Looking for a job: where Ukrainians can earn money during the war

After the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, many of our citizens were left without work. Someone was sent on vacation, someone was fired due to the fact that the enterprise stopped, and someone’s place of work was simply destroyed by rockets and bombs of the enemy. Some of these people went to the army, some volunteers, and some want to find a new job in order to continue to feed their families.

“Today” found out what is the current situation in the labor market and what compromises are willing to make workers and employers.

Who has a job

Experts say that those who worked for Western companies before the war have a stable job – first of all, we are talking about IT specialists. Also, those who work remotely have a good chance to stay in business.

“The situation in the Ukrainian labor market is stressful, because even if there is work, it is difficult for people to concentrate on business. All those who are employed in the IT sector work stably. Remote work has been available to many since the pandemic. However, people are not 100% busy, but with variable performance of tasks. Many are forced to move around the country, even within the same region, change guest houses or hotels. Therefore, the quality of their work suffers,” says Sergey Saroyan, founder of Performance Management.

According to the expert, those who were employed in the retail business, which ended up in a war zone, most often lose their jobs. And in other large cities, there are now problems with demand, as consumers are leaving the megacities en masse.

Also, no one will build new houses or make repairs now. After all, at any moment the house can be destroyed. Therefore, the demand for labor in Ukraine has fallen.

According to him, the restoration of interest in specialists will be after the war. The time will come for those involved in construction, repair, logistics, landscaping, to build roads again.

“Now private security services are almost 100% loaded. Employees of the beauty industry also do not sit idle – they work privately and agree with clients on the provision of services within the curfew,” the expert continues.

What to do for migrants

Many people who left their cities in the early days of the war thought that the war would end quickly. But now the fourth week of hostilities is already underway, many people are running out of savings and people need to look for work at their place of temporary residence.

“After moving to a new country, you need to apply for work to employment agencies. They coordinate people about the relevant documents that are needed for applying for a job, as well as about current vacancies. The same representatives of the IT industry promptly took care of creating an Internet platform for the employment of Ukrainians, forced to leave Ukraine because of the war. So now you can find a job through Europe’s largest technology community for migrants 2hearts and the UA Talents website,” says Sergey Saroyan.

What to ask the employer

In wartime, applicants can, purely humanly, try to negotiate with the employer about some concessions. For example, organize a more convenient work schedule or pay wages more often and make advances.

“It is possible to negotiate with the employer on more frequent remuneration than once a month. Due to this point, the cost of labor will be cheaper, however, objectively, many people left the country without significant savings, so they can agree that payment was produced every week, or every two weeks,” sums up Sergey Saroyan.

Earlier we wrote about who and how they will pay compensation in Ukraine. Read about how to properly manage money during the war.