KTU WANTed Career Days 2026: Find Your Future with Top Athletes and Content Creators

Recent research shows that almost 90 per cent of young employees consider meaningful work important to their job satisfaction and well-being. This is why, on 21 October, KTU WANTed Career Days 2026 will bring together professionals from Lithuania and abroad, representing more than 120 companies at Kaunas Žalgiris Arena. This year’s event will focus on the theme “A Career That Fits You,” which will run through the programme of talks, discussions and activities.

KTU WANTed Career Days is one of the largest career-planning events in the Baltic States. Each year, it attracts more than 10,000 participants, who meet more than 1,000 company representatives, build professional connections, explore potential career paths, and seek job and internship opportunities.

This year, the event’s main partners are EPSO-G, Ignitis Group, LTG Group, Mars Lithuania and MT Group. The event is also supported by Aardvark, Accenture, FORVIA HELLA, Guidehouse, Hollister Lietuva, Kesko Senukai Lithuania, Vinted and VMG Group.

Success Beyond Job Titles

Young people’s changing expectations of work are also reshaping how a successful career is defined. Only 6 per cent of Generation Z and Millennial respondents associate career success primarily with senior positions or higher pay. Instead, increasing importance is being placed on what work gives a person: whether it aligns with their values, makes use of their strengths and supports their wider life goals.

Kristina Skučienė, Director of the Student Affairs Department at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), says that this year’s theme, “A Career That Fits You,” encourages people to see career planning as a conscious and personally meaningful process – one that begins with getting to know oneself.

This perspective is echoed by Dr Rimantė Sedziniauskienė, Head of the Partnership Development Department at KTU’s National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre. She notes that a career tailored to the individual can sometimes be misinterpreted as a career pursued solely for personal benefit. In reality, it means recognising where one’s abilities can create the greatest value – an approach that benefits organisations too.

More Than Job Offers

This year, one of the largest career-planning events in the Baltic States will feature a range of spaces designed to help every participant explore the labour-market environment, current trends and career opportunities.

In the WANTed Meets WANTed space, participants will be able to meet organisation representatives directly, learn about their activities, internship and job opportunities, and make professional connections. KTU students will also be able to share their contact details with potential employers through the KTU job and internship platform.

“For several years running, the Make Your CV WANTed zone has attracted considerable interest. Here, career specialists offer advice on creating CVs and LinkedIn profiles and help participants prepare to present themselves effectively in the labour market, while professional photographers take high-quality professional portraits,” says Skučienė.

This year, Mantas Kalnietis – one of the most prominent Lithuanian basketball players of his generation and now President of Kaunas Žalgiris Football Club – will share his own career experience. He will invite the audience to consider whether a successful career is more like a rapid sprint or a steady, long-term marathon.

“I would encourage young people to ask not only what jobs organisations offer, but also what they can learn there, what problems they could help solve and what qualities are needed to succeed in that particular environment. Organisations, in turn, should present genuine opportunities for growth and show what role a future employee could play in the company’s work and what difference their contribution could make,” says Dr Sedziniauskienė.

Visitors will also be welcomed in the Inspiration Space, presenting initiatives and activities that help develop competencies valued in the labour market. The event will also recognise the most WANTed companies through three awards: The Most WANTed, The Most WANTed Look, and The Most WANTed Friend.

“During the event, we will award the company that receives the most attention from visitors, the company with the most distinctive stand and the company that engages with visitors in the friendliest way. These awards matter because future talent value not only the positions on offer, but also an organisation’s ability to spark their interest, listen to them and help them see opportunities for growth within it,” says Dr Sedziniauskienė.