Close to 172,000 young people from across the country have visited the forum National Career Days: a Good Career, a Good Life. More than 30,000 have found a job or enrolled for internships. This has been the stocktaking of Bulgaria’s biggest career event since it was launched in 2002. By tradition it is organized by JobTiger, an HR company keeping a career-oriented website. This year’s edition is due to open on 18 March in Sofia and in the course of roughly one month will tour seven university centers in the country. In this way students in Sofia, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Rousse, Svishtov, Plovdiv and Burgas will have the chance of meeting representatives of various businesses and giving their careers a start. Companies are going to offer both jobs and internships to them.

“When we began this forum 13 years ago only few foreign companies had internship programs”, JobTiger CEO Svetlozar Petrov goes back in time. “Internships have become very common today and they benefit both companies and students. There are many ways to finance them under various programs of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. So far, no better instrument has been found to bridge business with education. It is obvious that education today cannot possibly keep aberast of the development of technology and business practices, and universities across the globe have faced this challenge. The way to shorten the gap is by means of internships for university students that introduce them to working environments. This is a good way for them to get ready for the future.”

Over the recent years, internship programs have been run not only by large companies but my medium-sized ones too, Svetlozar Petrov explains. One example for a socially responsible company that gives a good start to young people, is Nestle Bulgaria, a long-time participant and general sponsor of the National Career Days.

“Last year, in support of our internship campaign, we announced a new youth employment initiative”, explains Bilyana Georgieva, HR manager at Nestle Bulgaria. “The company has made a commitment to create 330 jobs for young people aged up to 29 in the period from 2014 to 2016. 50% of them will become full-time employees, and the rest will be offered internships. We had a very good start, and in January alone we hired 13 young people. Youth unemployment has come as one of the worst side effects of the crisis and has recently become common not only in Bulgaria, but across Europe. This year during the Career Days, Nestle Bulgaria will for the first time organize the so-called CV Clinic. In it we are going to consult young people how to draft their CVs and prepare for job interviews. I believe that this counseling will be valuable for them and will clear their way to desired careers.”

The highest demand placed by businesses is for students trained in information technology, finance, as well as for ones who are fluent in foreign languages.

English version: Daniela Konstantinova