Youth Foundation "Arete" Bulgaria and "JobTiger" organized a round table meeting for young professionals from Roma origin seeking employment, and companies ready to offer opportunities for career development. Some of the topics in the discussion were: the need for equal start in society for educated Roma people, barriers to career development in business, and the need for recognition of ethnic identity in seeking and application for job.
Most of the graduates are experts in Economics, Finance, Marketing, Political Science and Law. Some of them have graduated in U.S., UK,and are fluent in English. The reality, however, is that they either fail to find job or are retained (being retained) for very short time in a company as trainees. "JobTiger" takes up with the study of this social problem and starts a career counseling session to assist in the development of the existing potential, introducing channels for searching jobs and successful application, and overcoming of the negative attitude of young Roma to the opportunities for professional realization in Bulgaria.
In the meeting took part representatives of institutions from the public and private sector who shared their personal experience with misadventures and achievements on their way to success. Some of them were : a PR-expert in the National Assembly, the personal assistant to the executive director of TNT Bulgaria, experts in municipal management.
Business representatives told about good and bad practices in working with employees of Roma origin, about the need of time for overcoming intercultural barriers and the good sides of inter ethnic exchange.
All participants agreed on two things - negative attitude leads to negative results for the whole society, and the process of integration in the workplace requires conscious effort and bilateral reciprocity.
