News from employment areas youth services
- News
At the beginning of the year, the responsibility for organising employment services was transferred from the central government to employment areas formed by municipalities. At the same time, the Act on the Multisectoral Promotion of Employment entered into force. Among other things, the Act contains provisions on a joint service for multisectoral support that promotes youth employment. We asked a few municipalities what kind of services they offer to young people.
The statutory joint multisectoral support service promoting the employment of young people is a free, low-threshold service aimed at under 30-year-olds. Its purpose is to provide advice, guidance, and services related to, for example, studies, employment, housing, and wellbeing.
In Lapua, service needs are identified more clearly than before
Located in South Ostrobothnia, Lapua is part of the Kymppi employment area of 10 municipalities. In Lapua, multisectoral support is offered to young people by the One-Stop Guidance Center, which moved to new premises closer to other employment services, at the turn of the year.
- My areas of responsibility are support measures related to housing, finances, studies, and working life. In addition, we have a psychiatric nurse who provides low-threshold discussion support related to mental health and addictions, assesses the need for treatment, and directs to treatment if necessary. Lapua One-Stop Guidance Center also has a co-ordinator and wellbeing instructor, says Social Counsellor Petra Kyrönlahti (in the photo).
Prior to the start of the activities of the employment areas, an employment services expert offered services at Lapua One-Stop Guidance Center once a week for four hours. Today, the expert is present on two or three days a week at 8:00-16:00. This has increased and speeded up the process of guiding young people to services, in situations where young people need help, for example, in finding a work try-out place, preparing a CV, or applying for labour market subsidy.
– Local cooperation between different actors is also increasing, and we are executing it on a lower threshold and more concretely. Knowledge of the service area has improved, which is why we are more aware of service needs. I feel that the team spirit between different actors is positive, and that there is a genuine desire to work together.
Lapua One-Stop Guidance Center also cooperates with local educational institutions and organises pop-up events in the secondary school and theme days related to job search in the general upper secondary school. In addition, the One-Stop Guidance Center introduces itself to new students and participates in recruitment fairs.
Are there any issues in which young people particularly need help or services at the moment?
– In recognising their own competence and strengths, as well as in the ability to see their own career path and future. In the spring, young people have needed company when applying to higher education institutions. Of course, we also meet young people who are not fully fit to work and need support for challenges related to various areas of life, Kyrönlahti explains.
You can book an appointment at Lapua One-Stop Guidance Center on three days a week, and on two days, the One-Stop Guidance Center has open doors, in which case there is no need for appointment.
– On open days, people can come here to discuss matters that concern them or just for a coffee.
In Pori, perspectives on development needs have increased
In Pori, which is located in Satakunta, the services for young people have been organised both as city services and by the Satakunta employment area. In the employment area, the young person’s client relationship may be either in the initial services and employment services unit, or in the multisectoral services unit.
– When a young person registers as a jobseeker, their situation is usually mapped out in the initial services. If the unemployment is prolonged, their clientship will be transferred to a youth team that is part of multisectoral services. The young person may also be directly assigned to the youth team, if the need for multisectoral services is already established in the early stages of unemployment, says Anne Paavilainen, service manager in the multisectoral services of the Satakunta employment area.
Previously, Pori had its own officials for young jobseekers in both initial and multisectoral services, but with the launch of the employment areas, there are officials for young people only in the youth team. In addition, officials for young people work at the Pori One-Stop Guidance Centre, which is administered by the City of Pori Education and Culture. Education and Culture also produces outreach youth work and workshops for young people. The employment area also has projects and organisations that support working with young people.
– The Nopsa service, which was launched as a new service in February, is an on-call service in which stakeholder actors can contact the customer through a video conferencing system and take the client’s matters forward. The client does not necessarily have to be registered as a jobseeker with the employment services, says Paavilainen.
According to the service manager, the Nopsa service still needs wider marketing, and operators must be trained to use it more extensively. Young people have found the services of the One-Stop Guidance Center well, despite the fact that the One-Stop Guidance Center moved to new premises, at the turn of the year.
– Our employment area also strives to be as active as possible in events related to education and jobs, for example. We have concluded a regional cooperation agreement between municipal operators, education service providers, the wellbeing services county, and the employment area. Among other things, the agreement provides for the possibility of participating in events at educational institutions, if necessary.
In connection with the preparation of the cooperation agreement, there has been fruitful discussion on the different forms of cooperation, and the discussion has increased perspectives on development needs and activeness between the operators. In addition to educational institutions, wellbeing services counties, and municipalities, third sector actors are important partners.
According to Paavilainen, the biggest challenge for young people at the moment is that there is no pull in the labour market. The prolonged unemployment of young people has increased.
– Another significant challenge is the reduction in preventive services in wellbeing services counties. These services include health care and low-threshold mental health services. In Pori, however, the problem has been tackled by providing psychiatric nurse services at the One-Stop Guidance Center.
Multiprofessional cooperation in Nokia
News from Nokia's youth services in the Tampere employment area are shared by Riikka Katajainen, service manager at the Varikko Training and Coaching Unit, and Minna Jääkari, service coordinator at Nokia One-Stop Guidance Center. The One-Stop Guidance Center started operating at Nokia as a new service in the beginning of March.
– Since the beginning of the local government trial on employment, Nokia has had a youth team, in which different actors meet to discuss topical issues. The participants include employment services, Pirkanmaa Wellbeing Services County Pirha’s adult social work, as well as the counsellor of social rehabilitation and rehabilitative work activities, NuoTio coaching, outreach youth work, and the One-Stop Guidance Center. We have also discussed about complementing the team with student counsellors.
Employment services, Pirha, and outreach youth work also work partly at the One-Stop Guidance Center. A few individual service providers, in turn, organise rehabilitative work activities. Other cooperation partners of the One-Stop Guidance Center include, for example, Lasten ja nuorten keskus, NAL Housing Application,
Education Centre Pirkan opisto, Financial and debt counselling, Kela, and the city’s integration work.
– Our cooperation in Nokia is extensive and multiprofessional. From this perspective, the One-Stop Guidance Center activities have begun very well. All operators are motivated to promote young people’s capabilities and wellbeing together.
How well have young people found the services in Nokia?
– Very well, and close networking also facilitates client guidance between different services. The advantage of a small city is that cooperation between the operators is quick and easy, as the operators know each other and shared work opportunities have already existed in the past. If we notice a service shortage or other needs, we can make changes quickly.
According to Katajainen and Jääkari, the most demand for Nokia One-Stop Guidance Center services has so far been for student job search guidance, and for help in creating job search documents and video CVs, as well as finding jobs. There are also many discussions with young people on matters related to studying, Kela and financial matters, mental wellbeing, and housing.
Riikka Katajainen and Minna Jääkari hope that the networks would direct young people to the One-Stop Guidance Center, and that young people would also have the courage to visit on their own, even in small matters.
– We are here to help also when the need for help is not yet massive. You can ask us for advice on housing, finances, wellbeing, studies, working life or, for example, hobbies. The main thing is that a young person is not left alone.
You can find more information on the services in the employment areas on the Job Market Finland regional pages.