18,000 apply for 250 jobs in Serbia’s first Ikea store

BELGRADE — Nearly 18,000 people have applied for 250 jobs at Serbia’s first Ikea store, which opens later this year, the company said on Monday (March 13).

The Swedish home furnishings giant has tallied 17,775 applications, most from Belgrade locals who would have a quick commute to the big box store being set up just outside the capital, Belga news agency reported.

Belgrade once, and briefly, boasted an Ikea. The store opened in what was then the capital of Yugoslavia, on the eve of the break-up of the nation, and was shut when the Balkan wars began the early 1990s.

Now it says it is investing 70 million euros (S$106 million) in the new site, which it hopes to open by summer and follow with four other locations.

Unemployment rate in Serbia, a country of 7.2 million, was 19.7 per cent in 2016, according to UN figures, with 44 per cent of youth out of work. The average monthly salary is around 370 euros.

Ikea employs 150,000 people globally and has an annual turnover of more than 30 billion euros. AFP