,000 which admittedly can grow to twice that during the summer season. Think of the market size as being 2/3 the size of that offered in Birmingham or similar city but spread over a wide area and re-think if your idea will still work.
3. If you do have an innovative idea and a good route to market, it is highly likely that your ideas will be copied by any number of locals thereby diluting your chance of success considerably. Especially if the "green eyed monster" factor kicks in where those wishing to copy your idea, motivated largely by jealousy, will use their influence to ensure reason 1 above kicks in. As I understand it, any citizen of Montenegro can anonymously request that a business be inspected with little or no justification and there is then an obligation to ensure an inspection is carried out.

I admit I have little knowledge of the multinational corporate world in Montenegro in terms of hiring sectors. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that any multinationals operating in Montenegro will largely source senior employees from bases in other countries. If anyone has any first hand information on employment opportunities in sectors such as banking and finance, telecoms etc it would be good to hear it here.

So in summary, in my opinion the top employment sectors in Montenegro are likely to be in travel and tourism businesses and construction but on a world scale these sectors are small. Fortunately, this does not make Montenegro an unattractive destination for tourists. Please do not be dissuaded from visiting, it is a beautiful country and despite a somewhat "wild-frontier" business environment I for one wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world.

P.S. It would be helpful if the poster that initiated this thread could expand on his reason for asking.