On January 16, 2007, Start Your Career.PL campaign was launched in Warsaw. Start Your Career.PL is a nationwide social campaign promoting Poland as a right place to start a professional career. The campaign has been initiated by the Polish Human Resources Management Association and Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu - National - Louis University from Nowy Sącz. Accenture is the campaign's premier partner. Mass emigration of Poles has proved to be a serious problem. We believe it is an obligation of all participants of public life in Poland to face this problem. Start Your Career.PL aims at presenting employers' point of view in this matter. Up to now, their voice has hardly been heard. "HR managers from all over the country deal with a very serious problem when it comes to recruiting new employees. There is a shortage of both highly qualified specialists as well as manual workers," says Robert T. Żelewski, president of the Polish Human Resources Management Association. In this case, active involvement of employers is far more important than declarations of politicians. Creating and promoting interesting workplaces, creating an environment to enhance professional development are the only arguments strong enough to convince young, well-educated people to stay in Poland and to begin their professional career here. "Poland offers very challenging and interesting work for young, educated and ambitious people. It gives them a chance to develop their skills within global career paths. Positions in Accenture are an excellent example here," says Jarosław Kroc, country managing director of Accenture in Poland. It is extremely difficult to determine an exact number of people who have left Poland since its accession to the European Union. Pessimists estimate around 2 million people have left the country, either for some time or without intention to come back. Our campaign is aimed, first of all, at students and employers. Its goal is to initiate an essential social debate on conditions in which a new generation of Poles will start their professional careers. We intend to initiate a serious essential debate on what ought to be done to encourage young, talented people to stay in Poland and develop their professional careers. "Young people should be involved in the planning process of educational programs. Let them think about choosing right career path in the early stage. Polish universities should follow both market trends and needs, as well as students' expectations," says Krzysztof Pawłowski, rector of Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu—National Louis University from Nowy Sącz. Within the campaign, five regional university debates will be conducted. Debates will involve HR professionals, students, career experts and media. Debates will take place in Warsaw (February 27, Warsaw School of Economics), Kraków (March 7, Jagiellonian University), Wrocław (March 29, Wrocław University of Technology), Łódź (April 12, University of Łódź) and Gdańsk (April 26, University of Gdańsk). Surveys among employers (on recruitment challenges) and among students (on their perception of labor market and approach to emigration) will be conducted throughout the campaign. The campaign website www.startwkariere.pl and chosen media will present young Poles who built successful professional careers. A conference dedicated to education that meets market needs will also be organized. The campaign will be concluded with a press conference in Warsaw on May 14, 2007. During this event, a report summarizing debates and surveys will be presented. To Top |