Category: News

The Headhunter and UN Women winning companies estimate for inclusion and equality in employment

Awarding Ceremony for LGBTIQ Index Equality in Employment, organized by The Headhunter and UN Women was held yesterday evening in Sarajevo. Dm-drogerie markt and British Council won Gold prices, Center for “Investigative Journalism” prize “Silver” and price “Bronze” was awarded Klix.ba .

The ceremony was attended by representatives of local and foreign organizations, private companies and the international community. The awards were presented by David Saunders , representative of UN Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain’s ambassador – Edwards Ferguson , German Ambassador – Christiane Hohmann and CEO of the group The Headhunter – Elton Ilirjani.

“The index is prepared by the private sector to the private sector. It assesses the extent to companies and institutions address discrimination and promote equality in the workplace. As an index for equality in the workplace, UN Women will naturally have partnered with a company human resources to support the implementation of the Index, “said the representative of UN Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, David Saunders.

Saunders added: “I have no doubt that next year will see new companies will join the index, and, more importantly, I believe we will see improvement steps by companies to promote real equality and to protect rights and dignity of LGBTIQ candidates and employees. “

“The Headhunter Though the group has successfully implemented the Index for several consecutive years in the region, it is the first time we are doing this in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are very pleased with the support of partners from the international community who have realized the importance of this issue as well as domestic and foreign companies that have agreed to participate this year. It means a lot to us when the United Nations, the European Union delegation he or German, British, Japanese and representatives of other embassies publicly support us. Our goal is to double the number of participating companies next year and see positive developments in the internal practices of companies that will work next year, “ said CEO of the group The Headhunter, Elton Ilirjani. The LGBTIQ Equality Index is a project group The Headhunter, implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN Women office. The purpose of the implementation of the Index is to raise awareness about discrimination LGBTIQ community has in the workplace, and increase equality, diversity and other positive practices regarding candidates and employees

Published: 11:35 (GMT + 1), 13 December 2017

In one of the activities organized by UNDP in Belgrade, Serbia, the founder of The Headhunter, Elton ilirjani, introduced today the unique initiative ever taken from a private enterprise in Western Balkans, the one of the index of equality in the work place for LGBTI, which will be held this year for the second year in a row in Albania, with over 100 businesses surveyed, and with the most loyal of them which will be awarded again by The Headhunter.

During his speech, Ilirjani declared: “People of LGBTI community should not be victimized, they should have the courage to pursue a career and move forward”.

According to Ilirjani, these people are people just like anybody else and should compete with the same values and professional achievements.

According to Ilirjani, the solution of the people mentioned above is “Hiring people of LGBTI community, as this is the only salvation towards financial liberty and to avoid prejudices in family and society“. 

It has recently been discussed about an Albanian government project to change the work schedule of public administration.

It is discussed that the new timetable will be extended until 17.30, with a full lunch break hour for employees.

To talk about this topic, the founder of The Headhunter, Elton Ilirjani, was invited yesterday on Albanian public television on the “Good Morning Albania” show.

Asked about this project, Ilirjani expressed his full agreement:

” I think this is one of the most successful reforms the country’s prime minister will do, while I am not politically oriented, I am among the people who have never voted for any party. But the Prime Minister has thought well. I think it’s a solution and a right one. “

“Because our hard-working administrate,” Ilirjani continued, ironically, “takes a break even for one, two or three hours, and sometimes we cannot even find them in their offices. So socially I do not think it will have any major impact because they (employees) will find the opportunity to leave. The main thing I see here is that one hour of lunch break should be legitimized, because until now it has not been legitimized.

“I think it’s the right choice,” Ilirjani reemphasized his conviction. – All this venture, all this launch that the prime minister is making public-private partnerships make sense, because the private business closes at 17.30. We open at 09.00 and close at 17.30. It would be a good thing for the public-private cooperation to work, not to go at 17.00 or 15.49 and find no one in the administration. We may need documentation, at the last moments we may need changes to NIPT. There are foreign investors who are surprised that people leave at 15.00. “

Asked whether this would mean that the administration employees should never eat undisturbed, Ilirjani replied:

“There are many reasons for this. He (Prime Minister) is a visionary person when it comes to employment, as far as I know him, I don’t know about the rest. Regarding business in Albania, it would be of great help to have an administration that finishes work at 5.30 pm; how the state chooses to regulate this, whether or not the employees are satisfied who I believe are not as busy as people working in private business, that’s another job. I see that candidates ask me to get them jobs in the administration because they are not used in private businesses where the boss is demanding, where the schedule becomes super schedule, where you work Saturdays and Sundays and does nobody knows and sometimes get paid less than the administration. The gentlemen in the administration should understand that we are walking with the pace of time, we are an emancipated business and we want an emancipated administration “.

