Bilingual millennials in Costa Rica have become the new employment trend, thanks to the implementation of dual education, according to recruiters and other experts consulted by La Republica.
This teaching modality combines classroom instruction with a practice directed at companies, which allows young people to gain experience while training.
Companies are giving more priorities to young Costa Ricans who also speak English, Portuguese or other languages since they stand out for adapting more easily, which corresponds to a skill at a time when the world is experiencing vertiginous changes in technology.
This week, for example, Matra, the heavy and farming equipment company, announced that it will give space to 22 students of the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje (INA) – National Learning Institute – to do their professional practice, while other companies are also looking for staff.
Dual education became law in early September; Its importance is that young unemployed represent the main group in the country, with more than 114,000 people, ie 30%, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica, the INEC.
“This system allows employers to focus on talent with the greatest potential; that is, who adapts to the corporate culture and who demonstrates their academic knowledge, positive attitude and critical soft skills to ensure better selection and hiring,” said Laura Centeno, Director of Student Professional Development at Lead University.
Dual education is not an employment contract, but an apprenticeship, so its participants receive a kind of scholarship to finance their transportation and other minor expenses.
However, the idea of the plan is that in the near future they will be able to obtain a position in the companies.
In that sense, the highest employment expectations for the entire economy are related to the commerce and services sector, with +8%, according to the latest Manpower Group survey.
On the other hand, businesses related to the medical device manufacturing and service industry are always looking for qualified personnel.
The foregoing is consistent with the fact that the majority of vacancies available in the market are related to positions such as customer service, accounting and / or financial services, IT services, IT development. Also, we can highlight vacancies in specialized sales such as engineering and related technology, ” said Dahiana Arias, Manpower manager n Costa Rica
The most requested positions by technical areas are:
- Engineering in Data Science or Systems
- Business Studies
- Accounting
- International Trade and Logistics
- Industrial engineering
- Electronic Engineering
- Human Resources
- Digital animation
- Electric engineering
- Electromechanical engineering
- Mechatronics Engineering
- Economy
- Finance
The advantage is that young people who handle more than one language will have greater job opportunities than experienced people, according to recruiters.
