Romanian labor market loses core skills

The desire to have a university diploma and the lack of proper careers advice have pushed many young people away from certain basic qualifications that are now desperately needed, both in Romania and abroad. The fact that salaries awarded by local employers to people who do possess these skills are low, even lower than the amount they could command abroad, has exacerbated the problem. So, if you wish to recruit staff in these domains, be warned: there is shortage.

Otilia Haraga

The lack of well-trained skilled staff for certain qualifications comes as “a natural result of the fact that numerous pupils go into higher education. Candidates’ chase for qualifications and to work for brands in the best paid industries, in professions where appointments were made not on the candidate’s abilities, but rather on their efforts to accumulate purely theoretical knowledge, mean we can no longer find ‘essential’ professionals,” Mihaela Feodorof, founder of Yourway, a company which offers vocational advice to pupils and business counseling, tells BR.

What are the market needs?

Data provided by Oana-Maria Banu, product marketing manager at Myjob.ro online recruitment site, show that the posts that employers are most eager to fill at the moment are those of waiter, car mechanic, bartender, electrician, skilled worker, welder, cook, plumber, confections manufacturer and locksmith.

Similarly, BestJobs.ro has currently nearly 1,000 open positions available for people who are qualified to be cooks, hairdressers, cosmeticians, lathemen, technicians and similar. “Over the past six months, over 4,000 candidates with similar training as the positions mentioned above have updated their CVs,” Andreea Mihaescu, PR & communication assistant at BestJobs Recrutare tells BR.

“Most vacancies can be found in the restaurants/services area, as we have 64 adverts for cooks on the website, each of these with at least one position available. A close second is the beauty area, where the most sought after are cosmeticians, hairdressers and massage technicians,” they add.

Age is also a factor. “Most skilled personnel on the Romanian labor market are in the senior age category – which does not fit employers’ requirements. As discriminatory as it may seem, the vast majority of employers are looking for skilled staff aged 25 to 40, young, who know their job well and ask for as low as possible a salary, since we are in a period of crisis,” Monica Spiteri, business development director at Smartree Romania, tells BR.

However, these candidates also have the option to try their luck outside the country. “Many of the announcements in Horeca are posted by companies that are also recruiting abroad. For instance, four of the open positions for cooks are abroad, notably Germany and Great Britain,” says Mihaescu.

“It is safe to say there is a shortage of staff on the Romanian market in all domains, and this is because young and skilled people have preferred to work in other countries or open a business, to earn more money. Therefore, people who have qualifications in construction, professional drivers and even medical staff have chosen to leave for other countries in the European Union, where Romanian workers can get better paid jobs,” says Spiteri.

The gap between salaries available to qualified candidates in Romania and abroad is sometimes staggering.

“If in Romania salaries vary between RON 800 and RON 1,500, in other countries they can be between EUR 500 and EUR 2,500. Even more, some employers offer, besides the wages, board and food,” says Spiteri.

Of course, one must take with a pinch of salt many of the better salaries that employers wave in front of candidates’ eyes, since some salaries are not declared.

“The best paid jobs in Romania are in construction but these are often well paid because employers are still working on the black or grey market – a lower salary is stipulated on the labor contract, and the rest they take in hand,” says Spiteri.

The difference can be as much as fourfold, according to data given to BR by Myjob.ro. For instance, a waiter who makes on average EUR 340 a month in Romania can earn EUR 1,800 abroad.

Similarly, a car mechanic has an average salary of EUR 425 in Romania, while abroad the sum can go as high as EUR 2,500. An electrician earns about EUR 500 a month in Romania, while in another country the medium salary is EUR 2,800.

And the examples go on: a locksmith earns on average EUR 480 monthly in Romania, and EUR 2,000 abroad, a welder about EUR 500 in Romania and EUR 2,000 abroad, a cook can make EUR 420 in Romania and EUR 1,700 outside.

“The domains in which qualified personnel in Romania have managed to secure substantial revenues outside the country were, and remain, even during the post-2008 crisis period, healthcare and construction,” says Feodorof.

To fill the deficit, companies should “adapt their recruitment and investment policies to train skilled personnel as well as offer compensation packages and benefits at an attractive level. At the same time, stability in the workplace is an important motivating factor for qualified personnel in certain jobs,” says Spiteri.

Feodorof suggests yet another solution, arguing that the only way to attract young people to these fields is to introduce vocational counseling in the curriculum. “Technical colleges teaching trades are based on qualifications and form the basis of higher education. No one can stop a graduate of a technical school continuing studies in a domain he or she enjoys and gets good results. (…) The mentality and the way each young person is integrated in the broad social classes are the barriers that have led to this state of dissatisfaction and a worrying unemployment rate worldwide among young people between 16 and 25,” argues Feodorof.

Marks are not everything, say players. Ideally, attending a technical college should not be based on the pupil’s school results but his or her natural inclinations and abilities that can be developed, says Feodorof.

In Romania, the level of technical colleges is good, “sometimes even higher than in other European countries,” says Spiteri. On the other hand, the number of such schools has significantly dwindled over recent years, falling to approximately 40 from 200 in the 90s.

The place of these schools was taken by companies who are organizing vocational training accredited by the National Council of Professional Training for Adults, but which are often not very specialized, she adds. If you looking for best slot machines for real money check out portal about slot machines in Romania .

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

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