The 11th Student Future Day Held at ZŠEM

Today, the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZŠEM) organized the 11th Student Future Day, which brought together representatives from around twenty companies and interested ZŠEM students for internships and student jobs, as well as those interested in permanent employment. The Career Center has been organizing the SFD for eleven consecutive years to connect the economy and education.

This year’s SFD was opened by Vice Dean Karmela Aleksić Maslać, who reflected on all the advantages ZŠEM offers to a young person at a turning point in their life. Alongside a professional career, every ZŠEM student, if they show inclination and ability, can continue to develop in science and build their academic career. The most recent example is the PhD achieved by Dr. Katarina Miličević, a ZŠEM alumna, who completed her undergraduate and graduate education at ZŠEM and her PhD at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana.

Furthermore, Jelena Janković, head of the Career Center and project manager, presented the SFD project to a group of students, representatives from around twenty companies, professors, and staff. She thanked the employer representatives who recognized the importance of the project and praised the students who attended the fair in significantly larger numbers than last year. Along with the resumes they brought, they had the opportunity to participate in workshops hosted by companies such as 24 sata, P&G, Coca Cola, Kaufland, Podravka, and Positive Equity, learning how to present themselves to employers in the best light.

Since the first Student Future Day until today, a total of about one hundred companies have participated, including: Lidl, Pliva, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KMPG, Privredna banka, Zagrebačka banka, Erste banka, L’Oreal, Coca Cola, Podravka, Tokić, Procter & Gamble, BoMark packaging, and many others.

Some of the advantages and special features of this job fair include company activities that allow for year-round presence among the student population and strong employer branding. Participating companies can present their current projects to our students at a time that suits them best, hold expert lectures as part of courses, workshops, or company presentations, and most importantly, ultimately recruit quality candidates who best meet the needs of the job and their company.

An interesting fact is that 94% of ZŠEM students find their first job during their studies or within a year after graduation, and many ZŠEM alumni are employed and working in 25 countries around the world.

This year’s Student Future Day concluded with a roundtable discussion titled ‘The Future of Jobs’, where the perspective of young people in the Croatian labor market was discussed.

Before the discussion began, Professor Mirna Koričan Lajtman presented the main global trends in youth employment to the attendees. She warned that many jobs will soon disappear from the map, mentioning over 5000 occupations in administration and 1600 in manufacturing that could soon be replaced by robots.

– Croats are not ready for change – she warns.

In the subsequent discussion, moderated by Koričan Lajtman, participants included Bojan Poljičak from Adecco, Aleksandra Đermanović, owner of the digital agency Mediacor, Goran Gledić, recruitment manager at Deloitte, Ana Zrinski-Smojo, head of the Selection and Employment Department at Kaufland, and Nikša Denović from Posao.hr, who was recently a student himself.

– Inform yourself about the company you are going to for an interview. You must know how to promote yourself without crossing the line of good taste – emphasized Poljičak. Gledić noted that foreigners also want to come work in Croatia, at least in his company, thus countering the popular thesis that people from Croatia are only leaving.

– Young people often leave Croatia without giving the domestic market any chance – added Denović.

– Be up-to-date and watch what you post on social media – warned Đermanović to the students. Zrinski-Smojo emphasized that when hiring young people, it is important whether they have completed any internships during their studies, so that everything does not remain theoretical.

– The sooner you recognize what motivates you and what you are good at, the easier it will be for you to choose the right career and find the desired job – concluded Poljičak.