CORPOTARE MATING
Agata Zawićlak picks her way through puddles on the way to the tram stop, trying not to muddy her shoes before a job interview. The 27-year-old master's student, who is studying business at Warsaw University's American Studies program, seems relaxed while job hunting.
"I believe in my lucky star," she says. "If I don't get this one, I will find the proper one for myself somewhere."
Zawićlak, who speaks fluent English, is interviewing with Lidex, a Polish-owned translating and interpreting agency that takes business and government contracts. Her course work at Warsaw University completed, she has only her thesis to complete before graduation. This, she believes, will leave her enough time for a job.
Zawićlak wants what most other students graduating this spring also expect from their first serious job - the magic combination of good pay (she plans to ask for a net starting salary of zl. 1,000, or $400) and the chance to gain skills and experience valuable for her future career.
But Zawićlak isn't alone in her job search. This year, about 8,000 students will hit the pavements, new master's degrees in hand, searching for employment. Many will begin their quest this month at job fairs that student groups and universities organize around the country.
For the moment, students like Zawićlak have an advantage, as companies need workers with language and business skills to fill entry-level spots that can begin at management level. But in the next two to three years the market is expected to tighten as graduates develop into a solid field of Polish managers.
After her interview, Zawićlak has mixed feelings, both about her performance and about the company. But whether she gets the job with Lidex or not, Zawićlak is confident she will land a position. This was only her second interview, she says, and she has other applications in the mail.
Spring, the fabled season of budding romance, is also the time for matchmaking between companies and prospective employees.
Polish students about to graduate with freshly-minted business and economics degrees are looking for the job of their dreams. For most, this means a job that pays well and offers an opportunity to develop professional skills.
On the other side, Polish and international firms are searching for the next generation of corporate managers. These employers are looking for value for money and want new hires with practical experience and market skills.
For the moment, demand seems to be outstripping supply. Those graduating this year are only the second crop of students to complete five-year courses since Poland's political sea change. Companies are still having trouble filling some positions, especially higher-level spots, with qualified applicants, say recruiting and human resources experts.
However, as more graduates hit the pavement, students may soon have to face a harder reality. An expanded pool of qualified candidates means that choice openings are likely to become far scarcer in the years to come.
MATCHMAKERS
Finding the employee or employer of one's dreams is no easy task. And as more students enter the job market, both they and the companies wooing them are finding that job fairs and career days are an excellent way to establish initial contact.
"The hardest thing for students looking for jobs in Poland is to find the right information concerning what opportunities are available," says FranŤois Nail, president of the recruiting firm Naj International. "Career days are the best way for them to speak to and compare companies, as well as a good occasion to prepare and mobilize themselves to begin searching for a job."
The concept of job fairs is relatively new in Poland, but quickly catching on.
The first career day was held four years ago in Warsaw by AIESEC, an international organization of business and economics students. The 1992 AIESEC Career Day only attracted a handful of companies. But in 1996, there will be hundreds of Polish and international firms represented at job fairs in 12 cities throughout Poland, says üukasz Tylec, an AIESEC coordinator for Career Days 1996 and a second-year student at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH).
The fifth annual AIESEC Career Days in Warsaw will be held April 19 and 20. Companies planning to attend include big international names like Procter&Gamble, Price Waterhouse, Unilever, Philip Morris and Pepsi. Additionally, some schools and universities, including SGH and Warsaw University, hold their own job fairs during the school year.
While job fairs might be a good way to find a job, more traditional approaches - newspaper classifieds and word-of-mouth - remain well-traveled routes for job seekers.
Karolina üudzinska, 25, recently got a job at Legic, a luxury goods importer, acting on a tip from a friend. A master's student in business in the American Studies Department of Warsaw University, üudzinska became the advertising and PR manager at Legic after doing only two job interviews.
"I didn't have to apply for many jobs," she says. "If you have language skills, especially English, basic business skills and knowledge of computers, finding a job is no problem."
Supply side - students
That language, computer and basic business skills are the winning combination for a job is a widely held view.
"It is fairly easy for well-educated students to find an interesting, well-paid job," says Stanislaw Kluza, a fifth-year student at Warsaw School of Economics who also works part time in the management accounting department at Unilever.
As a result, students' expectations from employers are high. Job satisfaction, good salary and training are among the top criteria for students seeking jobs, according to a survey released last month.
AIESEC, which has local chapters at schools throughout Poland, polled attitudes and expectations about the workplace of 900 master's degree students at 22 schools, colleges and universities around the country. The survey pool represents 5% of students in their 4th and 5th years pursuing a master's degree in business, according to AIESEC.
Coca-Cola was at the top of the list of corporations students want to work for, followed by PepsiCo and Arthur Andersen, according to the survey, taken in 1995.
Students do not look to these big firms just for big paychecks. The general heading "job satisfaction" was ranked as a slightly more important criteria. More than 90% ranked it as important or very important. Then came money. Good atmosphere at work was third, and the possibility of learning ranked fourth.
