Already twice the forum has been nominated the Best Business Event of the Year and has for a fifth year in a row been held under the patronage of the President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev. The forum is supported by dozens of partners – institutions, NGOs and media outlets including the Bulgarian National Radio.

More details about this year’s career forum – from one of the organizers and coordinator of the event Mila Natoudova:

„This year we have had a record number of visitors – and a record number of employers taking part. We have had the chance of discussing professional and personal development in Bulgaria. Participants had the opportunity of meeting with representatives of 90 companies and of making contact with them, so that right now or later they could find a career option in Bulgaria. Throughout the year we carry out research and collect true stories of people who have found desired jobs with our mediation. We maintain a few seminar panels aimed at professional development with selected speakers including top managers, entrepreneurs and experts who share their experience regarding professional development in their respective sectors. Companies have on offer a diversity of job openings and lines of business. There is strongest interest in management and consultancy, marketing, IT, finances and accounting.”

The forum’s motto is “Come and grow with us”, and its chief goal is to attract Bulgarians from across the globe who would apply at home what they have learned internationally.

Evelina Sandalova works at the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law and manages the NGO House. She is among the organizers of the prestigious career forum. Evelina has lived and worked abroad but has found a desired position in Bulgaria. More from her:

„Judging from my experience I think that there are opportunities but one has to look for them. This forum provides the necessary one-stop-shop platform of these opportunities – a good way to show clearly to people that Bulgaria offers plenty of career options. I can see that people are ready to be flexible, and this is important.”

Our reporter talked to some of the career event’s visitors who have returned to Bulgaria after they have studied abroad. Edward Todorov has a BA in civil engineering from Coventry, UK:

Sophia Popnikolova has studied at university in Belgium, France and Hungary. She is about to graduate in International Relations in Budapest. She has been living and working in Bulgaria for the past month:

Well, of course, not everybody will be able to find a desired job right away. Desislava Hristova is studying Romanian Philology. She has returned to Bulgaria after she spent some time in Romania, but it is hard to find a job at home that fits her university training:

„I am mostly after jobs that have to do with communications, telecommunications and marketing. I found no offers based on the Romanian language and with working hours that suit me. The career forum has good organization, but there are no companies looking for employees fluent in Romanian, so I suppose they find employees mostly online.”

English: Daniela Konstantinova

Photos: Luiza Lazarova