National internship initiative

One of the main goals of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria is to support young people at the start of their professional careers and to encourage them to stay to work and develop their talent in Bulgaria. We believe that completing this internship can be a crucial first step for young people towards a successful future career realization. We are extremely proud that just in six years we managed to turn the "Staying in Bulgaria" campaign into a large-scale internship initiative. Since its launch in 2015, more than 10,000 young people have completed an internship at the Council's member companies. The program provides an opportunity to generation Z (born between 1995 and 2005), who are already interns at the Council’s member companies, to gain additional knowledge and skills directly from established specialists in various professional fields. The initiative helps the youngest future professionals to prove their abilities and skills, to enter the business world and to get new opportunities for improvement, suitable environment and incentive for implementation in the country. Young people get the opportunity to upgrade their competences, acquired in university, through a series of seven free specialized trainings led by established professionals in various professional fields. Some of the topics of the lectures are Presentation skill, Effective business communication, How to prepare and present at an interview; Building a personal brand in social networks; The benefits of diversity, equality and inclusion in the team, “Project Management” and “Business Simulation – Personal
Investments”.

The lecturers, long-time specialists from A1, UniCredit Bulbank, Nestle and M-Gas, through personal examples from their jobs, introduce the participants to basic concepts and necessary skills related to the lecture topics. After completing their online classes, interns have the opportunity to visit companies such as A1, Nestle, Elektrohold Bulgaria, Lidl, Siemens, and SumUp on-site to familiarize themselves with the roles and operational work of different teams. Within the program, participants can learn more about the importance of corporate social responsibility in a company by joining a volunteer initiative organized by A1. With active participation in the training and planned activities, young people receive an official certificate for completing the program.