Zagreb, 15 March 2017 – Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d. (Erste banka) this year again organises two professional training programmes “IT Lab” and “Generalna proba” (General Practice), intended for final-year undergraduate and graduate students. This year it also joined the Youth Initiative, launched with the aim of facilitating young people’s entry to the labour market. While IT Lab accepts applications from technical school students, General Practice is intended for students of economics. The Youth Initiative was launched by the Croatian Employers Association and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and through these two programmes Erste banka wants to provide youths with quality first working experience and improve their chances of finding a job.

Students who apply for the professional training programme IT Lab will be deployed to the segment called Change the Bank, which is in charge of developing software solutions and specific projects, and is responsible for digital banking in Croatia. Apart from working with mentors and seizing a chance for professional development, students will also get paid for what they do, while the best among them will get a chance to win scholarships until graduation. The training will be carried out over the three summer months, from June to September. The programme was first implemented last year, with ten students. To get a chance to participate in the programme, students need to apply by sending their resumes to itlab@erstebank.com.

General Practice is the programme for students of economics, consisting of an educational part, which includes an introductory lecture and the training of professional and soft skills, and a practical part, in which students will be able to work with a mentor and join the regular operations of the Bank’s organisational units. 15 places are available for all full-time final-year undergraduate or graduate students of economics in Zagreb and Rijeka. The programme was launched two years ago with the aim of applying the gained economics knowledge in a bank’s working environment, and a large number of participants stayed on to work in Erste banka. To apply, students need to send their resumes to generalnaproba@erstebank.com.

“Professional training programmes like these are necessary in today’s dynamic business world, while those who will be a part of this world in the future are helped to adopt certain rules and practices that await them. This is in fact the aim of such programmes – to allow students to get the picture of how business world really looks like, and this is best done with a good mentor and first small, but real responsibilities through which participants in the programme are involved in day-to-day operations of the Bank’s organisational units,“ says Maja Crnjak, HR Director.