Asked if it would be up to him, how he would arrange the work schedule, Ilirjan said:

“I would do my best for Albania. I understand the concerns, but this is a right decision, also seen from the region I work, compared to 7 countries in the region where I am a leader. It gives the administration tempo, which should not be drowsy. The Albanian state should be made at the same rate with which the Albanian private business is made. This schedule will imply more, will make them more responsible (employees). I know that in Macedonia there is an hour and a half or two hours break per day to go feed their babies. This is not an extension of the timetable, this is a change in the timetable”  – concluded CEO of the largest employing company in the region his intervention at RTSH.   

Click the link below to watch the full show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfk-0xM5HlM&feature=youtu.be

In a live skype call from Rome in Italy where he is staying at the moment for work, The Headhunter founder, Elton Ilirjani, discussed today morning in the tv show Wake Up in Top Channel about the ways to motivate the employees and companies, so that they can perform in higher levels.

The show host Eno Popi asked Mr. Ilirjani if there are any changes in job-seeker’s expectations about the type of work and the work environment in Albania.

“In these last years 30% pay a lot of attention to the work environment and work conditions other than the salary. There is an increase in awareness also from managers, who give the right importance to their superiors. During the interview, they don’t only interview the job seeker, but also their possible future employer”, said Ilirjani, who has founded since 2002 the leading company related to employment in Albania, Greece, Kosovo and other Balkan countries which is now also present in the USA too.

Talking about the case discussed in the studio, where an Indian company owner had chosen to motivate his employees by giving them cars, Ilirjani said:

“In every business employees and managers should be partners with the owner. I treat some of my closest colleagues as business partners, even though they are not shareholders. They receive a good percentage for every success of the company, especially when this is not e result of their work. Of course, headhunting business seeks for luxurious cars, nice clothes, so this is necessary”.

Ways to motivate the employees

Talking about another case, when the boss had chosen to motivate his employees by giving them cash, Ilirjani emphasized:  “In a job interview, I always tell the interviewed ones to not only be interviewed, but to interview the company too. Everything is image, but you cannot just give cash, everything should be done according to law. Services need a smile, a clean and curated image”.

Click the link below to se the video:

Tourism and employment are a new, very positive reality in Albania.

The Headhunter Company is part of this trend.

To explain this better, Elton Ilirjani, founder of the training and employment company The Headhunter, was invited recently in the TV shows “Mesdite” and “Next” in Vizion Plus TV.

Ilirjani talked about “People First” project, co-financed by USAID, the Sweden government and The Headhunter, which aims to train and hire 2 thousand youngsters in the tourism sector.

“Working in tourism is in style right now, because being a cook, for example, means you may have a very high salary. The salary varies from 2 to 4 thousand euros.” – said Ilirjani.

“We offer training and employment in 8 profiles. There is even a new profession in this sector, which is the one of maintenance technician, but unfortunately all young people want to graduate in law, or be actors, or host a show just like you today here” – continued Ilirjani.

“There are jobs for IT, for electricians, pool maintenance, water quality control which also means testing usage of equipment.  Unfortunately, out of 1000 quotes announced so far, we are still at half of them. Therefore, I advice all youngsters to apply immediately by sending a CV at [email protected]”, – stressed the leader of The Headhunter.

Related to this hesitance of youngsters to benefit from the free training and paid internship, Ilirjani noted:

“They have lost their faith in employment, or they believe they should pay to get a job, by bribing. This is wrong, because we have 1 thousand openings for this year and 1 thousand more for next year. This partly a matter of laziness also

 In the end they should think seriously about their career. In some cases the system does not work, and it is not their fault, but in our case we are not requiring previous experience from these candidates. All we need is for them to be at the age needed for working. We also have the Tourism Academy in Dhermi, called HH Boutique Hotel and the best students will be paid to work and serve the clients there”.Related to how the employment of these 2 thousand young people will be done, Ilirjani noted:

“We also have memorandums of understanding with 400 hotels and restaurants, where these people will be hired, in all seacoast. So they will have a six-week long training and a nice experience during summer with their internships. Someone will manage a hotel; someone will be a bartender and so on. It will be a unique experience and they will feel good. They should apply immediately at [email protected]. And they will have an internationally known certificate with USAID, Sweden Embassy, The Headhunter and Ministry of Social Welfare logo. Besides from the hotel manager profile, for 7 out of 8 other profiles a high school or primary school diploma is enough. They will be selected, they will be trained, and they will have a life opportunity. They will be paid 200 dollars during the internship and will have health insurance paid too.

“If a hotel such as Hilton comes to Albania, they will need many people and the youngsters will be ready, qualified. The trainings will take place in 5 cities and later the candidates will be hired wherever they want. They should not waste their time in political campaigns, instead they should go to professionals, worry about their career” – ended Ilirjani.

For more, you can watch the videos in the links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYZQq0Mk4IM&feature=youtu.be

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.