Month: October 2019

Invited in the TV Shows “Good morning Albania” in TVSH and Wake Up in Top Channel, dates 7th and 9th of June 2017, the founder of The Headhunter Group, Elton Ilirjani, made a determined call for young people to participate in the tourism sector training, where employment and developing a stable career is more certain.

Asked as to why there is an increase in the number of youngsters who go to work but are not satisfied with their salaries according to INSTAT, Ilirjani said: “The problem is that most of the time they are faced with family businesses who do not treat them quite professionally. Everyone wants to get a job with lots of money very quickly in professions such as journalist, lawyer or deputy. But in fact, tourism is the only industry that will give young people a very stable future”.

But will this be available for those who have a university degree in another field?

According to Ilirjani, there is no problem for someone who has studied law, to become a good manager in a prestigious hotel.

“Anyone who holds a university degree can be a manager of a big resort, manager of a five star hotel. In 5 years there may be great investments in Albania, there may be hotels such as Hilton etc and the salary may be very high.”

Talking about the People First Project, through which The Headhunter will train for free 2 thousand young people in 8 different positions in the tourism sector and will then hire them in over 400 tourism businesses in Albania, Ilirjani made a call for the state structures with which The Headhunter is collaborating, to be ready with their working-groups.

Emphasizing some of the tourism sector problems, Ilirjani said: “We do not have well-organized structures to train youngsters in the tourism sector”.

According to him: “The most important thing is for young people to believe in the tourism industry. So, working in tourism is in style nowadays, because that is the future. Cooks nowadays can have 3 to 4 thousand euros of salary and have a certain status”.

Ilirjani also brought up the Tourism Academy innovation in Dhermi, made by The Headhunter, where many talented youngsters will complete their internships.

“It is an idea that comes from an experience in Glasgow. The problem is many young people are not motivated to work because they are disappointed and have lost their faith. But to employers, this is a big favor. In two years there will be 2 thousand people all qualified in tourism with international certification with important logos such as USAID or the Sweden Embassy, Ministry of Social Welfare and National Employment Service.

Employers should also understand that investing in people is never an extra cost, it is an investment with a double or triple return rate”– concluded Ilirjani by making a call to all of the interested individuals to send their CVs ad [email protected] to benefit from this free training, paid internship and certain employment in tourism businesses provided by The Headhunter.

For more, you can watch the videos of these two shows in the links below:

Invited yesterday in the “Wake up” morning show in Top Channel, The Headhunter Founder, Elton Ilirjani discussed about latest salary trends and job requests in Albania.

Most paid professions listed by an article from Monitor magazine, were as follows: Economy/Finance, Information technology, Marketing, Software developer, Digital, Engineering, Mechatronics, Chemical industry/production etc.

Ilirjani said that “in fact, Finance and Economy may be the most requested, but they also are the professions with the highest turnover rate, within a year employees can move between two or three companies. On the other hand, software developing and mechatronics sector don’t have enough candidates, because there aren’t well prepared individuals in this profile. International companies turn to Kosovo for these cases. Mechatronics didn’t exist as a genuine branch in the University of Tirana 5-6 years ago. In this profile, the salary can go up to 3,000 euros for a skilled candidate. Given that our market is lacking in this direction, a big air bag company opened its factory in Macedonia”.

Asked by the show host Eno Popi if graduated youngsters vegetate or if there are changes in the labor market, Ilirjani declared that The Headhunter is now engaged in a project supported by USAID and Sweden Government about tourism, which will train human resources for the 6 main professions of this sector.

“Over two thousand young men and women will be certified. We will have a new academy; a Tourism Academy in Dhërmi, where candidates trained by us will be serving to real clients. It is not a good thing to be a Law graduate and work as a waiter, or graduate in Economy and work as a taxi driver. There should be professional education for that. The job market is not only looking for IT. Today we are lacking in food production experts. I have a few clients, who are aware that there are only 2-3 experts moving from one company to another”.

Ilirjani talked specifically about the salaries point of the article, where it says that chefs are paid between 800-1000 euros.

“Real Chefs are very few in number – said The Headhunter founder – because being a chef doesn’t mean grabbing the pan and cook fish badly in Dhërmi. To be a chef one should really be certified. I do not know for example any chef with an international license about hygiene. We will provide about that in our Tourism Academy”.

