Best Practices

Aurelija Adomavičiūtė

Marketing office. Verona.

Period of implementation:

• Start: 2003

• Finish: On-going (planned 2013)

Implemeting Body:

• Management and operation of the practice are carried out by the PES offices of the cities of Verona and Legnago by PES staff specifically trained for that purpose (one member of staff arranging information material and two marketing offices in the employment centers of Verona and Legnago).

• The steering, overall management and financing of the practice is managed by the Province of Verona (four members of staff with responsibility for the whole provincial territory).

• The Province of Verona has introduced marketing offices in its public employment service (PES) agencies to enhance the promotion of PES activities among local companies and to improve matching between labor demand and supply.

Source of funding:

• Regional budget (tax revenue)

• European Social Fund

Target groups:

• The beneficiaries of the practice are:

All jobseekers

All employers

HR managers and specialists

The main objectives of the practice

are: 1. To strengthen the relationship between the public

employment service and local employers 2. To establish relationships of trust between local

businesses and the PES 3. To promote new proactive employment services 4. To detect professional profiles required by

companies and, together with vocational schools, to design vocational pathways that develop the skills needed in the labor market

5. To set up a monitoring system and analyze the outcomes on a regular basis.

The activities of the practice

• Action plans are concluded between local firms and PES agencies. The plans give employers the right to access information, counselling from PES and jobseeker databases.

• The marketing office has a duty to find – through scouting activities, interviews and surveys at companies wishing to recruit – professional profiles that match those required by the firms. If need to be, additional training for the participants is organized in cooperation with accredited training centers.

The activities of the practice(1)

• A web service called "Space Enterprise" is made accessible by PES to participating employers. Data in Space Enterprise is constantly updated to ensure a continuous flow of useful information.

• The marketing office also edits an informative bulletin called "Job News", in which news on legislation, data on labor market or other initiatives promoted by the province are presented.

Outcomes:

• Since its launched in 2003, and as of 2012, the practice has seen the following results:

1. Some, 815 companies have been contacted by PES to be included in the activities of the marketing office.

2. In all, 330 action plans have been signed by PES and employers.

3. Expected outcomes (number of visits, number of action plans) are established annually.

Monitoring evidence:

• The PES offices of Verona and Legnago set annual targets for the practice (number of enterprises visited, number of action plans signed) and monitor the outcomes on a regular basis.

• Additionally, PES monitors the degree of satisfaction with the practice through annual surveys targeting employers.

• The data is available from PES on request.

Outsourcing the marketing services

in the local Labor Office. Poland.

Period of implementation:

• Start: 2005 (February)

• Finish: 2006 (October)

Implemeting Body:

• The local Labor Office in Swietochlowice (Silesia Region in Poland)

Source of funding:

• National budget (tax revenue)

• European Social Fund

Target groups:

• Jobseekers (Unemployed with university degrees registered at the local PES)

• Employers (All employers)

The main objectives of the practice

are: • to increase the effectiveness and quality of

services offered by the local Labor Office (local PES) Silesia, Poland to employers;

• to increase the number of job offers submitted by employers;

• to enhance the cooperation between employers and the local Labor Office.

The activities of the practice

• The PES was responsible for 1. Publicity of the project funded by ESF among local employers; 2. Selection of 4 registered unemployed with tertiary educational attainment to be trained as marketing consultants; 3. Training of the selected unemployed in canvassing techniques, legal issues, funds for job creation, operational know-how of the local Labor Office; 4. Reporting and monitoring the quality of services provided by the marketing consultants; 5. The evaluation of the practice.

The activities of the practice(1)

• The consultants hired were responsible for:

• 1. Approaching, meeting employers and obtaining job offers;

• 2. Collecting labour market information about local demand and delivering their analysis;

• 3. Cataloguing employers and inserting their updatable fiches in a database;

• 4. Cooperating with the local labour office in organising job fairs.

Outcomes

• There were no quantitative goals for the practice.

• Altogether, the four marketing consultants visited 3,519 companies and obtained 2,435 job offers during the implementation of the practice.

• During the period February 2005 – December 2005 there was an increase of 30% on vacancies registered (compared to 2004); in 2006 vacancies registered had increased by 88% with respect to 2004.

Outcomes(1)

• Additionally, they organised 24 job fairs in the period of February 2005 – October 2010, an increase of 30% with respect to the 18 months previous to the introduction of the practice.

Monitoring evidence:

• The marketing consultants were required to produce monthly monitoring report figures about the number of established telephone contacts with employers, visits to employers, obtained job offers, letters of intent sent and number of cooperation agreements with new employers signed.

Evaluation

• The evaluation of the practice was internal. It made use of quantitative (analysis of the monitoring data) and qualitative methods (interviews with employers). The evaluation found that the measure was innovative and quite successful.

Evaluation(1)

• When comparing the ex-ante and ex-post evaluation results, the effectiveness in cooperation reported by employers increased 42%;

• The communication exchange increased 40%;

• The competence and expertise of the labor office increased 36%.

• The practice increased 60% the number of job offers submitted, half of which was directly brought by marketing consultants. In addition, an increase of 30% in organised job fairs was observed.

Thank you for your attention!