On September 29, 2023, a workshop was held for students and PhD students within the project “Impact of digitalization on innovative approaches in human resources management”. The project was financed by the Scientific Research Fund, Ministry of Education and Science BG-175467353-2022-04/12-12-2022, competition for fundamental scientific research 2022. Contract No. KP-06 PN 65/4. The aim of the event was to stimulate students’ creativity and encourage their innovative and managerial thinking, to exchange knowledge and ideas in the field of human resources management between teachers, students and representatives from practice, as well as to create an opportunity for career development of young people.
About 30 bachelors, masters and PhD students from various specialties at the University of Economics – Varna took part in the workshop. Special guests were the business representatives on behalf of: BT Development Services AD, Kluntech, Windrose Training Academy Ltd., Musala soft, Neoperl Bulgaria, Pleggi. Miroslav Nikolov and Dimitar Karaivanov from “Igrikazki” broke the atmosphere with games in which mentors and students had the opportunity to get to know each other and break the ice.
The format of the event was related to the opportunity for students to work as a team on real cases provided to them by the business. In addition to providing specific situations from their work with people in the organizations, HR managers also mentored the teams, supporting, guiding and advising them. The teams worked on a case study related to personnel selection and a proposal for a strategy to attract candidates for a job in a foreign financial group.
After convincing presentations by all the student teams, a ranking followed, with the top three places being taken respectively by:
1. FIRST PLACE: Yana Guzeleva – Entrepreneurship and investment management, Zlatomir Ivanov – Marketing, Daniela Karagyozova – International Business, Hatche Halil – Business Economics, Denitsa Kolarova – Digital Media and PR;
2. SECOND PLACE: Georgi Stoyanov – Finance and Innovation, Antonia Yotova – International Business, Kristin Pelova – Human Resouce Management, Olchai Yusuf – International Economic Relations;
3. THIRD PLACE: Maksimiliana Gyumova – Judicial administration, Erika Lishkovska – Sales and Merchandising Management, Nesrin Eredzeb – Logistics, Filipa Yordanova – Logistics.
The business provided attractive prizes for participants, including quotas for free participation in the autumn conference for human resource management, books, brunch at Hotel International, promotional materials and branded sport bags.
The students shared immense satisfaction from their participation in the event, satisfied with the contact with practice and the useful things they learned in the course of the discussions. The business also expressed its satisfaction at working with motivated and enthusiastic young people and thanked the organizers for keeping alive the link between practice and the academic community. An atmosphere of creative energy and creativity, constructive work, team spirit and positivity was created!
