Today, however, they are they the most sought after commodity on the work force market, with 44% of the companies polled in a survey by management advisory firm Hay Group Romania saying they have trouble finding engineers. They are in even higher demand than IT personnel.
“It’s obvious engineers are in high demand. The large investments in the industry, especially in the automotive sector, made engineers a sought-after commodity and led to partnerships between companies and universities because young people need to specialize in modern technologies or workflows. IT candidates are in high demand, too,” Mihaela Lupu, market leader productized services with Hay Group Romania, said on ZF Live on Tuesday.
Engineering, IT, sales, accounting and finance, as well as manufacturing are the most problematic sectors for employers when it comes to finding suitable candidates.
While countries like Poland made Math mandatory for the high school graduation exam when faced with a shortage of engineers, in Romania, this subject is not yet mandatory for high school students who studied a humanities curriculum. Therefore technical universities only turn out about 30,000 graduates every year or 22% of the total college graduates in Romania, compared with 70% in 1990, according to the National Statistics Institute.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)