The duality of the labor market
While young parents and career changers mean great potential for solving labor shortages, employers might not be ready to offer the conditions that help these groups to become active. „It is the responsibility of HR to make sure that management is not driven only by strict control” – said Dóra Farkas, HR expert.
HR managers believe that self-knowledge, the ability to define our strengths and plan consciously are the most important aspects of job seeking. Gergely Csanda, marketing director of Talentuno believes however that this consciousness is often challenged by the instant changes of the labor market: We no longer plan 3-5 years in advance, we don’t even know what is going to happen in 3 months. People will often give up in their long-term goals for short-term opportunities.
Family-friendly workplaces are in demand
Most of the panelists of the career day were parents of small children and have shared relevant personal experiences about how they manage to balance their family life with building a successful career. According to the project manager of HR Partner Consulting, when it comes to being family friendly, there is no significant difference between multinational companies and small and middle-sized companies. “Infrastructure of multinational companies allows these to be more flexible, or to have company kindergartens and home office days. Small and middle-sized companies at the same time, have not yet forgotten about their human side and can therefore turn with empathy to young parents.”
Representatives of the recruitment section of the career day have collected to following three advice for young parents looking for flexible, family friendly workplaces or for those who are thinking about a career change:
- consider working as a freelancer;
- look around to see if you could join a platform business, as these are present in many areas, it is easy to join them and are easy to work for even as a side job or as a stay-at-home parent;
- last, but not least: don’t be afraid to apply for full time positions even if you would like to work part time. We would be surprised to know that even small and middle-sized companies would react positively to these applications and are often willing to offer a 6-hour position instead of a full time one. We should always talk honestly about our needs in a job interview, even if the job description didn’t exactly match our preferences. – said Gergely Csanda.
Gender stereotypes in the labour market
In our country it is still considered unusual if a boy decides to become a kindergarten teacher, or a girl is learning to become a programmer. The perception of feminine or masculine professions is present in our society from as early as childhood. The career event’s third inspirational discussion has focused on presenting successful people and their career change - women with unusual professions has also shared their stories. Blogger of BebePiskóta, Beáta Nagy-Pojdin has first faced gender discrimination in her profession right at the beginning of her career, during the confectionary training, when women in her group were told that they would never become professional pastry cooks, simply because of being women.
Nikolett Szép, who has chosen to become an alpinist, has also recalled facing gender stereotypes on a regular basis: I can, and I do like to dress as a woman. But when I work, I don’t care if it is stained or dusty, I prefer to wear my working clothes – as I want to be recalled for the work I do. Professional work and knowledge will eventually lead to being respected, but I do remember receiving some discouraging looks and I often had to perform at 150% instead of 100%, because if there is one women in a group, she will receive much more attention than 10 other men.
Some, however, will take advantage of these situations. „Construction is typically a place, where, as a woman, you are not taken seriously. When I went to a building site wearing a skirt, I thought this was a violation of workplace safety, but instead, everything was done for me immediately” - said Adrienn Hodik, owner of Natura Hill pension and slow food bistro.
Initiatives of the likes of this career day are in high demand, as they not only give a realistic overview on the labor market, but help job-seekers and career changers to find the motivation to change and to look for their dream job based on their real needs and interests, regardless of gender stereotypes.