So, given these desires, what attracts students to some companies more than others?
For people new to the business world, it is most important to find a company that will provide an opportunity to develop skills needed for career development, Kluza says. "I definitely would turn down a job for more money if I couldn't learn and develop my abilities," he adds.
Students are interested in finding companies with a broad range of job possibilities and the option of moving within the company.
Kluza, who developed and coordinated the first AIESEC student survey last year and assisted his brother in this year's report, says word about working conditions at companies filters down to students. Major international firms score high on the dream-job scale, because they are seen as having fulfilling work environments and well-developed, on-the-job training.
Demand side - employers
While qualified students may have a slight edge in the job market, firms are not stuck for prospects. Most say that while a bumper crop of mid-level managers has yet to develop, they don't have trouble finding top grads for entry-level jobs.
"Make no mistake, Poland is producing the people needed to fill these positions," says Peter Driscoll, director general of Price Waterhouse Poland, an international accounting firm ranked eighth on the AIESEC survey of desired firms. "Schools have been very quick to adapt to the new market realities, and Poland has traditionally produced intelligent, well-educated students."
But even with strong academic backgrounds, some young job seekers find that they don't have all it takes to land a choice position.
Lack of maturity is a major reason for disappointment, says Nail of Naj International. This stems from the fact that Polish students grew up without contact with a market economy. In addition, he says, students often receive scant active interest from parents, who spent their lives working under socialism and are more attuned to family issues, rather than career needs. As a result, many parents have little idea of what their children actually do at their jobs, Nail says.
Many employers also want applicants with practical work experience. This is often difficult for students to get while still in school. This year's AIESEC survey revealed that in 1995 the number of students with three months or more job experience fell 10% from the year before - a result of the increasingly rigorous nature of education.
"Far too many have no strategy of looking for a job to start their career," Nail says. "They all want to work for the same companies - Coca-Cola, Procter&Gamble - but sometimes don't gather the experience needed during school to work at such a company."
The future
The declining trend in the number of students with work experience is disturbing. The job market is expected to tighten in the next two to three years, and those without experience may find themselves in a bad spot.
"I wouldn't say there is a glut of talent on the market right now, and that is because there still aren't many people with five or more years of experience," says Driscoll of Price Waterhouse.
But when a wide group of experienced Polish managers develops, finding a job will be tougher.
"I believe it will be much more difficult to find a job in two or three years, especially in marketing and management, where most of the students are graduating," says last-year student Kluza. The key then will be to specialize.
"The financial and banking sectors will grow at a faster rate, and so students in those areas will have more opportunity to find a job," he adds.
"I believe in my lucky star," she says. "If I don't get this one, I will find the proper one for myself somewhere."
Zawićlak, who speaks fluent English, is interviewing with Lidex, a Polish-owned translating and interpreting agency that takes business and government contracts. Her course work at Warsaw University completed, she has only her thesis to complete before graduation. This, she believes, will leave her enough time for a job.
Zawićlak wants what most other students graduating this spring also expect from their first serious job - the magic combination of good pay (she plans to ask for a net starting salary of zl. 1,000, or $400) and the chance to gain skills and experience valuable for her future career.
But Zawićlak isn't alone in her job search. This year, about 8,000 students will hit the pavements, new master's degrees in hand, searching for employment. Many will begin their quest this month at job fairs that student groups and universities organize around the country.
For the moment, students like Zawićlak have an advantage, as companies need workers with language and business skills to fill entry-level spots that can begin at management level. But in the next two to three years the market is expected to tighten as graduates develop into a solid field of Polish managers.
After her interview, Zawićlak has mixed feelings, both about her performance and about the company. But whether she gets the job with Lidex or not, Zawićlak is confident she will land a position. This was only her second interview, she says, and she has other applications in the mail.
Spring, the fabled season of budding romance, is also the time for matchmaking between companies and prospective employees.
Polish students about to graduate with freshly-minted business and economics degrees are looking for the job of their dreams. For most, this means a job that pays well and offers an opportunity to develop professional skills.
On the other side, Polish and international firms are searching for the next generation of corporate managers. These employers are looking for value for money and want new hires with practical experience and market skills.
For the moment, demand seems to be outstripping supply. Those graduating this year are only the second crop of students to complete five-year courses since Poland's political sea change. Companies are still having trouble filling some positions, especially higher-level spots, with qualified applicants, say recruiting and human resources experts.
However, as more graduates hit the pavement, students may soon have to face a harder reality. An expanded pool of qualified candidates means that choice openings are likely to become far scarcer in the years to come.
MATCHMAKERS
Finding the employee or employer of one's dreams is no easy task. And as more students enter the job market, both they and the companies wooing them are finding that job fairs and career days are an excellent way to establish initial contact.
"The hardest thing for students looking for jobs in Poland is to find the right information concerning what opportunities are available," says FranŤois Nail, president of the recruiting firm Naj International. "Career days are the best way for them to speak to and compare companies, as well as a good occasion to prepare and mobilize themselves to begin searching for a job."
