Slovenia has become, since the end of its crisis in 2012-2013, a very attractive country for startups with one of the highest GDP growths in the European Union. While the crisis resulted in a cutting down of a number of industries, those that remain (including technology, automobile, culinary, sports, and science) are rapidly growing and receiving recognition. The country is gaining a reputation for its niche, focused, and high-quality work with main companies in the space as Outfit 7, Akrapovic, Pipistrel, Zemanta, Celtra, Bitstamp … Even though average Slovenian salaries are not in the top of other western europeans, the other qualities bring the important balance.
1. Location in Europe
Slovenia is located in the central Europe, providing access to Balkan states as well as the Western countries. What means that on weekends you can travel to enjoy sun on Dalmatian coast in Croatia and on weekdays fly to London or Berlin for as little as 10€ / one way from close airports: Ljubljana, Zagreb, Venice and Graz.
2. Low living costs
Living in Slovenia gives you an opportunity to bootstrap your startup. Rent cost and food expenses are lower than in other central Europe countries but on the same time you get an access to timezones of modern Western country. Also finding an available apartment is easier than in other Western metropolitan areas. Ljubljana is the most populated but as soon as you are living outside (already as much as half an hour drive away) costs can be even half cheaper.
3. Quality of life
On one hand Slovenia has a lot of farms. Vegetables and meat has exceptional quality, even food at a McDonald’s has better taste than in other countries because it is locally produced and better quality. On the other hand, despite the size it is extremely geographically diverse. You can find everything from mountains and ski resorts to sea shore and Mediterranean climate. And both take you just an hour drive from the capital.
And on the other, almost 60% of country landscape covers forest. Cities are also very clean, functional and green (the capital, Ljubljana, won the European Green Capital Award for 2016). That is why people are very connected with the nature and enjoying the art of slow and quality living despite strong work ethic and drive.
4. Workforce
Slovenians are know for their drive, hard working and ethic. Prior to free of charge educational system (including Universities) a high percentage of the population has university degree. Most of the people are digitally literate and fluent in English or German. Overall Slovenians are open, communicative and warming people, they enjoy to connect with new people and learn about new cultures.
5. People speak English
Because Slovenian language is not useful around the world, most of the younger generation speaks very good English. Children start learning English already in early primary school and soon after usually start learning also German or French. Movies on commercial TV programs are mostly in English and not dubbed only subtitled what commonly improves the understanding of English among entire population. Because the country is becoming more and more international it is already becoming a trend that in a lot of startup and tech companies English is becoming official language.
6. Fast Internet
Optic is available in most of the places, even outside of the city. The average internet upload speed is 15.42Mbps what brings great opportunity for building online business. also almost all cafes in big cities have free Wi-Fi. Ljubljana City Centre and some smaller towns even offer a public wireless connection. It is easy to stay connected and keep working on your project wherever you are.
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On the other hand Slovenia as a social country if offering a lot of benefits that are for locals self-evident. For expats coming from example USA mentioning that salary is covering health insurance and retirement fund ads a special value.
To help you with presenting your perks and benefits we prepared for you a full list of them, including one for pet insurance:)
Salary & Insurance
- Health Insurance Benefits
- Regular salary increase
- Maximum coverage for lunch and transport expenses
- Additional retirement saving
- Pet Insurance
Stock Options
- Company equity
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Performance Bonus
Child Care & Parental Leave Benefits
- Remote Work Program
- Generous Parental Leave
- Flexible Work Schedule
- Family Medical Leave
- Adoption Assistance
Vacation & Time off Benefits
- Generous PTO
- Paid Holidays
- Paid Sick Days
- Unlimited Vacation Policy
- Paid Volunteer Time
- Sabbatical
Professional development
- Job Training and Conferences
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Diversity Program
- Sponsoring your creative ideas and projects
- Paid time for your personal projects
Office
- Ergonomic and hydraulic desks
- Ergonomic chairs
- Game Room
- Creative office layout
- Remote work
- Bright office layout
- Fitness Subsidies
- Pet Friendly
Perks & Discounts
- Beer on Tap
- Snacks
- Casual Dress
- Commuter Benefits
- Company Outings
- Stocked Kitchen
- Some Meal Provided
- Free Daily Meals
- Happy Hours
- Recreational Clubs
- Relocation Assistance
- Company’s computer and phone
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PRESENT YOUR COMPANY AND THE CANDIDATE’S FUTURE IN IT
- Get rid of the boring corporate tone, drop the passive voice.
- Use words that evoke feelings and keep it short and friendly.
- Make them aspire and then act on that desire.
