Meetings with representatives of the academic community of Bulgarian students abroad mark the launch of the Job for Me campaign of the Bulgarian Employment Agency. Mediation opportunities in finding a suitable job for young, highly-qualified experts wishing to return to Bulgaria are presented in seven European capitals. But to be offered a salary insufficient to maintain a normal standard of living after you have invested money, time and effort in obtaining the highest qualifications – how many young Bulgarians who have graduated abroad would be willing to make that decision? There will probably be exceptions – out of nostalgia or because they consider their return to the country at this time a career development opening. There are employers who are genuinely keen on keeping a given expert as part of their staff so they are ready to offer pay measuring up to his or her skills. But whether the Employment Agency’s campaign will come to a successful end only time will tell.

So far 100 CVs have been submitted to the Agency’s designated e-mail rabotazamen@az.government.bg,. Here is what expert Elena Kamenova says about the meetings with Bulgarian students in Madrid, Paris and London:

“Many of them want to come home but are apprehensive of their career opportunities in Bulgaria. They can count on the Employment Agency as a partner to make the connection between worker and employee, as they are away from the country and have no personal contacts. Young people want to know what their contacts will be – whether a Bulgarian or a foreign company. They want to know who we shall send their CV to and how the contact will be established. Whether there will be a subsequent contact on our part once they have sent their CVs. After a profile has been uploaded to the Internet, the young people will be oriented towards employers who have stated an interest in them and their qualifications. Thanks to the CVs and this profile, the young people will be able to make their best choice of career here in Bulgaria.”

A team of Employment Agency experts will keep in touch via e-mail with the Bulgarians studying or who have graduated abroad, Assen Angelov, Executive Director of the Agency explains. Any young person with good qualifications can write us what career options they see for themselves in Bulgaria, submit a CV and other documents that will help our experts compile an accurate profile. The young people can also use social media to formulate their own expectations. Assen Angelov “chats” with them once a week via the Internet.

“Very soon we shall contact major employers, representatives of leading international companies in Bulgaria, as well as Bulgarian companies with an interest in hiring highly qualified experts,” he says. “So that any time we find suitable applicants for the jobs they are interested in, we can make the contact bypassing the cumbersome administrative procedures.”

There is no doubt the Employment Agency has good intentions. But the truth of the matter is that campaigns such as this one will be rendered useless once the situation in the country changes. And instead of inviting young Bulgarian experts to return to Bulgaria after graduation abroad, most of them should decide to stay and work in Bulgaria of their own free will, without being urged to do so. But the road leading to this is a long one…

English version: Milena Daynova