The Romanian labour market is beginning to show signs of returning to the pre-pandemic level, according to a report by BestJobs recruitment platform, which registered 4 million job applications in the first half of the year.

There has been increased activity among both employers and candidates on the local labour market in the first six months. According to data recorded by BestJobs in this period, digitization, interest in remote jobs, professional development and employee well-being, and preference for employers considered stable are the main trends on the jobs market.

Sales, Financial & Accounting, Management, IT & Telecom, Administrative & Secretarial, and Specialists/Technicians attracted most job applications in the first half of 2021. At the other end, the least popular sectors were Legal/Public, Medicine/Health, and Sports/Arts/Entertainment. However, BestJobs said that contact and employment in these areas have been more effective due to their specificity and the specialized candidates.

Since the beginning of the year, employers have published a total of 150,000 new jobs on BestJobs. According to the recruitment announcements, the employers are looking for full-time employees (94%) in the white-collar (56%) and blue-collar (24%) categories and for management positions (20%).

According to the same report, IT/Telecom, Medicine/Health, Engineering and Management remained the areas with the highest net salaries. Moreover, wage increases were recorded for all fields, the largest being in the Agriculture & Livestock (46% compared to the second half of 2020), Education & Training (43.8%) and Administrative & Secretariat (by 39.3%).

“After a year of uncertainty, employees want a full-time job in a company that offers them job security, according to 8 out of 10 candidates. Another 55.8% want to work in a private company, especially a multinational,” reads the BestJobs press release.

Enel tops the list of most desired employers, followed by Allianz Technology, Alpha Bank Romania, Deichmann and Continental Automotive.

The report also said that there was an increased interest in remote jobs in the first six months. If in January there were 60,000 searches for remote jobs, the number increased to 100,000 in June.

Remote work is also popular among those who already have a job. 82% of the respondents to a BestJobs survey said that they would recommend this way of working to acquaintances as well, 67% of the parent employees said that they had adapted very well to this system, while another 64% would like to continue working from home partially even after the pandemic.

More than 70% of respondents said that the balance between family and work has been easier to maintain since they work remotely, and 67% said they would not return to the office.

More than a quarter of employees (27%) were considering changing jobs at the beginning of 2021 due to the lack of professional development opportunities. Performance bonuses (58%), professional development programs (48%) and private health insurance (24%) are among the most popular benefits that employees want from companies.

BestJobs expects the remote work to continue in the following six months (and the interest in this type of work to keep increasing). The way employees assess productivity is also expected to change. Last but not least, part-time or flexible-time jobs, freelancing projects and fixed-term project jobs are gaining ground.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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