The Job Pathways Finland project promoted the employment and entrepreneurship of young people and the long-term unemployed. The project responded to the needs of changing working life by engaging in cooperation with companies and developing services that support recruitment, among other means.
There were partners from the regions of five Six City Strategy (6Aika) cities involved in the project, including both city organisations and three universities of applied sciences. Under the project, the participating cities’ employment services engaged in closer cooperation with education services than before. The clients of employment services and students also participated in the development of services. The project was coordinated by the Employment and Growth Services of the City of Tampere.
Nearly 900 job-seekers and students took part in the Job Pathways Finland project. In addition to this, events held in different cities (including entrepreneurship information events and recruitment events at educational institutions) attracted approximately 800 participants. In addition to the members of the project network, over 100 development partners (including teaching staff) contributed to the project’s development efforts via everyday development work and the project’s shared peer assessment workshops. The number of companies that participated in activities was 180.
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Results of the Job Pathways Finland project
- The results and good practices of the Job Pathways Finland project are organised into three distinct entities.
- Customer-oriented and empowering services for students and job-seekers
- Services for employers that support recruitment
- Promotion of entrepreneurship.
- In Tampere, Job Pathways Finland surveyed the employment challenges faced by graduating students. Job-seeking coaching and workshops were organised for approximately 200 young people in different fields of education, which involved elements such as mapping and making visible the participants’ skills and supporting job-seeking in various ways. Students who needed more intensive employment support were provided with Vahvuuksista voimaa (‘Power from Strengths’) small group coaching. The job-seeking coaching was integrated into studies.
- Approximately one hundred young people, primarily in the restaurant and catering sector, were provided with individual career coaching. These young people’s studies were not progressing and many of them were at risk of discontinuing their studies. For one third of these students, a solution that allowed their studies to progress was found within the educational institution. Other solutions were also found, such as direct employment or supported employment in another sector. The lessons learned in Job Pathways Finland coaching were shared in the development of the early support for students operating model at Tampere Vocational College Tredu.
- Young people participated in the planning and production of the coaching, communications and career guidance videos realised in the project. In addition to this, young people served as the project’s entrepreneurship ambassadors.
- In collaboration with Särkänniemi Oy, Job Pathways Finland developed a recruitment model that allowed students to participate in working life during their studies, while Särkänniemi was provided with restaurant and catering students to fill its need for seasonal workers. Approximately 40 new employees were recruited during the advance job application round, of which half started work in Särkänniemi under an apprenticeship contract.
- Services that support career paths and employers’ recruitment efforts were piloted during the project in the likes of the manufacturing industry, in the form of the recruitment of employees for the rubber industry and an aluminium factory and the mapping of subcontractors’ skill needs in the construction of the Tampere Tramway. Job Pathways Finland also participated in the assembly of employment and education service providers around the Ratikka työllistää (‘The Tramway Employs’) working group for the purpose of finding solutions to the need for skilled workers.
- Tredu and the Employment and Growth Services of Tampere organised four Tredusta Duuniin (‘From Tredu to Work’) recruitment events at the college. The events provided employers with new employees and both students and graduates with jobs.
- In collaboration with employment services, Job Pathways Finland organised Roadshow events, PopUp events and class visits, among others, at Tredu. The events focused on providing information on entrepreneurship and different self-employment options. Entrepreneurship was also promoted at the college as part of job-seeking coaching and through participation in development groups and providing information about entrepreneurship to teaching and guidance staff.
- Tampere University of Applied Sciences developed a team coaching model for the development of entrepreneurship and working life skills. The project organised three coaching groups, in which young people who had graduated from upper secondary vocational education and training, young people participating in rehabilitative activities and immigrants were provided with more information on entrepreneurship and self-employment options and an opportunity to develop their own business ideas. Some of the participants have since gone into business as light entrepreneurs or continued to develop their business ideas.
- In Oulu, the project developed a new operating model for on-the-job coaching, which supports unemployed job-seekers in entering working life. Coaching was provided to a total of 14 participants, of whom 12 got a job at a company as a result. As a result of preliminary coaching, 24 persons found jobs in companies, 11 found jobs in the units of the City of Oulu and 11 started studies. The companies that offered jobs were provided with a coaching voucher at the end of the coaching. The voucher will continue to be used by the City of Oulu as a form of support provided to companies. In collaboration with Diakonia University of Applied Sciences, the project developed and tested a method for assessing coaching.
Mentor of the Mastermind Group in Espoo (screenshot from the 6Aika video)
- In Espoo, the Job Pathways Finland project established a mentoring and peer support group for immigrants interested in entrepreneurship and self-development, called the Mastermind Group. At the end of the project, the group had 25 participants, of whom five had established a company and four were planning on going into business. The group participants also influenced the content of the Be an Entrepreneur further vocational qualification in business for immigrants in cooperation with education and training centre Omnia.
- In collaboration with Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, the project built an entrepreneurship training model for young people with an immigrant background consisting of two training courses, in which participants can utilise internationality and information on the markets of developing countries. The teaching emphasised the utilisation of information technology and networking in business operations. In the future, the training model can be incorporated into the education and training offering of the open university of applied sciences.
- In Turku, the City of Turku and Turku University of Applied Sciences developed an interview model based on motivating interview. In addition to this, the project developed a mentoring model based on peer mentoring to support the employment of young people, service path models for the customer groups of employment services and the Työllisyysviuhka service, which collects services that promote employment in the Turku region. Turku University of Applied Sciences and the City’s employment services worked together to promote the employment of Bachelor of Social Services students. Furthermore, the project also developed methods for developing the working life and cooperation skills of vocational education and training students in Turku.
- The City of Helsinki piloted the Duuniosuma job-seeking application and developed a process for identifying the skills of employment services clients in collaboration with Helsinki Vocational College. The project also collected information on the job-seeking efforts of employment services clients through interviews, questionnaires and group meetings. Group-based services were a new operating model in employment services for adults, and experts found them effective.
The primary objective of the Job Pathways Finland project was to promote the employment and entrepreneurship of young people and the long-term unemployed in various ways. The project supported job-seekers’ active efforts and allowed clients, including job-seekers, students and employers, to participate in the development and production of services. The project’s other objectives included collecting information on the needs of the employment market so that employers’ recruitment and skill needs could be responded to with the cooperation of employment and education services. The project was coordinated by the Employment and Growth Services of the City of Tampere, with the other project partners being the City of Turku, BusinessOulu employment services, the City of Helsinki, the City of Espoo, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Turku University of Applied Sciences. The project ran from 1 November 2017 to 31 January 2020 and had a total budget of approximately EUR 1,571,429.
Further information
Anne Kumpula
Project Manager
City of Tampere
anne.kumpula(at)tampere.fi
Arto Alakoski
Project Manager
City of Turku
arto.alakoski(at)turku.fi
Niina Vuoristo
Project Manager
Turku University of Applied Sciences
niina.vuoristo(at)turkuamk.fi
Miia Narkaus
Project Manager
BusinessOulu employment services
miia.narkaus(at)businessoulu.com
Ulla-Maija Koivula
Project Manager
Tampere University of Applied Sciences
ulla-maija.koivula(at)tuni.fi
Jaana Gummerus
Project Coordinator
City of Espoo
jaana.gummerus(at)espoo.fi
Päivi Laine
Project Manager
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
paivi.laine(at)metropolia.fi
Niina Touré
Project Manager
City of Helsinki, Employment Services for Adults
niina.toure(at)hel.fi