83.3 % of jobseekers are unemployed.
“67.1 thousand people are looking for a job in Armenia, the overwhelming majority, 48.3 thousand, are women,” informs Svetlana Ohanyan, senior specialist of the Department of Labor Market Analysis and Forecasts of the “State Employment Service” agency, presenting the situation of labor market in Armenia as of November 1, 2013.
Svetlana Ohanyan notes that compared with last year, the number of jobseekers has decreased by 9.6 percent, but young people continues to be a priority among them (17,900 people), and especially women. To our question as to what difficulties young people encounter in seeking for jobs, she replied, “The main reason is that they do not have work experience.” She also noted that people over the age of 40 have serious difficulties. “The employers requires for more experienced, at the same time, young staff, and they do not meet those standards,” adds Svetlana Ohanyan. To the point, 83.3 % of jobseekers are unemployed. These are just statistic data, in fact, the real numbers are much higher. People are looking for a job by questioning among their acquaintances, by wandering in the cities or regions and asking for job, by applying to agencies and other relevant state bodies, by buying newspapers including statements about the work, also by visiting recently opened web sites on this issue. As for how efficient it is to find a job by internet, we tried to find out as a result of our survey. Satine Tadevosyan, who learned about her today’s work of translator by reading the announcement posted in one of e-sites on job openings, says that finding a job through the Internet is more realistic than going from “door to door”, “I do not believe in the announcements posted on the windows of the stores, they are mainly looking for a “free labor”, for example, have 3 registered workers, but it is beneficial for them to have the fourth employee just as an “intern.” They make him work for a few days, they dismiss him saying that he had done something incomplete, then they hire an intern, and so on by exploiting people. But, the employers post announcement on the Internet only upon necessity for looking for actual employees.” Satine Tadevosyan thinks that one of the positive sides of the Internet is that instead of wandering in the street, people can find job by sitting at home and visiting respective websites that provide a variety of choices. Employers also highlight the role of the Internet. “Now, everyone finds job on the internet, because it is more affordable and faster. It is also profitable for me to look for my future employees, because I’m in front of a computer all day,” says the “Eastern food” shop manager. It’s about 5 years since she is using the opportunity to post e-mail announcements on websites. To our question of how many applicants she hired through only websites during these years, her answer was about 40 people. ‘Idea’ advertising company manager Anahit Hovhannisyan says that if they have vacancies, they post an announcement about it on the internet. “There are also human resource centers that provide employees to us, but we prefer to post announcements on websites, as it avoids the unnecessary costs, and we communicate with our future employees directly,” says Ms. Hovhannisyan. It should be noted that a number of job-oriented websites enable not only the employers to post announcements, but the jobseekers, too. Moreover, many of the websites on job vacancies have their charter, with the help of which they provide information to the employer or the jobseeker about their rights, for example, not to publish, or transform materials that violate another person’s rights, including copyright, trademark, or other property, as well as using materials without the prior consent or in compliance with the owner. The terms and conditions for posting an announcements is also stated in a respective column, as to how to register, how to develop an announcement. The employers and jobseekers are warned that the applications are subjected to editing, if their announcements do not comply with the laws of the site, and then are immediately removed. But, in some sites (mostly those where money is not paid for writing an announcement. We are not mentioning the names not to harm the reputation of the business sites), there is no control over the applications. In this case, one can meet “job proposals” with the following content, such as “I will be introduced as your friend at a reasonable price,” “Looking for a girl to take home,” “If you are social and free of complexes, please contact us,” “Apostles are required” and so on. In this case, a question arises as to how seriously to treat the announcements on the Internet and follow them. There were cases where the employers, under the pretence of job, tried to make acquaintances with jobseekers. There also happens that the employers, taking advantage of the fact that the unemployed belong to vulnerable layer, and also taking the chance that their applications are not edited, post incorrect announcements. It turns out that the applicants get informed about the real work only at the time of the interview. Elizaveta Asatryan also appeared in this situation. A few months ago, the latter had read a job announcement of a journalist. She made the arrangements on the phone and went for the interview. On the spot, she found out that the employer did need for a journalist. “I was told that they need people who will be involved only in advertizing issues, though I had read that “Yerevak” news company requires journalists to cover the economic sector. I even asked beforehand whether they need a journalist, they said, yes.” Elizaveta adds, feeling cheated, she left away. “I’m neither a market specialist, nor a PR specialist… Taking the advantage that you are unemployed, they lie and invite you for interview thinking that you will accept any job.” “Websites, in their turn, should have a sense of responsibility, and do not disseminate any incorrect or inaccurate information,” says senior specialist of the Department of Labor Market Analysis and Forecasts of the “State Employment Service” agency Svetlana Ohanyan.
To note that the “State Employment Service” agency also has its own website , which enable the public to learn about vacancies. “We also have a website and are of the opinion that the information via the Internet is more accessible, but we feel a great responsibility to be useful for jobseekers, we are consistent with the responses about the announcements and other matters.” According to her, as of November 1, 10,385 people have found job by applying online or visiting personally. S. Ohanyan, highlighting the online opportunities, states that a jobseeker should not be limited only to the Internet, he must look for a job in all directions. “More he looks for, more will be the possibility that they will get the job,” says she.
Nazeni BAGDASARYAN