About salaries and the part about finance chief paid 3,000-4,000 euros, Ilirjani emphasized that:

“These numbers aren’t real. Mechatronics, that was said to get around 1,000 euros, can go up to 4,000 euros, because there are many requests for this profile and very few candidates. Civil engineering should be specified if it is about infrastructure or if it’s about an international company or a construction yard in Tirana, in order for us to say if 1,000 euros is the right salary. Meanwhile, in this article one of the most paid professions was the one of human resources manager, but the demand for this profile is very low. As per finance chief, the declared salary of 3,000 to 4,000 euros is exaggerated.“

Click the link below to see the full video:

Rini Albania Foundation Founder, Elton Ilirjani was present today in the tv show “Mesdite” in Vizion Plus, where, together with the Commissioner for Protection against Discrimination, Mrs. Irma Baraku, talked about the new project from Rini Albania, directly related to discrimination in the work place in 5 cities in Albania.

Related to the Foundation, Ilirjani said that “Rini Albania is in its second year now and is a very successful foundation because right after the first year it has taken a grant from the US Embassy in Tirana related to the project of informing and ways young people can complain about job interviews or job relations. We, as a foundation, give young people ideas about how to search for available job openings; we give them advice for free about the best branches. But, we’re specially focused on fighting against discrimination in the work place.”

Related to the situation of discrimination in Albania and young people not being informed about their rights, Ilirjani emphasized:

“lets raise awareness among young people, they have the right to complain if they’re made fun of, if they’re excluded from interviews. If they are excluded because of sexual orientation, skin color, ethnicity, political views, external features, origins, etc. Because in Albania there is discrimination even when it comes to physical appearance. Young people did not know and still do not know these. During job interviews there are cases where thy get their phones hung up because some boys have a thin voice, and they are not given the chance for interviews because they are labeled as homosexuals. This is terrible.”
Ilirjani then talked about a personal story, confessing about the discrimination done to him at the work place.
“There are times when in a panel other people make fun of you. This happened to me 10 years ago. I was in a job interview and people laughed at me, because I was different. Imagine what still happens at 2017. Or there are cases when someone coming from the north of Albania is labeled unnecessary epithets. Or, if you’re a pretty girl you’re immediately target for molestation. Or you may be a girl with a few extra kilos and they say you’re not right for the job. Or there are discriminations when some job vacancies are seen only suitable for males or females. And this is scandalous”.

About the mentioned project of Rini Albania, Ilirjani noted: Our foundation, with the support of the US Embassy has started this project and will train hundreds of representatives from private companies and young people just graduated or graduating, who are looking for a job. We will publish an orienting book, which will be given to managers, and recruiters and we will have it on their tables after the training. It will be a full campaign; there will be leaflets, which will give instructions on how job seekers or employees can complain to the commissioner, inside the company, but also at Rini Albania Foundation.
Coming back to discrimination, Ilirjani considered it a “trait of your society”.

“In some cases we’re a culture in the limits of racism, this shows with people with color. We ask for our rights in other Balkan countries but we ourselves do not respect the rights of Rom community and other communities. This is a problem for everybody, a problem for recruiters too, who, tomorrow may be job seekers. It’s a problem of job seekers who do not know their rights. Young people do not have enough information. “ – continued Ilirjani.
The Founder of Rini Albania Foundation then, made an appeal to young people “Over 40% of Albanian companies discriminate young people because of age, therefore, I want to make an appeal for them to be informed, to identify and boycott products and services of these companies.”

Ilirjani finished by asking all interested ones, companies and job seekers to join this project, which will take place in Tirana, Fier, Gjirokastra, Shkoder and Korca.

“The project is open for businesses and for young people looking for a job. There are many different forms of discrimination. In first place comes discrimination because of political views. Second place, regions and the place you come from. There has been more discrimination about religion lately. There is discrimination about sexual orientation; in 2017 there is evident discrimination, while there are medias who make fun of transgender people, there are shows and all of Albania sits and laughs at these people. Apply in rini.albania.al foundation, and we, together with the US Embassy, a strategic partner of our country, will orient them into complaining about the cases when they need help, they should come to Rini Albania, to the commissioner, they should come to the media and complain.”

Click the link below to watch the full video

The Founder of the recruitment and training company, The Headhuhter sh.p.k, Mr. Elton Ilirjani, had a video connection with the morning show “Wake Up” on Top Channel television, where it was present also Ervin Mete, Deputy Minister of Finance and Kol Nikollaj, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania.

Mr. Ilirjani talked about the year-end bonuses either in the public sector, as well as private.

According to Mr. Ilirjani, private sector has been profuse in five recent years, in terms of the 13th salary or benefits to year-ending.

Mr. Ilirjani said that anyway it is a relationship regulated by contract and that there could not exist benefits or rewards if they are not clearly defined in the employment contract.

