From the shop assistant to the panel installer: these are the faces of the new hires

Mari Carmen Díaz, clerk in a clothing store in Madrid. Lidia Anglada, saleswoman in a supermarket in Barcelona. Alejandro Hierro, telephone operator in Bilbao. Francisco Lloret, installer of photovoltaic panels in the Canary Islands. All of them are newly hired workers in a job market that continues to go from strength to strength amid a generally strong recovery in the economy, but not without uncertainty. The revival of employment after the pandemic hit now marks record figures: unemployment fell in November for the ninth consecutive month, to stand at 3.18 million unemployed, the lowest figure in this period since 2008. An improvement that has benefited thousands of workers. "During the long weekend I haven't had a single day because of the demand for solar installations," says Lloret, who started in his position this month after an internship.

In addition to the boom that the photovoltaic market is now experiencing, it is the services that have taken over most of the new hires in the last months of 2021. With a view to the Christmas campaign, companies have reinforced their staff in anticipation of a period of massive consume. “It is an area of ​​the market that accumulates a large number of people because it encompasses new technologies and everything related to consumption and travel, which is being highly encouraged,” says Antonio López, director of solutions for large clients of the company. Adecco human resources. Specifically, delivery people, sales positions and, in general, all professionals who deal directly with the client are the profiles that are most needed.

Randstad, another company in the sector, perceives a revitalization in the logistics sector and in shops. In this sense, the notable increase in electronic products stands out, a business that already began its strong upward trend during last Black Friday and that will continue until the January sales. “Given the prominence of electronic commerce in this campaign, candidates will often have to have digital skills and knowledge of certain technological platforms specific to the sector,” says Valentín Bote, director of Randstad Research.

Alejandro Costanzo, head of the technical office of the Asempleo temporary employment association, maintains that generation Z (those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s) will be an even more important component of the workforce in the coming months. of the companies, which "must be able to manage a multigenerational team, emphasizing the common points between generations and minimizing the differences".

Despite the fact that job creation is recorded in all the communities, Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid, the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands stand out among those that are signing the most contracts.

Six newly hired workers tell EL PAÍS about their experience in their new occupations with a goal that they all share: that these new jobs be the door that leads to the long-awaited job stability.

Mari Carmen Díaz Gómez, clerk in a clothing store

Mari Carmen Díaz Gómez, 20, is one of the four vendors that the Scalpers Woman store on Calle de Fuencarral in Madrid has hired for the Christmas campaign. Her contract started two weeks ago and runs for six months. It is not her first experience in a clothing store; between January and September she worked in a shoe store in Murcia, her birthplace. Later, she moved to Madrid to start a degree in Fashion Design and Management at the Rey Juan Carlos University.

“When I came here, I had two months off and then I started looking for a job. A friend of mine who worked for this same brand told me that they were looking for people, so I sent the resume and two days later they called me”, she details. She even had a choice because she was also offered a job in a shoe store, but in the end she opted for this one, as she was better known.

She confesses that she would love to have her contract extended, even though she still doesn't know anything about it. She believes that the bosses are happy with her at the moment, but she admits that in six months many things can happen, also depending on the evolution of the pandemic. Díaz believes that the omicron variant of covid-19 can lead to a new wave of infections with new measures that will force stores to lower capacity and reduce their workforce. “When I worked in the shoe store, at first there were a lot of restrictions. As they were removed, it was very noticeable in the flow of customers. The same thing can happen here, but in reverse, ”she adds.

She works 20 hours a week and says that spending so much time in front of the public is exhausting. She hopes that this occupation will be a starting point to make her way in the world of design. “It is a job that I like, because I am working with clothes. But I don't want to dedicate myself to being a salesperson for life, it's temporary. Of course, it is a way to enter the sector”, she concludes.

