Cezar Cârligeanu, Head of Sales, OLX Romania: OLX is number 1 in terms of number of recruitment ads posted on any platform

The last few years have been challenging for both employers and employees. The workforce has undergone profound changes in the recent years, going through different stages from a total shortage in 2019, to the 2020 pandemic that reconfigured how we relate to work, to a feeling of freedom both in our professional and private lives in 2024. Perspectives and new trends in the labor market were debated by savvy professionals at the Future of Work event, organized by Business Review.

Cezar Cârligeanu, Head of Sales at OLX Romania and one of the speakers present at the event, shared how the labor force is seen from a recruitment platform perspective but also cast a light on the data collected through the Job Index, a comprehensive analysis released annually during the last 8 years by OLX that X-rays the Romanian labor market and socio-economic climate.

With more than 17 years of business development experience spanning over several sectors, such as retail, finance, and online commerce, Cezar has a complex expertise in transformative leadership, overseeing sales groups, and nurturing relationships in B2B, B2C, and B2B2C contexts.

“With this Index we aimed to cover the most appealing topics for both employers and employees, such as: labor migration, what both employees and employers want, where we are today in terms of salary, what the geographical distribution of candidates looks like, how candidates’ interest in the ads has increased. This Index is based on figures from the platform. I would like to share withyou that OLX is accessed annually by 14 million unique users, so almost the entire population with internet access in Romania. Last year we had almost 3 million unique visitors and almost 570.000 job ads on OLX jobs. We have more than 500,000 employer accounts created on OLX Jobs, while in Romania there are more than 800,000 companies with at least 2 employees. Today we are the number 1 platform in terms of the number of recruitment ads posted on any platform“, said Cezar Cârligeanu, Head of Sales at OLX.

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At the same time, Cezar also revealed that most of the ads posted on the recruitment OLX section address the blue and grey collar segments simply because almost 75% of the employees work in the blue & grey collar sphere on the Romanian market. Through the Job Index, interesting data has been discovered about why Romanians go abroad to work, what they are looking for in a job, in their current job or in their future job, and what attracts them abroad.

“We believe there are many opportunities in Romania. We are supporting the activation of the inactive population and we know that we have about 5 million Romanians who can work but who do not have a work contract, so they are not in the labour market. OLX reaches out to everyone in both rural and urban areas equally. In 2023, an employer received, on average, 11 candidates for each job listing posted on OLX. Below average are mainly the big cities: Bucharest, Ilfov, Brasov, Timis, Iasi, Cluj where there is an increased number of job opportunities, hence the lower demand. At the other end of the scale are Caras Severin, Vaslui, Botoșani, Brăila. Surely an improved modern infrastructure could open up opportunities there too. On the other hand, it would be interesting if we could encourage this migration in the country and instead of leaving to work thousands of kilometers away, we could encourage them to move from Vaslui to Bucharest or to cities that offer more opportunities and here of course we believe that some tax facilities would encourage this migration“, said Cezar Cârligeanu, Head of Sales at OLX.

The OLX representative also explained the reasons why Romanians want to work abroad. These differ depending on the category, because there are many Romanians with higher education who leave not necessarily because of money but for a better educational system and a better health system. Data within the OLX research reveals that 42% of Romanians leave for more attractive salaries, greater economic stability and better working conditions.

“We believe that each of these points can be debated because if we look at salaries, yes, we see on our platform that the highest salary offered was for work abroad, almost 2000 euros, while at the opposite pole in Romania, a salary of 1300 euros in transport, so there is still a gap.  There are facilities for internal migration and for Romanians returning from abroad. Unfortunately, these are not very accessible and we need to recalibrate on the causes that lead to this“, said Cezar Cârligeanu, Head of Sales at OLX.

Future of Work by Business Review is one of the most relevant events in the industry where industry professionals meet to debate current issues, trends and opportunities in the labour market. The panel discussion in panel 1, moderated by journalist Aurel Dragan, on Mapping the HR Landscape: Workforce Horizons 2024, was attended by Simona Bucura-Oprescu, Minister for Labour and Social Solidarity; Antoniu Panait, Managing Director at Vastint Romania; Inga Tigai, Tax Partner, Head of Tax & Legal Technology at KPMG in Romania and Cezar Carligeanu, Head of Sales at OLX Romania.