The concept of job fairs is relatively new in Poland, but quickly catching on.
The first career day was held four years ago in Warsaw by AIESEC, an international organization of business and economics students. The 1992 AIESEC Career Day only attracted a handful of companies. But in 1996, there will be hundreds of Polish and international firms represented at job fairs in 12 cities throughout Poland, says üukasz Tylec, an AIESEC coordinator for Career Days 1996 and a second-year student at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH).
The fifth annual AIESEC Career Days in Warsaw will be held April 19 and 20. Companies planning to attend include big international names like Procter&Gamble, Price Waterhouse, Unilever, Philip Morris and Pepsi. Additionally, some schools and universities, including SGH and Warsaw University, hold their own job fairs during the school year.
While job fairs might be a good way to find a job, more traditional approaches - newspaper classifieds and word-of-mouth - remain well-traveled routes for job seekers.
Karolina üudzinska, 25, recently got a job at Legic, a luxury goods importer, acting on a tip from a friend. A master's student in business in the American Studies Department of Warsaw University, üudzinska became the advertising and PR manager at Legic after doing only two job interviews.
"I didn't have to apply for many jobs," she says. "If you have language skills, especially English, basic business skills and knowledge of computers, finding a job is no problem."
Supply side - students
That language, computer and basic business skills are the winning combination for a job is a widely held view.
"It is fairly easy for well-educated students to find an interesting, well-paid job," says Stanislaw Kluza, a fifth-year student at Warsaw School of Economics who also works part time in the management accounting department at Unilever.
As a result, students' expectations from employers are high. Job satisfaction, good salary and training are among the top criteria for students seeking jobs, according to a survey released last month.
AIESEC, which has local chapters at schools throughout Poland, polled attitudes and expectations about the workplace of 900 master's degree students at 22 schools, colleges and universities around the country. The survey pool represents 5% of students in their 4th and 5th years pursuing a master's degree in business, according to AIESEC.
Coca-Cola was at the top of the list of corporations students want to work for, followed by PepsiCo and Arthur Andersen, according to the survey, taken in 1995.
Students do not look to these big firms just for big paychecks. The general heading "job satisfaction" was ranked as a slightly more important criteria. More than 90% ranked it as important or very important. Then came money. Good atmosphere at work was third, and the possibility of learning ranked fourth.
So, given these desires, what attracts students to some companies more than others?
For people new to the business world, it is most important to find a company that will provide an opportunity to develop skills needed for career development, Kluza says. "I definitely would turn down a job for more money if I couldn't learn and develop my abilities," he adds.
Students are interested in finding companies with a broad range of job possibilities and the option of moving within the company.
Kluza, who developed and coordinated the first AIESEC student survey last year and assisted his brother in this year's report, says word about working conditions at companies filters down to students. Major international firms score high on the dream-job scale, because they are seen as having fulfilling work environments and well-developed, on-the-job training.
Demand side - employers
While qualified students may have a slight edge in the job market, firms are not stuck for prospects. Most say that while a bumper crop of mid-level managers has yet to develop, they don't have trouble finding top grads for entry-level jobs.
"Make no mistake, Poland is producing the people needed to fill these positions," says Peter Driscoll, director general of Price Waterhouse Poland, an international accounting firm ranked eighth on the AIESEC survey of desired firms. "Schools have been very quick to adapt to the new market realities, and Poland has traditionally produced intelligent, well-educated students."
But even with strong academic backgrounds, some young job seekers find that they don't have all it takes to land a choice position.
Lack of maturity is a major reason for disappointment, says Nail of Naj International. This stems from the fact that Polish students grew up without contact with a market economy. In addition, he says, students often receive scant active interest from parents, who spent their lives working under socialism and are more attuned to family issues, rather than career needs. As a result, many parents have little idea of what their children actually do at their jobs, Nail says.
Many employers also want applicants with practical work experience. This is often difficult for students to get while still in school. This year's AIESEC survey revealed that in 1995 the number of students with three months or more job experience fell 10% from the year before - a result of the increasingly rigorous nature of education.
"Far too many have no strategy of looking for a job to start their career," Nail says. "They all want to work for the same companies - Coca-Cola, Procter&Gamble - but sometimes don't gather the experience needed during school to work at such a company."
The future
The declining trend in the number of students with work experience is disturbing. The job market is expected to tighten in the next two to three years, and those without experience may find themselves in a bad spot.
"I wouldn't say there is a glut of talent on the market right now, and that is because there still aren't many people with five or more years of experience," says Driscoll of Price Waterhouse.
But when a wide group of experienced Polish managers develops, finding a job will be tougher.
"I believe it will be much more difficult to find a job in two or three years, especially in marketing and management, where most of the students are graduating," says last-year student Kluza. The key then will be to specialize.
"The financial and banking sectors will grow at a faster rate, and so students in those areas will have more opportunity to find a job," he adds.
