Recently, FirstJob, the leader job board for first employment searches in Latin America, developed the Best FirstJob Employers in Chile, an event that presents the results of the homonymous survey and awards winning companies.

The survey is also a valuable source of information about what young Chileans value the most from an employer and where they focus. The sample includes 5,000 youngsters, out of which 61% are women.

Around 24% of these youngsters have degrees in Commercial Engineering, followed by Industrial Civil Engineering (11%), Business Administration (11%), IT (10%), Accounting (6%) and Psychology (3%).

An interesting fact of the survey is the explanation young people give for leaving their previous job. Most of them (46%) say the main reason was to face new challenges. Another relevant reason has been the pursue for better salaries (22%), while 6% said they wanted a better working environment and only 3% were looking for greater labour flexibility.

When considering the facts that would make them consider leaving their current jobs, 47% prioritize an economic upgrade and 37% would change jobs if they had more challenges and career opportunities.

When assessing employer branding of the 25 companies that participated of the survey, it can be said that they are doing things quite well. Around 93% of youngsters surveyed would recommend the company where they work to a friend or acquaintance. In addition, there are high levels of satisfaction in terms of team work and relationships with colleagues and superiors.

However, only 36% are satisfied with the formal recognition methods of their employers and 25% are satisfied with the criteria used to changing positions in the organization. In addition, even though 94% of youngsters would like to participate in the company’s innovation process, only 16% can actually do it.

This is particularly interesting, especially considering that innovation and creativity are key elements to support and promote productivity and competitiveness in an enterprise. Most youngsters want to get involved in innovation processes and organizations surely can make the most of their potential.