Study: Only three out of ten young people find the first job in the field they studied

Jobs in sales, production and hospitality industry are the areas where most young people get their first job. According to a study by eJobs, only 3 out of 10 young find a job in the field they studied.

More than half of Romanians (53.42 percent) choose for first employment jobs in sales, (7 percent), production (11.8 percent), hospitality industry (9.09 percent), outsourced services (call-center, 6.34 percent) or working as unskilled workers (6.49 percent). At the opposite end of the domains to which the youngest at the beginning of the career are oriented are communication and marketing (0.28 percent of total respondents), engineering and IT (1.44 percent), accounting (1 .73 percent) or education (1.01 percent).

Even though almost half of Romanians (46.83 percent) engage for the first time before the age of 20, lack of experience is the biggest hurdle they say they hit when looking for a job. A quarter of respondents have problems finding jobs that are compatible with their training and expectations, 16.71 percent do not know where to look for job opportunities, 14 percent do not have enough confidence in themselves, while 13 percent do not know how to write your resume or how to apply for a job. Almost 12 percent of those who participated in the study say they fail to commit because they have too high salary expectations or are not willing to observe a fixed work program.

“One out of five Romanians aged between 18 and 24 neither work or study, according to recent data released by Eurostat. However, companies are extremely active in the hiring area for entry level positions. At present, about 30,000 jobs are available for candidates with a minimum level of experience on eJobs.ro. But even so finding a job is a very important step for those entering the labor market for the first time. They feel embarrassed, do not know what to do, ask whom to look for and some do not even know what suits them. That’s why we launched the First Job platform, accessible on www.primul-job.ro,” said Bogdan Badea, CEO of eJobs Romania.

Despite the fact that 20 percent of young people do not work before they reach the age of 24, six out of ten researchers believe that the most suitable age for first employment is under 20 years of age. A quarter of respondents choose 20-21 years, 14 percent say 22-25 years and almost 4 percent 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 flexibility of the program. These are followed by aspects such as the company’s reputation, the compatibility of the job with the field where they studied, or the distance between work and home.

“Getting a professional experience is the main goal young people have at the start of their career and the main trigger for the employment decision. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I’m getting quite easily from one job to another. 38 percent stay for at least 6 months at the first job and are ready to go elsewhere when they receive a better offer,” added Badea.

According to the eJobs study, 62 percent of respondents argue that recruitment platforms are the environment that offers the most employment opportunities and 75 percent use them exclusively when looking for a job. About 20 percent rely on the recommendations they receive from friends and acquaintances. 8 percent apply directly to company websites and almost all of them are trying to find a job at career fairs.

The eJobs study ran from May to June 2018 on a sample of 1,100 respondents. 47 percent of them are between the ages of 19 and 25 and 41 percent of the participants have high school education and 34.4 percent are university graduates.