On June 13, the  "Imagine Armenia" forum and “Work in Armenia” job fair was held in Paris as part of the EU financed “Targeted Initiative for Armenia” project.

Twelve employers from Armenia traveled to the job fair to advertise forty job openings, mostly in wine making, information technologies, and the banking sector.

Karineh Simonyan, who represents the The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Company for International Cooperation), one of the organizers, says that the main objective of the job fair was to attract Armenians living overseas to relocate to Armenia.

Nouneh Ter-Arsenyan left Armenia twelve years ago and now, at the age of 34, is thinking about returning.

“There are difficulties everywhere. We must go and create. There is much to do,” says Nouneh.

In Armenia, Valentin Maou-Hekinian studied the management of emergency situations associated with natural risks. Now, he has a Masters and is also thinking about returning to Armenia.

“I really liked Armenia and I believe that I’ll return there to live,” says Valentine. “I’m looking for work now. I’d like a job that would pay me enough to travel back and forth to France. But I have to make some sacrifices in the beginning.”

Another visitor to the job fair was Papken Sarkisian, who left Syria for France nine years ago to continue his studies.

Papken has a Doctorate in Chemistry and is interested in getting involved with winemakers in Armenia.

“I heard that they want to open a winemaking school in Yerevan and since the field is linked to my dissertation, I’d like to participate,” says Papken. “It went well today. I handed my CV to two employers. I’ll visit Armenia in late July and meet with the employers. We’ll see what happens. Salary is the big issue. If it all goes well I can move to Armenia by September 1.”

Top photo: Nouneh and Valentin