Alejandro Hierro González, telemarketer

Alejandro Hierro González, 23, has just finished his trial month as an administrative telemarketer at the Bilbao company Reclama por Mí, which is in charge of making claims when he considers that an abuse has occurred. "Customers who have a problem with payments to a bank fill out a form on the website and I contact them to offer them a collaboration proposal," he says.

Hierro had to interrupt his degree in Audiovisual Communication because he couldn't afford it and more than a year ago he started working. In his first job, he spent six months as a technical operator at Orange, that is, he was dedicated to solving customers' internet connection problems. As his contract was not renewed, he moved to Germany for a time, where he worked as a warehouse boy in a textile company. “I was there from May to October, but being a very physical job it frustrated me. It was 10 hours a day loading boxes”, he indicates. When he was still in Germany, determined to end this stage, he began posting resumes on the platforms with job offers and a month later he was hired by the Basque company.

Although he would love to dedicate himself to music production, one of his great passions, he is very happy with his current job: “The first week I already realized that I loved it, because it is more about organization and contact with clients, and I have always liked that a lot. In addition, the atmosphere is impressive, we are all kids my age and the work becomes more enjoyable”. He keeps his fingers crossed that he will be renewed in May. He already knows that many of his colleagues, whose contracts end in January, will be, so he hopes to have the same fate.

Lidia Anglada Vázquez, salesperson at Consum

Lidia Anglada smiles. Last month she signed an indefinite contract with the Valencian cooperative Consum in Barcelona, ​​of which she has become a member. At 45 years old, she makes her debut in the sector but not in the world of work. She studied a Commercial Administrative FP2. He spent 12 years in the railway sector, working for Patentes Talgo. There she carried out his activity for two years in planning and control and the other ten years as a logistics technician. "I ended up with them for productive reasons," she says.

He then decided to leave the labor market. “I spent a year taking care of my daughters,” he explains. At that time he took the opportunity to get his driver's license. Even so, and given his prospects of rejoining the labor market, he did not abandon his training and also devoted himself to retraining.

He spent two months looking for a job and found his current job through a friend. "I had a colleague who worked at Consum and she gave me very good references about this company," she recalls. Through that contact she managed to get an interview. Until now he had no experience in the sector, but he feels happy. And he sees himself working in the cooperative in the future as well. And in that he trusts. "I hope so, and I am also in a company where I can continue training to develop, promote and grow professionally," she stresses.

Customer service, dealing with customers, being able to offer them products are the aspects that she values ​​the most in her work. "I feel accomplished," she says. She is aware of the uncertainty and the crisis that the pandemic has brought to many. She observes the situation with respect and caution. She fears that the risk of infections spiking higher will bring more restrictions and threaten the economy and employment. “The pandemic has done a lot of damage,” she laments.

Francisco Lloret, installer of photovoltaic panels

Francisco Lloret, 48, has gone through one of the most difficult moments of his career. His career path has been developed in the tourism industry, especially in travel agencies. After a period of unemployment, a little over two years ago he started working at a landscaping, gardening and garden maintenance company. The pandemic sank Canarian tourism and, with it, a good part of the company's income statement. Lloret spent months in ERTE. In the summer of 2020 he returned to his job, although he did it at half speed, and with other tasks. “I have ended up working like any other gardener: planting, watering, pruning… Whatever”. His efforts were in vain, and in February he finally lost his job. EL PAÍS then recounted his difficult situation. Ten months later, his life has changed… for the better.

“The outlook was not very rosy, and the prospects for tourism were not good. And if this industry ended up recovering, I could tell it was going to be a massacre of hours and workload. So I decided to convert." Lloret studied his possibilities and went through moments of “overwhelmed and desperate”, he recalls. And, finally, he opted for the domestic energy industry.

He studied a Solar Thermal Energy Installation and Maintenance module organized by the Government of the Canary Islands. "The training was already obsolete, because the demand is photovoltaic", he admits. But a stroke of luck led him to do an internship at the company Solar Instalaciones Canarias (SIC), where his work was limited to solar panels. When he finished the trial period, the company decided to hire him.

