Romanian companies to continue recruiting in 2023, eJobs report says

Approximately 10,000 jobs were posted on eJobs.ro, the largest online recruitment platform in Romania, in the first week of 2023. The level is similar to the same period last year, and signals the fact that employers are still vying for new workers.

Roughly 420,000 new jobs were posted by employers in 2022, a record for the last 20 years.

"The beginning of the month confirms signals we had at the end of last year, namely that 2023 will start strong and continue recruitment and team expansion policies,” said Bogdan Badea, CEO of eJobs Romania. “Furthermore, candidates have also immediately become active after the holidays, so we see a number of over 225,000 applications, a slight increase over the same period last year," he added.

The jobs that attracted the most applications at the beginning of the year were for remote sales agents, junior bankers, data entry operators, debt collection operators, and cashiers in casinos. Each of these positions received over 1,000 applications in just a few days.

"At the beginning of each year, we see a large number of young and entry-level candidates who want to be employed for the first time or to change their job, which is why the positions that receive the most applications are those that require no more than two years of experience or those in industries such as retail, services, telecommunications or call center / BPO," explained Bogdan Badea.

Remote work remains a desired option for a significant number of candidates. Around 14% of the total number of applications were for jobs that can be done exclusively from home.

Most of the applicants are looking for jobs in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, and Brasov. With the exception of Brasov, these are also the cities with the highest net salary averages, as shown by the Review & Trends 2023 report covering the recruitment industry that was put together by eJobs. Bucharest comes in first place, with a net salary average of RON 4,500 (EUR 913), followed by Timisoara (RON 4,100, or EUR 832) and Cluj-Napoca (RON 4,000, or EUR 812). Brasov is seventh in the ranking, with RON 3,500 (710), behind Sibiu, Iasi, and Oradea.

Some clear trends are already emerging in the labor market for 2023, as noted in the Review & Trends annual report. One of them is related to the fact that the hybrid work schedule will replace the 100% remote one, despite the fact that last year was marked by a massive increase in both the supply and demand for jobs that did not require presence at the office.

Another trend with an impact on the Romanian labor market is the increasing prevalence of second jobs. The origins of the trend can be found in the pandemic. Remote working gave many employees the flexibility to begin more side projects in the last few years, and 70% of respondents in a recent survey conducted by eJobs stated that they need to supplement their long-term revenues. This will likely lead them to second jobs or temporary side projects.