Pilot project helps young people make wise career choices
There is a shortage of skilled personnel in many areas of the labour market. An example is health and social care, where the demand for staff will only grow in future years. Difficulties in recruiting staff are also reported in other parts of the labour market. At the same time, it is sometimes difficult for young people to see which professions are in demand and which training courses are suitable.
- The mismatch in the Swedish labour market is very big, says Zeljko Spehar at the company My Path Choice. We have seen that the labour market and the education system are not keeping pace. Employers find it difficult to obtain skilled labour, while young people find it difficult to enter the labour market. My choice of path works to take companies to school on digital paths and thus create motivation and new ways forward.
The labour market is changing and the occupations that were once common may not even exist in the future.
- Today, your own and your parents' knowledge of different professions is of great importance, because you cannot choose a job or education that you are not familiar with, says Katarina Scott, project developer at FBL. The labour market is increasingly complex and increasingly difficult to see.
Mitt Vävals' idea is to create a digital platform focused on professions, jobs and education where young people, parents and career counselors can meet different types of work, training, companies, municipalities and regions. The platform can provide up-to-date information about training courses and companies through, for example, virtual study visits, videos, podcasts, interviews, statistics and other facts, vacancies and internships. Young people can be introduced to My Path Choice through lessons at school. The idea is also that the information could be started early, so that it is given already in primary school but also in upper secondary education and in post-secondary education, all in order to give the young people and their parents a good basis for successful choices.
Now coming Education Administration in Lund Municipality to work together with My Way Choice in a pilot project.
- The interest of the Education Administration was captured when we had long considered how we could contribute to changing the skewed distribution of secondary school choice, where too many young people apply for college preparatory programmes and then go into unemployment or directly apply for vocational training within Komvux. My choice of path can contribute to a broader knowledge of professions and thus also about which educations can lead to jobs,” says Ann-Sofie Nord, Head of Admissions at the Education Administration in Lund Municipality.
In the pilot project, My Way Choice will make filmed and VR-based presentations with information about different companies, where it will be clear what tasks and professional roles exist in the workplace. For the business sector, of course, it is important to get young people interested in training for suitable skills and, over time, perhaps also to seek employment with them. The platform also aims to provide information on different training courses linked to professional roles so that young people can make an informed choice based on knowledge and opportunities. One objective is to reach more of the young people who do not complete upper secondary school and present opportunities such as vocational training and apprenticeships.
What will Future by Lund's role in the project be?
- Future by Lund can help in various ways in a development work. There is a relationship building in this, both between school, business and business and in the purely concrete that becomes a digital platform. It can be about what types of material and what forms of collaboration are needed and how we create the most value from it. This is a typical intermediate work and that's where Future by Lund fits in,” concludes Katarina Scott.
In the picture: Ann-Sofie Nord, Stefan Norrestam at the Education Administration and Zeljko Spehar at My Road Choice.