“Awards should be in proportion to the achievements. There cannot be no bonuses in the private sector, when there are gains. The reward should go to those who deserve it, it should not be given to charity. “

Asked from the director of the show Eno Popi, if this meritocracy rewards should only be in the private sector or in the public too, Mr. Ilirjani stated: “Competition should be in every institution. I am against populism of year-end, during the elections or after the elections phases. We should have a culture of remuneration based on personal achievements. Some business is understanding that, is adopting, they have decided the merit system. Those who deserve will get the bonus. In USA or Britain, do not exist mass populist rewards, but only performance bonuses. International companies in Albania have bonus systems, while some Albanian companies continue to consider it like charity, or give it for the turkey of the New Year, that remains populism of course.”

Interviewed in the headquarters of The Headhunter in Tirana by the Albanian Public Television, the founder of the biggest employment company in Balkan, Elton Ilirjani, talked about the “people First” project, which aims to train and hire 2 thousand young people and not only in the tourism sector in Albania.

Related to this project, which provides free trainings in the Vocational Training Centers in 5 regions such as: Tirana, Durres-Kavaje, Vlora, Korca-Pogradec and Shkodra, as well as a paid internship, Ilirjani stated:

“So far we have received 450 applications and for the first year we aim to have 1000 applicants, and 1000 more for the second year. We will have agreements with hotels, bars and best restaurants and the fact that applicants will have their internships done in them, means they will be hired”. – said Ilirjani asked about the project impact so far.

Asked about what percentage of the professional labor market these youngsters will cover, Ilirjani answered:

“I believe they will cover over 30% of the professional market”.

Related to the project’s philosophy which provides including and giving equal rights for hiring to vulnerable groups, Ilirjani noted: “In between the people who will benefit from the project will also be LGBT people, violated women and children from the rom community. Non-including Albania is the Albania we have seen so far, it does not work.”
But what are some of the flaws on the service offering in the tourism sector?

“There is a lack of smile, there are waiters who cannot stand the customers, it hurts their ego. The sales people do not help, they take it as an offense, you find them on the phone when you walk into the store etc. This depends a lot from the employer, because it is the employer who transmits the work ethics to the employee”, – said The Headhunter founder.

About the question about how long it will take to improve the tourism ethics, the founder of the company with branches in Kosovo, Greece, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and USA, said: “We will need 5 years if we work hard”.

The Headhunter has already started its effort with the 2-year project “People First”.

Watch below the video of the news in TVSH and send a CV at [email protected] if you are interested to be part of the project.

Since October, our company is implementing a training program for safety and health at work, with all employees of the Port Authority of Durres.

Both the administration and operational staff, were trained on topics that directly affect their health and safety at work, ergonomics, measures to be taken for prevention of fires, providing first aid, evacuation, psycho-social risks at work, and other risks depending on the profile sector of employees.

Some moments of the training activities are published on the portal of the Port Authority, which writes that “… on the offices of PAD the training related to safety and health at work continue, according to the legal obligation of Albania, to all public institutions to train workers … their training on this subject applies to all employees of the port, from the administration, to the security staff, the workshops, metal lifter, firefighters etc. It will last 6 months and will be carried out by the company HeadHunter Group. “

Invited in the TV show “Pasdite ne Top Channel”, recruiting expert in The Headhunter, Iris Bajo, along with other participants in the show, discussed the subject of “Good boss or bad boss”, related closely to employer-employee relationship.

Asked about what it means to be a bad boss, Bajo answered by saying that there is not an absolute term for “bad”, but, when the supervisor does not know how to manage the staff, he is definitely a bad boss.
How is the adaption between the employer and employee treated during the recruiting process?

“We listen to what companies want, we advise them, and see the candidate’s personality, if it fits the required criteria” – said Bajo.
Asked about her position as a boss, Bajo said that at first she had a more aggressive approach as a leader, but with time, with experience, in a relationship with the third parties she became less aggressive.

Advise for all job seekers from Ms. Bajo was that when they look for a job, not to forget that besides receiving, they should give after all.

Meanwhile for the bosses in general, The Headhunter expert said they should respect the employees’ personality and not consider them as a property.

For more, watch the show in the link below:

The Headhunter is participating these days in the Work Fair held at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana.
The company has introduced to the public different services they offer for employment and has received high levels of attention from the participants.

Many youngsters visited The Headhunter’s stand and expressed their wish to apply for the vacant positions on www.headhunter.al and www.karriera.al portals, as well as to be part of the trainings from the People First project.

The minister of social welfare and youth, Mrs. Olta Xhacka, The Director of the National Employment Service Mr. Artur Micko and many other representatives of public and private institutions made a stop at The Headhunter stand.

After she was introduced to the People First Project, Mrs. Xhacka expressed her enthusiasm for the success of the project and congratulated our company.

