Deloitte study reveals Romania’s young talents look for organizations in which they matter

Only 15.6% of Romanian millennials think that university graduates in the country are well prepared for professional work. However, 75% of the Romanian students wish to continue their education to a post-graduate level, compared to 39% across Central and Eastern Europe, according to Deloitte ‘First Steps into the Labour Market’ 2018 report, which describes the views on work, life and education of more than 5,700 students and recent graduates from leading universities in 14 countries across the region.

According to the report, almost 50% of the Romanian respondents regard education as one of the most important values in life. When it comes to work experience, the two most regularly selected types of experience were volunteering and jobs or internships in Romania related to the respondent’s fields of study (both chosen by 57%). As many as 90% think that internships provide useful experience.

“Romanian students do not feel prepared for work as they believe that their education is not in line with the current challenges experienced by a young workforce and that is something we can see in practice. Thus it appears that the business and academia should be working together with students to understand where their dissatisfaction lies, and to make the connections between the two worlds more tangible and apparent so that young people can feel more prepared for work,” said Alexandra Iorgulescu, HR Director Deloitte Romania.

In terms of priorities, young millennials put education (49.6%) above work (46.6%) with health and a happy family on top.

“To us this is a sign that young people want to be part of something that is meaningful, working for an organisation where their work is appreciated, their opinions matter, they can make a difference and that is democratically managed. Employers that get this balance right will win the loyalty and dedication of their most talented young people,” Iorgulescu added.

In the opinion of the Romanian respondents, the priorities that are most important for the ideal leader should be ensuring the long-term future of the organisation (47%) and supporting employees’ professional growth and development (45%).

Like their peers in many other countries, when choosing their jobs Romanian millennials value first and foremost the opportunity to develop and acquire new skills (59.7%). Though an attractive salary is the second most important factor, it was selected as important by only 10.4%.

Nearly half of young Romanians (46.8%) wish primarily to become experts in their fields, while 35.6% wish to hold managerial positions in the future. The majority of respondents would like to work in a large international company (43.6%) or have a business of their own (17.3%).

When it comes to salary, Romanian millennials seem to value more highly the opportunity to work than the income it generates as only 17.4% said they wanted to earn more than 3,500 lei. Just 8.1 per cent aim to earn more than 4,500 lei, most of whom are men planning to become managers. Females, meanwhile, expect lower pay: women were most likely to say that they want to earn up to 2,000 lei, whereas men most often selected 2,501-3,000 lei.

Surprisingly, when it comes to moving abroad, just a little over 50% would move to another country for a job, slightly below the average across the region (56%). The result is quite surprising in the context in which only 7.1% of the participants in the survey assess the economic situation in a positive light, less than a third of the regional average.

Based on the survey’s findings, Deloitte has developed a set of rules that together form a guide for becoming the ‘perfect’ employer of millennial talent. The key headlines are:

• Provide leadership and guidance
• Allow democracy in decision making
• Promote teamwork
• Set continually interesting and stimulating tasks and challenges
• Allow fun in the workplace
• Encourage further professional education.
• Work with universities to cultivate the professionals of tomorrow
• Create diverse working environments where the generations can learn from one another.