It is not diplomas but skills that will matter in 2012 when looking for a job, announced the managers of the biggest online portal that gathers both applicants and employers, jobs.bg.

Applicants will have greater chance of finding a job if they master a non-traditional foreign language such as Dutch, Swedish or Norwegian for instance or if they have an in-depth knowledge in information technologies or finances, explain the website manager, Plamen Vushev. It takes six to twelve months to learn a new language but is a very good investment, added Mr. Vushev. 

A new world known company (in the first top 500 according to Fortunce Magazine) is expected to enter the Bulgarian market by the end of this year and to open 200-300 job places for accountants and financial experts. It aims at opening 1000 jobs by the end of 2013.

2012 will see the development of export-oriented companies including outsourcing ones (those which tend to outsource their work to countries like Bulgaria because of the cheaper labour): high technologies, call centers, document processing.

While in the summer of 2008 workforce demand was over two times more than workforce supply, currently jobs.bg have been publishing barely 20 000 job announcements per month and the submitted CVs for the same period were 1.8 million (251 301 job announcements and 23.8 million job applications in 2011).  

Thanks to modern communications work can come to you and sometimes it is not necessary to move places, explains Ani Dimitrova from jobs.bg. The advantage is that you do not part from friends, relatives and family. Mrs. Dimitrova maintains that job applicants should be very flexible and adaptable, for sometimes they need to change the whole work field they operate in.

The tendency for certain job announcements to receive more than 1000 applications continues, while other job positions which require specific skills tend to be left vacant for months. People are most interested in vacancies in the trading sector, sales and services, which generally do not require specific qualification and preparation. However, it is hard to find employees for call centers with rare languages. There is also a shortage of skilled IT specialists, for they quickly find suitable places.

Nevertheless, if you believe to be overqualified for a certain advertisement in terms of knowledge and skills, this does not necessary mean that you are a better candidate, clarifies Plamen Vushev.