36 companies, four of them foreign; 27 presentations; 9 selection processes; around 2,500 offers from employment planned for this year. These are the figures that the director of the Careers Services (OSP) of the University of Navarra, Francisco Javier Landa, exposed during the presentation of the X Forum of employment, which took place in the Sciences Building Social of the University of Navarra and was sponsored by the Navarre Service of employment, PwC Consulting, Bank of Vasconia and Iberdrola.

The presentation of the Forum was also attended by the director General Manager of the Foundation-business University of Navarra, Jorge Larena; the Vice President of Alumni, Pedro Gil; the director General Manager of the Navarre Service of employment, Laura Onieva; the delegate of Institutional Relations in Navarra of Iberdrola, Luis Arraiza; and the director general of the Bank of Vasconia, Francisco Safont.

The employment Forum has brought together 329 companies and benefited 31,000 university students since 1992. The motto of this edition, My first employment, my best employment, summarizes, according to director of the OSP, "the protagonism of student and graduate when facing the professional environment".

During the presentation of the Forum, Francisco Javier Landa, also announced the tool management of employment University of Navarra (GEUN): "For the last two years, this computer science tool has been putting students, graduates and professors of the University of Navarra on contact with companies and institutions. It is therefore an inseparable part of the active attitude that should characterize the university student". The director of the OSP also pointed out that last year the academic entity managed 2,637 offers of work and 3,439 internships, and predicted that this year "the numbers will be similar".

Growth in the quality of offers

At purpose about internships, Jorge Larena pointed out that currently 95% of the students at the University of Navarra are doing internships, "and the quality of the offers is growing". The director General Manager of the Foundation business-University of Navarra also announced the strong commitment of the academic entity in relation to international internships: "There we can grow and we are going to grow a lot". On the other hand, he assured that the Forum of employment is "the most colorful activity" of those that the University of Navarra carries out in favor of the employment rate during the whole year.

"Increasingly, companies are requesting people with programs of study university degrees without specifying which subject", said Laura Onieva. However, she clarified that companies are looking for values in the candidate such as knowledge of languages, handling of new technologies, ability to integrate in a group of work, eagerness for leadership and mobility, among others requirements.

In addition, Laura Onieva remarked the great mismatch between what companies demand and the training offered by our university graduates "more evident as far as women are concerned. In January there were 3,438 university graduates registered as unemployed, 18.12% of the total unemployed. Of these, 2,635 were women and 803 men".