He now he says he can't cope. "During the bridge I have not had a single day because of the demand for facilities," he admits. But he doesn't complain. "I prefer. Life has totally changed for me. I'm very happy".

Miguel Álvarez López, food delivery man

Miguel Álvarez López, 39, has been part of the Uber Eats fleet of salaried riders in Barcelona for two months. This food delivery platform does not directly hire its distributors, but rather uses third-party logistics companies that assume the costs of Social Security and mark delivery districts and specific hours of service in the employee agreement. Álvarez was hired by Method Logistic on October 1, but he already claims to have experienced many misadventures. Last Sunday, a few minutes before the end of his shift, he received an order in Badalona, ​​10 kilometers from the center of the Catalan capital, the distribution area assigned to him. “I made a complaint, considering that it was a request that I could not accept. This week the company informed me that it had terminated my contract. However, fortunately I already have two proposals from other transport companies subcontracted by Uber Eats, so next week I will be working again, ”he comments.

According to this delivery man, the rider law —which came into force last August with the aim of establishing the status of wage earners for delivery men— is not protecting the rights of these workers. “Glovo's freelancers are paid an extra salary per order delivered based on mileage, they connect whenever they want and can decide freely whether to accept an order. On the other hand, the salaried worker has to be connected all the time during his hours and cannot stop”, says Álvarez, who in five hours of work made 40 deliveries in a journey of 80 kilometers.

He admits that it was very easy to find this job, because these types of companies go like crazy to hire delivery men. Álvarez took up this job because he knew the city like the back of his hand, he had a motorcycle and he needed to supplement his salary. He combines his rider service with another part-time job as an informant in a cultural center. In addition, he is reviewing languages ​​to apply for a call for a tour guide.

Álvarez has developed his training and much of his career in the cultural sector. He studied a degree in Tourism and was employed for ten years at the Barcelona History Museum. But he was laid off during the pandemic. “Most of the cultural centers do subcontracting, so the salaries are quite low. Despite these complications, you have the opportunity to interact a lot with people in different languages ​​and to discover new stories every time”, he concludes.

Janet Sandoval, cook

The pandemic came like a gale to the Malaga restaurant where Janett Sandoval worked as a cook until a few months ago. The template dwindled to a minimum and the work multiplied, like the uncertainty. "In the end, I burned myself," says the 30-year-old Mexican, who came to Malaga seven years ago for love. She saturated and wanting to change, she got the opportunity to do so thanks to a three-month contract and 36 hours a week that was proposed to her at the Casa Lola restaurant, in the central Plaza Uncibay in the capital of Malaga. “It was a bit scary to leave something stable to come here, but in life you have to take steps when they are necessary. I also trust in renewing. And, if not, well, we'll get ahead," Sandoval stresses.

The success of the establishment, with a constant clientele for practically the whole day, generates a high volume of work. "There are always people," insists Sandoval, which premiered in these kitchens on October 18. “There is a wide variety of tapas, it comes from everything”, she says, especially the Iberian pork burger and the patatas bravas.

The Mexican assures that she is very happy in Malaga, although she stresses that the uncertainty due to the increase in contagion figures – which have been growing in the Andalusian province for weeks – or the development of the new variant are aspects that concern her. “If it goes up a lot, they may put more restrictions. So there are usually fewer people in restaurants and that would perhaps lead to fewer workers. But I hope that does not happen and everything goes better in the coming weeks, ”she says optimistically.

Sandoval studied Gastronomy in her native country, where, in addition to cooking, she learned to manage businesses such as hotels or restaurants. “That can be a good plan for the future, to have something of your own. At the moment I'm fine here ”, she sentences.

With information from Mario de Jaime Moleres (Bilbao), Nacho Sánchez (Málaga), María Fabra (Castellón), Guillermo Vega (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria).