Career Club Jyväskylä
About this good practice
A programme targeted towards developing customized career development tools and practices in order to turn career wishes into concrete plans and actions
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.