BEST Institute for vocational training and personal training GmbH

LINK

Career Services for Better Jobs

A transfer of the project “Labour Office and Clients”, coordinated by BEST

Background

The dynamic labour market situation in the enlarged European Union – aging, diversity and mobility of population, multiple transitions in the lifespan, gender issues, etc. – requires new skills, more complex knowledge and a holistic approach from career practitioners in order to better understand needs and provide quality services to citizens.

3 European countries – Bulgaria, Poland and Spain – are facing similar challenges regarding large groups of population in risk of poverty, unemployment and social exclusion: low-paid and low-skilled workers, senior adults, women employees. These groups are particularly vulnerable in times of recession and technological development, as they are not sufficiently competitive in the labour market. Lifelong guidance services can encourage participation in further learning, acquisition of new skills and managing career transitions. But usually these individuals stay out of sight, unaware of respective offers and having limited access to career services until they lose their jobs.

At the same time there is a variety of stakeholders – trade unions, employers’ organizations, NGOs, education and training providers etc., acting in the social arena in the 3 target countries – who do have access to these groups and provide counselling, job mediation services, trainings for employability skills and labour market information. These practitioners are at the right place at the right time but their potential is still not adequately made use of. If appropriately trained, they can meet the needs of clients at risk.

Objectives and results

LINK is a transfer project of the successful Leonardo project “Labour Office and Clients” (LOC, 2004-2007, coordinated by BEST) and aims at transferring a comprehensive program for upgrading the guidance skills of career practitioners in the social arena to meet the needs of specific groups at risk of exclusion. The project will map the career services and providers in the 3 target countries – Bulgaria, Poland and Spain – to facilitate access of citizens to lifelong guidance.

The project will be implemented by a consortium of 6 partners representing a variety of stakeholders. The 3 target countries will be assisted by BEST, the expert partner from Austria, and an internal evaluator from Sweden. The project will transfer and adapt a training Curriculum, a Manual and a Counsellor’s Handbook that have been elaborated and successfully implemented by 10 European countries in LOC into the 3 target societies.

In each target country the whole set of materials will be approbated in pilot trainings of 10 counselors and exploited in practice with 10 clients. The final products will be available in 4 languages for free downloads on the project website.

EU-Program: LLP, Leonardo da Vinci TOI
Coordination: Business Foundation for Education (Sofia, BGR)
Contact: Karin Kronika, Helmut Kronika
Duration: October 2010 - September 2012
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.