Findings of an international survey requested by Vodafone and run in 15 countries where the group is present show that Romanian people aged between 18 and 24 are the most confident, among all participants, about their perspectives for a future digital career. More than half of them (53%) are confident they will find a job to match their skills, which places Romania on the first position in the ranking, ahead of countries such as Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain or the UK. The survey has been conducted with the participation of 6,000 people from the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and UK and illustrates the opinion of how prepared they are to participate in the digital economy.
Vodafone Group commissioned YouGov to run the survey and the results have been used to document the international program "What will you be?", designed to offer career guidance in the digital economy and access to training for 10 million young people in 18 countries. The program, which has been recently launched in Romania and other 17 countries, includes the innovative Future Jobs Finder platform that offers young people a simple and comprehensive gateway to new skills and opportunities for employment in the digital economy. In order to develop the platform, available in 10 languages, including Romanian, Vodafone has worked with specialist psychologists, careers advisers and training providers.
“In the first week since the launch, approximately 4,000 Romanians completed the survey on our local version of Vodafone Future Jobs Finder, which shows great interest from the new generation in identifying career opportunities and preparing for the digital economy. As part of this international initiative, the largest of this kind in the world, Vodafone Romania provides a friendly and easy to use support to guide them in their first steps towards an exciting career in digital fields,” stated Florin Petrescu, HR Director, Vodafone Romania.
The survey also shows that young Romanians are among the most optimistic about their future in the digital economy, with more than 30% stating digital economy will increase their job opportunities and only 10% saying they will never be able to afford the quality of life of their parents’ generation.
Also, Romania ranks first in terms of percentage of youngsters who would rather work for themselves/be an entrepreneur than for a company, with 51% expressing this preference.
According to the results, Romanian 18-24 year-olds seem to be among the best prepared in the 15 countries to embrace digital-focused jobs. 27% of participants would prefer to work as coders, 23% as game designers, 22% as YouTube and video bloggers, 17% as app designers and 14% as cyber-security specialists.
The newly launched Future Jobs Finder platform includes a series of quick psychometric tests designed to identify each user’s aptitudes and interests and then map them to the most appropriate category from a list of jobs related to the digital economy. The platform also identifies job opportunities integrated by Indeed, the world’s largest jobs search engine, including local and international opportunities with Vodafone. Users can access relevant online digital skills trainings, many of them available for free, and also receive a summary of their skills and interests that can be used on their CV or in a job application.
