1. Career Guidance in PES across Europe
…a survey commissioned by
DG Employment, Social Affairs & Equal Opportunities
ronald sultana
Brussels – 19th February 2009

2. Key points Background to study: context / methodology
The place of career guidance in the PES
Trends / challenges:
- in service organisation
- in service delivery
- issues relating to staff
- issues relating to clients
Way forward

3. CG on the agenda... OECD review: 14 countries
CEDEFOP review: 7 European countries, including Iceland, Norway
World Bank review: 7 middle income countries
ETF review: 11 Acceding and candidate countries + 7 Western Balkans + 10 MEDA countries
DG Employment PES review: 28 countries

4. Background to study Building on OECD/ETF/CEDEFOP/WB reviews…
…and PES Network Expert Group study
[Partners in Development - 74 cases]
Key context:
European Employment Guidelines…
…Personal service model

5. Forces driving PES survey
Economic Goal (Lisbon)
Quality Goal: Education and Training Systems
Lifelong Learning Goal
Knowledge Society
European Employment Strategy
Employment Incentive Measures
Elaboration of the PES service model
Guideline 1a: “ensure that, at an early stage of their unemployment spell, all jobseekers benefit from an early identification of their needs and from services such as advice and guidance, job search assistance and personalised action plans”.

6. EU Employment Guidelines
PES role in promoting adaptability and mobility in the labour market (EGL 3).
PES role in development of human capital and lifelong learning (EGL 4).
PES role in increasing the labour supply and promoting active aging (EGL 5).
PES role with respect to encourage female labour market participation and to achieve a substantial reduction of the gender gap in unemployment by 2010 (EGL 6).

7. Global
policyscape

8. Process Literature review (December 2004/January 2005)
Questionnaire survey (February – March/May 2005):
… 28 countries, 30 responses
7 country visits from April to May: (Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Slovenia)
Draft report (June 2005)
Final report (August 2005)
Dissemination (2006)

9. The Literature Review
Coverage: mainly cross-national (especially EC, ILO, OECD)
Definitions
Place of career guidance within PES
Integrated v. separate services
Universal v. targeted services
Other services: schools; LMI/career information

10. Survey target outcomes
What insights do we gain into the day to day realities of work in the PES, and the place of guidance therein? Any emerging trends?
Which guidance models are used? How effective are they from process and quality perspectives? What innovations do we find?
What is the extent of human and other resources that are invested in guidance? What are the models for staff training used?
Practical focus, generating practical proposals for enhancement of guidance services, and for addressing gaps identified

11. Questionnaire structure
6 main areas:
Services
Quality
Staff
Clients
Relationships with other Providers
Gaps and Future Developments

12. Defining guidance Services, offered in a variety of settings
intended to assist individuals and groups of any age at any point throughout their lives
to make occupational, educational & training choices and to manage their careers
Offered: on an individual or group basis…
face-to-face or at a distance…
Includes: job placement, career information,
assessment tools, interviews,
career management,
work search programmes,
transition services

13. Career Guidance in the PES
Personalisation of services
Assessing attributes/preferences
Not just immediate placement …but also future employability
Development of PAP
…activities that have CG elements embedded
…career guidance services
…other services

14. CG: 3 key areas Personalised employment services
Case management: Interview, profiling, client segmentation, PAP, job-broking - Balance administrative / professional roles?
Professional career guidance services
More intensive, professionally focused, deeper KB, extended competence, inter-disciplinary
Other career guidance services
To pupils/students; Labour Market Information;
Occupational/Career Information

15. Trends and challenges: Service organisation
Responsibility sharing
- regional and local employment offices
- partners (out-sourcing…)
Balance between:
- innovative, flexible, context-sensitive responses
- maintaining standards

16. Trends and challenges: Service delivery
Demand / supply dynamics…
Tensions this gives rise to…
3 ways of managing such tensions:
- resort to partnership / outsourcing
- shift to self-service (blended delivery)
- shift to tiering of services

17. Trends and challenges: Staff
Profile
Role distribution:
- specialisation vs polyvalency
- role overload
Training:
- Initial
- Induction
- In-service training
Training needs

18. Trends and challenges: Clients
Range of clients catered for…
Unreached clients…
Tensions in servicing clients:
- Quick fix vs longer term
- Principle of freedom in guidance process
- Insufficient time due to staff:client ratios
- Inadequately trained staff
- Self-service replaces guidance
- Medical vs empowerment models

19. Key challenges & ways forward
Clear identity for career guidance
Evaluation of effectiveness and of service standards
Lifelong perspectives on guidance
Gaps in service delivery:
- Service gaps
- Resource gaps
- Quality gaps

21. Interesting practices
France: each service level is refined by degrees of service intensity.
- The highest degree: sustained accompaniment of the individual unemployed jobseeker.
- The lightest: provides jobseekers with facilities and opportunities they will use on their own initiative.
Netherlands: another service level is provided for unemployed workers who cannot effectively be assisted with PES services to re-enter the labour market. Such services are provided by other institutions – mainly in the field of welfare public health and education.

22. Interesting practices
Denmark and Sweden: use the 'individual jobseeker action plan‘, which was a source of inspiration for the preventive approach now advocated in the EGLs.
Ireland: modernised the PES and developed sophisticated case management systems and new guidance tools. All jobseekers now have access to the PAP approach delivered by staff (most of whom have University guidance qualifications).
Finland: uses a ‘tiering and deepening’ of services approach.

23. Interesting practices
Scotland: All age CG service: easy-to-recognise branding, attractive to several clients.
Malta: PES and education CG staff are trained together.
UK: Matrix-standards.
Austria: re-structuring of PES offices to facilitate access and differentiated service delivery.