The idea of the project is to assess companies how well they protect and respect the rights and dignity of LGBTIQ jobseekers and LGBTIQ employees, their employment, training and development and compliance with their practices in this area, with local legislation.
The press conference was held at the “National Library” in Pristina from 11:00.
Participants in the panel were Dren Xhema – The HeadHunter Kosovo, Dorina Laci – Project Manager (The HeadHunter Albania), Rina Braimi – Program Manager (CEL).

The gala evening was held at the Swiss Diamond Hotel from 18:30 on May 17, 2018, where over 100 characters from the most successful companies in Kosovo were present.

The index is launched for the first time in Kosovo. It rewards those companies that have devotedly put into practice diversity in the workplace. The index also presents a great opportunity for companies, consumers and legal authorities to promote best practices in the employment sector. This is an opportunity to communicate about education and raising awareness of discrimination in the workplace.
The Director General of The HeadHunter Career LLC, Mr. Elton ILIRJANI, emphasizes this opinion. “We see this issue every day in our company. For this reason, we have created the Index as a way to contribute, more specifically to improve the life of LGBTIQ community Albanians. By strengthening the competitive spirit in the private sector, we have created this Index to reward companies for their efforts at incorporating LGBTIQ people into the workplace and to encourage companies to receive ever-higher rewards in the coming years “.
In this first year of the initiative, Kosovar companies showed great interest in participating and a total of 65 companies from numerous industries have volunteered to participate in this research. Following a standardized format and methodology, The HeadHunter staff did the verification of policies and practices in conducting field interviews. Of the 65 participating companies, 3 (three) of them have accepted the three first awards and 5 (five) other companies, were awarded with certifications.

Companies that have received BRONZ awards are: Coca-Cola Hellenic, Baruti GmbH, FINCA Kosovo. And companies that have received the certifications are: MIK Group, TOK Services, Vala-Telecom of Kosovo, Illyria Insurance and NLB Bank.

Analysis of findings has shown that in the workplace policies, diversity, practices and programs are generally missing in Kosovo. If these are present, they generally do not include jobseekers and LGBTIQ employees. Companies have lack of policies, practices, and trained human resource managers on the topic of diversity at work.

On February 6th, 2018, at 14:00, in “Tirana International” Hotel, “Consortium” Room, took place the ceremony certificates distribution to the top 100 students of the Tourism Academy, of “People First” Project, enabled by The HeadHunter, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Embassy of Sweden in Albania.

“People First – Growth in Tourism through Qualified Human Resources” Project, is a human resources-focused approach to stimulating qualification growth, job growth and job placement in Albania’s tourism sector. The HeadHunter is a private business that helps pairing Albanians with tourism jobs, through career advising and placement of youth. About 2,000 young people will be trained, will conduct internships and will be employed in various professions, in the Hospitality – Tourism businesses in Albania, during the 2-year period of Project’s implementation.

The project has created partnerships between students-prospective employees, Vocational Training Centers and Hospitality-Tourism businesses, and thus, established pathways for prospective employees-particularly youth and women – to gain skills and enter the workforce. This project is focused in five tourism hotspots of Albania: Tirana, the Southern Rivera, Durrës-Kavaja corridor, Shkodra-The Albanian Alps and Korca Region, including Lake Ohrid, Pogradec, and Voskopoja.

Also, The HeadHunter has created the “Academy of Tourism” at the “HH Boutique” Hotel, located in Dhërmi touristic spot, to serve the purpose of the Project. “HH Boutique” Hotel operates as a genuine hotel and restaurant business, but the staff is composed of young trainees conducting the internship there.

The Ambassador of the United States of America in Albania, His Excellency, Mr. Donald Lu, and the Ambassador of Sweden in Albania, His Excellency, Mr. Johan Ndisi, supported and participated in this event, and also, high level representatives from the State, such as; Ms. Lindita Nikolla, Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Mr. Arben Ahmetaj, Minister of Finance and Economy and International authorities, were present in the activity. Also, a high number of local media joined to reflect the activity.

Mr. Elton Ilirjani, Founder and CEO of The HeadHunter Group, started the activity by thanking the participants, the donators, the students and the Hospitality – Tourism businesses all over Albania, who support the Project, and honoree roll called; Mr. Donald Lu, Mr. Johan Ndisi, Ms. Lindita Nikolla and Mr. Arben Ahmetaj, who, after congratulating Project}s achievements up to now, distributed the certificates to the best students. Also, the Project Director, Mr. Besart Kondi, delivered certificates to some of the best students.

Furthermore, The HeadHunter and the students granted to the honoree participants, the curricula of the course for all Hospitality-Tourism professions.

The activity was concluded with a cocktail, where all invitees participated.