Study: Only 3 in 10 young Romanians choose first jobs in the fields they studied

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