A survey among Bulgarians abroad, conducted recently for the Bulgaria Wants You multimedia platform, shows that about 35 percent of the respondents have decided to return to their country and are currently considering their options. Taking into account that between 2 and 3 million Bulgarians are living and working out of the country, this 35 percent is not a negligible number of people. Their return will significantly change the labour market in Bulgaria.

In the last two years there has been a surge of Bulgarian expatriates returning from abroad, according to career development specialists. The number of returnees now exceeds by about 80 to 100 thousand the number of those who are leaving Bulgaria to work abroad.

Bulgarians are coming back from all over the world. "These are people from all walks of life - from those who have worked as domestic help to mid-level experts. But there are also specialists who have been in high management positions," says career development consultant Georgi K. Parvanov, a contributor to the job platform aimed at Bulgarians abroad.

"Currently the labor market needs at least 200 thousand people - this is the conclusion of almost all employers' organizations.

So the more Bulgarians choose to return, the better. They will all be able to find work. The greatest demand is for engineers for factories and for the national economy as a whole, but unfortunately there is no influx of such specialists from abroad. However, specialists from other fields are returning. A large number of specialists are returning to Bulgaria in various areas of finance, from the banking sector to consultancy companies. There are also workers returning from factories and agriculture, for whom we need to find jobs.

The career forum we organized in Sofia a few days ago attracted a record number of visitors, over 1000 people. More than 60 top employers had their own stands. In autumn, we are preparing to organise career forums for Bulgarians in Munich and London, where we can attract even more people who would like to return to their homeland."

A Bulgarian company working in the field of automotive equipment, with offices in Italy and France, confirms that engineering staff and IT specialists are the most in demand on the Bulgarian labour market. The company employs 150 people but is constantly in demand for more staff, mainly engineers and programmers.

"We are mainly looking for technical staff because the automotive industry is in dire need of experienced engineers," says Eng. Alek Nedelchev:

"We have a total of 10 returnees, some of them have been abroad only for training, but there are also colleagues with 8-10 years of work experience abroad who have returned to work in Bulgaria and be with their families. So what most often brings them back to Bulgaria is love, whether it's for a person or the place where they were born, it's still a kind of love and affection."

The conditions for software specialists in Bulgaria are more than good - Ivelina Boeva, who works for a German software company with representation in Sofia, assures us. Apart from attractive salaries, employers offer flexible working hours, home office and other extras, which in many cases are more enticing than those offered abroad.

"Unfortunately not many people are interested in working in the IT industry. Personally, I haven't thought about leaving Bulgaria because I quickly succeeded in finding a good job, and that means a job that makes me feel free, where I can develop, where I can determine how my working day goes without someone standing on my head, i.e. I have the freedom to choose and arrange my schedule in a way that makes me feel satisfied. I work in a very good and supportive company."

Editor: Elena Karkalanova

English version: Elizabeth Radkova