Some of the businesses are now training high school students.
Despite a quarter million of unemployed people in Croatia, entrepreneurs from Poreč are having difficulty finding workers. One such example is the Istarski Supermarketi company which has almost one hundred shops around Istria, and they are hoping to reach a number of more than 750 employees this year, said a representative of the company Ivica Milotić, reports Poslovni.hr on May 7, 2016.
“The business is good, but we have a small number of employees. Currently, we need 120 seasonal workers”, Milotić said at the panel discussion “From the idea to a successful business –the good examples“, which was held in Poreč on Friday. He said there were not enough salespeople on the labour market, and people were not answering job ads.
Marijana Ritošu from Istradrvo, a furniture manufacturer, said that they have been faced with the same problem for two decades. “The vocational school in Buje has a small number of students. In Poreč, there are no people who are interested in our work, although in the areas around the city a certain interest does exist. But very few people respond to our job ads. Those who are interested in a job with us are usually not qualified enough”, Ritoša added.
“We have a similar problem”, said Jelena Fiškuš from Studio Sonda marketing agency, located in the nearby Vižinada. “Most of the designers and marketing experts remain in the big centres, so finding an already formed designer or art director is a real challenge. Therefore, we have decided to educate candidates who apply for jobs”, Fiškuš said. Studio Sonda has also decided to give a shot to the high-school internships concept and they already have some high-school students within their ranks, and maybe a future designer or two among them.
Meanwhile, one of the characteristics of entrepreneurs from Poreč, or rather of the entrepreneurs from Istria, is local-patriotism. One of the best examples is the renovation of the old town in Buzet and its transformation into a hotel. The project was started by Istradrvo. “My father is from Vižinada and he wanted to do something in the inland part of Istria. We have renovated five buildings and connected them with three bridges. We have changed the water supply system and in the fall we will finish the pavement”, Ritoša said.
