Czech university graduates demand higher starting salaries
Czech university graduates are getting more demanding in terms of their starting salaries, suggests a survey carried out by Swedish consultancy Universum, published by the daily Hospodářské noviny on Wednesday.
The annual survey is conducted among more than 1.5 million students around the world. Over 12.5 thousand students took part in the survey in the Czech Republic.
Apart from a higher salary, Czech university graduates also expect more work benefits, such as professional training, further development and flexible working hours, Maria Berezovskaya from Universum told the daily Hospodářské noviny.
One of the main factors behind the graduates’ growing demands is the current situation on the job market. In September, there were 201, 900 jobless in the Czech Republic, which is the lowest figure for the month since 1996.
According to Czech Labour Office data, unemployment has been hovering at 2.7 percent for three consecutive months.
The number of job offers suitable for university graduates has also been on the rise, says Tomáš Ervín Dombrovský, an analyst for the LMC agency, which operates the websites Jobs.cz and Práce.cz.
“At the time of the economic crisis, there were only about 12 percent of jobs for university graduates, while today it is over 40 percent. Companies are fighting over graduates.
“They tend to forget that the population is aging and that their number will be falling. It is a preconception to think that only young people are creative and able to learn new things.”
According to the Universum survey, quoted by the daily Hospoářské noviny, there are big differences in the expectations of Czech women and men in terms of starting salaries. While male graduates expect a starting salary of over 35,000 crowns, women only ask for around 29,000 crowns.
Global corporations are among the most attractive firms. The most wanted company among university graduates around the world, including the Czech Republic, is Google. However, the local branch only employs around 40 people.
Most graduates in the field of sciences want to work for the Academy of Sciences. The car-maker Škoda is the most sought after employer among graduates of technical schools. Other attractive firms include Microsoft, the Czech National Bank or Seznam.cz.
