Employers in Bulgaria Want to Attract Bulgarian Students & Workers Abroad

A recent survey has found that 1/3 of employers in Bulgaria want to make efforts to attract Bulgarian students who have completed studies or worked abroad.

The study conducted by nPloy, “Bulgaria Wants You,” “DNA,” and BSMEPA – the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, included both employers in Bulgaria and Bulgarian students abroad.

As the Bulgarian media Novinite reports, authors of the study said that young graduates’ point of view even if they graduate abroad or in Bulgaria is essential for the development of the country, particularly when the country is in need of qualified individuals to work in the sector of the economy.  

“We further investigated whether companies have a strategy for attracting and retaining valuable staff, whether they are adaptable and what they are willing to do to develop their employer brand in order to be relevant to the dynamic times in which we live,” the organizers said.

Data reveal that 89 percent of Bulgarian employers are struggling to recruit qualified staff with technical skills in certain regions of the country.

On the other hand, 56 percent of Bulgarian students abroad who participated in the study said that Bulgaria doesn’t offer job opportunities, while 63 percent of students said that there are no opportunities for career growth in the country.

Following the results, representatives from the job search and career development platforms said that it would be better if employers would inform applicants about the pay in the job advertisement prior to the EU regulation becoming effective.

According to data, more than 25,000 Bulgarian students study abroad, mostly in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Every year, a considerable number of Bulgarian students go abroad to pursue higher education through the Erasmus program. According to bourgas.ru, the Ministry of Education and Science said in a press release that thousands of students, university professors, youngsters, and schoolchildren from Bulgaria will be able to study or complete internships under the European programs Erasmus + and the European Solidarity Corps during 2022.

This year, the budget of the Erasmus + program allocated for Bulgaria is more than €54 million. Meanwhile, under the European Solidarity Corps program, Bulgaria is provided an amount of almost €3 million.

Data from the Workforce Survey of the National Statistical Institute indicate that in the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 3,299,900 people working in Bulgaria. Out of them, 3,200,400 at the age of 15-64 years.

According to Eurostat, in December last year, the number of job vacancies in Bulgaria was 16,174.