BE CLEAR ABOUT THE JOB TITLE AND WORK CHALLENGES
- What kind of work will the candidate be able to embark on? Is it a part or full time engagement – security on one hand and flexibility on the other? Lone ranger or teamwork that makes dreams work? Is there room to advance in this position? What day to day tasks come with the title?
- Are you the only one in the region where candidates can develop a certain type of expertise? Do tell, people are eager to reach for the stars! If you offer a unique opportunity to work on super large scale projects or dig into very complex specialist niche products, make sure everybody knows about it. If your company’s work affects a particularly demanding audience and it makes a good addition to a reference list for aspiring talent, then call it so.
REQUIRED/DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
- What knowledge, skills or qualities are you looking for in your ideal candidate? Divide these between what is necessary and what is an advantage. If you are hoping to receive many CVs, you can afford to be a little less specific with your requirements, but if you just want a few applicants, you should be very clear with the strict requirements each candidate must fulfil. If professional mojo isn’t everything to you, then don’t hold back on those personal qualities that make a good fit with your company’s culture.
- Are you interested in candidate’s live projects, past works? Encourage them to send you links to portfolios and online repositories.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY
- What is your company working on and what are you really good at? Give candidates a quick glimpse into your products, clients and unique challenges. If you’re a market leader in a vertical or striving to become one, don’t be shy, make yourselves shine a bit. Not everybody knows as much about your work and accomplishments as you do, so feel free to put some context around the company name.
- Make it visual, make it personal! A photo holds the power of one thousand words they say, so snap a quick one of the team the workplace, or the coffee machine. A simple video can also go a really long way. Use it to make yourselves a bit more accessible, answer one of the frequent questions candidates have and show them around a bit.
PERKS
- What makes it so much more pleasurable to work at your company? Are you flexible with work hours or have an open vacation policy? Do you invest in team-building activities, are you proud of your office location/interior design/equipment, do your employees have their own parking space or gym membership, is there a dog in the office? How about professional growth and other benefits?
- How about those community contributions? Do you encourage team members to organise meetups, do you host open lectures where showcase your internal knowledge, are you sponsoring activities in your community, do you contribute to open source knowledge. If your company culture is a lot about giving back, make sure you don’t forget to mention it.
LOCATION, REMOTE WORK AND RELOCATION
- Where does the work take place? Is it the headquarters or a subsidiary, are you located in an urban or rural environment?
- How does telecommuting function? Is it time-zone specific or can they work in their pyjamas?
- Do you offer assistance with procedures and cover relocation costs? When addressing international talent, mentioning that they are welcome and assisted can make the world of difference.
There are quite a few new members in our community (Welcome!), we call expats, either because they are new in Slovenia or new in the community. So we decided to start the so-called InternetWeek Expat Hour each Monday morning between 8.30 and 9.am at Lepa Žoga, Ljubljana. Those of us who are long-term community members, and those of us who have learned from our own experience, are happy to address relocation and integration questions, help navigate procedures and the community, just don’t expect us to make you coffee. Do share with your network, you never know who could use a chat or two with community natives.
On the horizon
Most of the old meetups are slowly ending their season, however new ones are coming
- 25.6. Independence day is a national holiday – long weekend ahead
- 26.6. at 6pm Computer Museum Association meetup (more info available in next Monday’s InternetWeekly)
This Week
MON, June 18
8:30-9:00 Regular Monday coffee with expats (if you know of anyone who is new to navigating the innards of all things Slovene and technology, we’ll be more than happy to help with basic orientation), Lepa Žoga, Ljubljana
9am Machine learning for girls, FRI Ljubljana, 1st day, free
TUE, June 19
9am 23rd OTS Conference, FERI Faculty, Maribor
9am Machine learning for girls, FRI Ljubljana, 2nd day, free
5pm Free 2day workshop – »IoT«, Coworking Idrija, 2nd workshop
WED, June 20
9am 23rd OTS Conference, FERI Faculty, Maribor
10am Open Office Day, Celtra, Kongresni trg 3, Ljubljana, Celtra, RSVP
10am Free education on the blockchain, House of European Union, Ljubljana, RSVP till June 18!
4:30pm MakeIT Meetup: High Availability on the Oracle database, Poligon, Ljubljana
6:00pm SloGameDev June Meetup, Poligon Ljubljana, last meetup before summer break
THU, June 21
1pm Tech Lunch: Best party in park, Technology park Ljubljana, Green area next to building B
5pm HRM in the new world: Employer Brand, Outfit7 – Chrystal palace, Ljubljana
6pm ShareIT: Developer & Tester –can this be a “dream team”?, ShareIT is welcomed by Comtrade, Ljubljana
FRI, June 22
10am Institut Jožef Stefan: Cybercriminal – magic, curiosity, fun, business and the immune system, taking place at NLB center for innovative solutions, Ljubljana
New this week:
