Sales, production and the hospitality industry are the top areas where most young people in Romania get their first job. Only 3 out of 10 choose a job in the field they studied, according to as study by online recruiting platform eJobs.

The study revealed that more than half of Romanians (53.42%) choose their first jobs in areas such as sales (18.7%), production (11.8%), the hospitality industry (9.09%), outsourced services (call-center – 6.34%), or work as unskilled workers (6.49%). At the opposite end are jobs in areas such as communications and marketing (0.28% of all respondents), engineering and IT (1.44%), accounting (1.73%), and education (1.01%).

Even though almost half of Romanians (46.83%) get a job before turning 20, lack of experience is the biggest obstacle they say they encounter when seeking work. A quarter of respondents said they have problems finding jobs that are compatible with their training and expectations, 16.71% do not know where to look for job opportunities, 14% do not have enough confidence in themselves, while 13% do not know how to write a CV or how to apply for a job. Almost 12% said they fail to find a job because they have too high salary expectations or are not willing to have a fixed work program.

The study also showed that, despite the fact that 20% of young people don’t work before the age of 24, six out of ten respondents believe that the most appropriate age for getting the first job is under 20. A quarter of respondents chose 20-21 years, 14% said 22-25 years and almost 4% think the first job should be taken after the age of 25 years. For them, the most important criteria in choosing a job are the personal development opportunities, the salary and the program flexibility.

The eJobs study was carried out in May-June 2018 on over 1,100 respondents. Almost half them were aged 19-25, 41% had high school education and 34.4% were university graduates.

Four in five Romanian employers face difficulties in filling vacancies

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com