VICTOR CALVALCANTE
President of AIESEC Czech Republic
Victor Calvalcante, the president of AIESEC in the Czech Republic, sums up for us the general job market situation stressing the position of students and graduates.
What is the current job market situation for students and recent graduates in the Czech Republic? Is it worse or better compared to other countries?
I would say the Czech Republic is one of the countries in Europe, and overall in the world, with the most opportunities for the youth in terms of jobs. It’s impressive how many job openings companies are having, even in the middle of the covid crisis. When compared to other countries in the European region, mostly western Europe, I would say the job market here is much more stable and growing.
Do you think we should all come back to working on-site or is remote work more efficient?
The working habits of people have changed after the pandemic. Working on-site is inevitable for some operational jobs, but when it comes to less operational-based jobs, flexibility has become an important factor when deciding whether or not to accept a job. I wouldn’t say the interest is in being 100% fully remote, but people want to be able to work from home if needed, have more flexible working hours overall, but also go to the office and meet their peers from time to time. Companies that are offering this hybrid working environment are having an advantage over others.
What does it mean to be a global employee?
A global employee is someone that embraces all the diversity in perspectives that an international working environment can give you. When you have someone from abroad in your company you are also bringing a revolution to your company’s organizational culture and challenging all of the employees to become more involved. It can involve a different background, cultural habits, language, or even the way of working. This difference of perspectives is very important for companies that want to reach different targets and have a wider perspective about their products or services.
What are the most popular positions in your company?
As AIESEC, we work with two different types of positions for students. The first is a short-term exchange, in which you are travelling for 3 months to be interns in a company abroad. The second option is a long-term exchange, in which the students go for 1 year. We have positions available abroad in the areas of marketing, economics, business development, sales, information technology, finances, business administration, and customer service.
What soft skills should candidates have/learn to increase their chances of getting hired?
First of all, it is very important to have a good CV and be able to present yourself in a good way to the companies abroad, at least in an intermediate level of English. Companies usually value the students who have experience in a more practical environment, such as student organizations. Also, being able to sell yourself as a candidate is a skill you can acquire after going through a few interviews and receiving feedback from the recruiters. AIESEC can help students to improve all of this in consultancy space and make sure they have a better success rate on being hired.
Is sustainability important for AIESEC?
Sustainability is a very important topic for us. It is at the core of our values, but we also work with the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, and inside these 17 goals we have at least 10 that can be connected to sustainability. Our social responsibility and volunteer projects are always developing at least 1 of these goals, so this is a way we can contribute to the better direction of the world.