Romanian IT specialists exodus: the French connection

“French companies need 30,000 IT specialists. They mainly recruit specialists from Cluj, a university city in Romania. The Romanian students are always ready to leave the country, one of the poorest in Europe. Last year, nearly 100 youth from this city agreed to work in France, where they are paid two or three times more than in their country. ”

This is the beginning of the “Young intellectuals: the Dracula connection” story, run on Sunday, February 25 during the “Capital” show of the M6 TV station. CLUJEANUL weekly contacted the team in charge of the show and followed on the facts presented by the French reporters.

How do Romanian IT specialists end up working in France? The French company Smart Option, through its partner in Cluj, DMS, recruits young specialists it then places to the interested companies. Compared with the average income in the country, the young Romanians make good money: 26 million lei per month.

Only that, considering how much they should really make, the IT specialists from Cluj are severely underpaid! Moreover, the M6 reporters proved that Smart Option is breaking the French legislation.

“Smart Option pays the Romanian IT specialists itself, offering them 7,000 francs per month (circa $1,000). Twice less than what a French engineer at the onset of his career gets.

The companies employing the Romanians recruited by Smart Option actually pay it 36,000 francs per month for every specialist!”, the host of the show, Emmanuel Chain, was saying.

The Cluj-based DMS is called “Data Management Service” in full. It runs job ads on a weekly basis: “DMS hires IT specialists for work in Western Europe, mainly in France (…) with the possibility of a permanent employment in the company for whose project they were selected “.

DMS owner, Adrian Driha, says that neither DMS nor Smart Option broker jobs: “Our company develops software for foreign companies. These foreign companies are referred to us by Smart Option in France, and we hire people to develop these programmes.

The software can be developed either here, in Cluj, or in France at the companies in question “. As for the “permanent employment” part in ads placed by his company in the press, Driha says this is just a “risk” he has taken.

How does recruiting go? Following the DMS’ ad, IT specialists submit their CV at the company’s headquarters where they are interviewed by Adrian Driha.

Or by his secretary (!). After having selected several young people, Smart Option and DMS invite representatives of the French companies interested to come to Cluj. “We pay the travel expenses of the French.

That includes chartering a plane, renting the space where the interviews are conducted, hotel accommodations and meals “, Driha explains. The interviews are held at the “Univers T” complex.