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.