My name is Khoroltsetseg Bayartogtokh. After graduating from university in 2017 in art studies, I worked for a short time, but soon became a mother and moved to Nalaikh district, on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. After being a stay-at-home mom and not working for three years, I did not know much about how to start my career and find a job. So I decided to work where I moved to and registered my job application at the Department of Labor and Welfare Services of Nalaikh District. But the job offers did not match with my skills or major, so I couldn’t find work for a whole year. There weren’t many opportunities in Nalaikh, especially with my art background.

However, a single action I took one recent day changed my life. I saw an ad on Facebook: "If you would like to assess your employment opportunities with our profiling service, please fill out this Google form". At the time, I registered with hesitation, not knowing what this "profiling" service was, but I was curious to learn. That decision influenced me to gain a job, income, skills, and self-confidence.

Exactly seven days later of my submission of the google form, the District Department of Labour and Welfare called me to get assessed by the newly introduced “profiling” service.

So, my idea of working strictly in the field of my major has changed, because I realized that there are many windows to work and live along with the evolving times. I received a "Personal Employment Plan," with guidance for my career path tailored to my circumstances.

"I think of “profiling” as a service provided by employment service specialists with the main purpose to help unemployed people to find a suitable job by focusing on their personal development, communication skills, and psychology. One thing I have noticed is that this service seems to guide and connect job seekers to suitable training opportunities and jobs, by talking to them and specifying what they’ve learned, what they can do, and what kind of work they want to do, with the help of qualified career specialists. I appreciated that it was not about giving somebody a job, but about connecting the employers and the employees after doing research on both sides. This is a huge advantage. Thanks to this, I had the opportunity to get a job that matches my skills and interests."

"Reaching financial freedom and being able to live where I want to live"

As a result of the "Assessment", I decided to work for one of the three companies listed in my Plan which was also situated in Nalaikh. This is a German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology (GMIT) where I took a job as a dormitory coordinator. Our institute is co-funded by Germany and Mongolia, and since we have many foreign and local employees, it is necessary to have English language skills. Since landing this job, I've had more opportunities to concentrate on my own professional growth. This is due to the fact that our institute offers a variety of employee development programs, which is enabling me to pursue a master's degree there.

Getting accepted at the position was not straightforward. The requirements for this employment were stringent, requiring a high level of English proficiency and more than three years of experience as a psychologist. However, I observed the conviction that it is possible to study and work at the same time with the support of my teachers, and I am delighted that I work here. Every morning, I hed eagerly to my office.

“I never imagined I would work with students and help their education. It brings me joy when our students call me ‘teacher’.”

Another lesson I took away from this experience is that when looking for a job, is the initial step is up to us. In my point, in many cases, youth don’t commit to a job for a long time and leave quickly after starting them simply because they don't enjoy the job.

When young people are hired by an organization, they often don't study that organization; instead, they focus only on their salary, not learning about the intricacies of the job. These might be the causes of a lot of unemployed people on one side and open positions on the other side.

On the other hand, there could be issues for unemployed people who are unsure of who to reach out to or are unable to obtain crucial information, like what sort of documents to prepare, what a CV is, and how to interact with their coworkers after they land a job. I realized that it is possible to discover, improve and acquire such skills for self-transformation, with the help of this service.

Through this employment profiling experience, , I have now gained a better understanding of who I am, as well as increased self-confidence. By sharing my experience, I hope to encourage youth who haven't worked for a while, as well as those who don't know how to apply for jobs and parents who stay at home, to take advantage of this global standard service.

I would like to thank my employment counselor and employers who supported me, as well as UNDP’s EU-funded “SDG-aligned budgeting to transform employment in Mongolia” project, which introduced this profiling service to the Mongolian employment sector, along with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. This service has transformed my life, and I hope it can help many more people too.

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The UNDP "SDG-Aligned Budgeting to Transform Employment in Mongolia" project, funded by the European Union, with the goal of enabling greater employment and the promotion of decent work in Mongolia. The Project combines two main activity streams: i) enabling and promoting employability in Mongolia through direct interventions and policy enhancements, and ii) improving the public finance management systems to absorb results-oriented, effective, and evidence-based policies and budget initiatives in employment and labor sectors.

For more information:
https://www.undp.org/mongolia or email at dolgorsuren.chuluunbaatar@undp.org

Photo credit: Khoroltsetseg Bayartogtokh

The story was written with support of: Zoljargal Byambadorj