Career Club Jyväskylä
About this good practice
Jyväskylä has a high proportion of highly educated immigrant job seekers owing to its reputation as a student city and having several HEIs attracting international students and staff. People with high educational qualifications start exploring employment opportunities as soon as they get settled. However, unfamiliarity with the Finnish job search culture and expectations related to showcasing one’s skills and competencies tend to form a barrier towards procuring meaningful employment corresponding to one’s potential.
Based on the model developed at the City of Espoo by Grace Ondo, Career Club is targeted towards honing career development skills of the people. Goal setting via self-reflective and interactional process is the main technique followed in this club. The Club Facilitator hosts 8 intensive in-person closed group weekly meetings , which involve individual guidance, workshops and events, home assignments and visits leading to a concrete task focused self-help action plan, which the job seekers can utilize in their career contemplation and everyday job search. Participants also connect to other professionals to receive inspiration as well as practical career advice.
Highly educated immigrant job seekers, specially from outside EU, benefit from this practice because their educational qualifications and job search methods follow a different pattern than EU. For City of Jyväskylä it reduces the queuing time and increases the satisfaction level for its service users.
Resources needed
The Club Facilitator coordinates the activities and logistics (materials, guest invitations, discussion etc.). One round (8 weeks) roughly costs ~2000 €. Meeting places and visits could be some additional resources. Presence of an additional facilitator can create a better interactional environment.
Evidence of success
Career Club Jyväskylä had 4 rounds between Autumn 2022 and 2023. Further rounds coming up in 2024, first one on 31st Jan. The feedback has been immensely positive. Participants have described it as extremely beneficial and encouraging. Based on a survey conducted: all the respondents found the content as well as the atmosphere to be ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 88 % had become ‘greatly’ or 'some' more intentional with their career development. 94 % would recommend this to other immigrants.
Potential for learning or transfer
Highly educated immigrants and international students often find themselves lost in the job hunt process. Specially immigrants from Non-EU countries could be under the risk of not being covered enough by the public employment services due to the prevalent legislations directing the services. Consequently, their huge skill set and potential often remains underutilized and they land into irrelevant low-paid jobs where they might be overqualified. The phenomenon is identified in different regions across Europe. Career club provides a flexible and tailored approach which can be seen as an extension of the controlled legislative services to maximize the utilization of the available potential and talent pool to the benefit of both - the job seeker and the employer. Jyväskylä has already shown that the model can be adapted to specific needs (by adapting it from the city of Espoo). Thus, as a good practice, it is beneficial for other regions across Europe to learn from.
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Good practice owner
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