Youth Work Project in Flanders (YWP)

The Youth Work Project is an integrated plan to reduce unemployment amongst low and average skilled youngsters (less than 25 years old) in the Belgian region of Flanders. The Flemish Public Employment Service (VDAB) has disposed of the technology to match job vacancies automatically with profiles of jobseekers for quite some time. Since 2006, this technology, linked to a new communication system, matches job vacancies in real time with the profiles of the young jobseekers. Youngsters now receive job vacancies electronically from their first day of unemployment. The tool does not only match and communicate job vacancies treated by VDAB, it also matches and communicates job vacancies of the temporary employment sector.

Policy Context

The city of Ostend is one of the 13 Flemish centre cities for which the Belgian government has reserved additional funds in order to fight youth unemployment among low-skilled youngsters. One of the goals of this plan is to offer job vacancies to those youngsters quickly, efficiently and in way that responds to their world. With the implementation of the Youth Work Project, communication about job vacancies happens through a cascade system: persons who have an e-mail address receive the job vacancies by e-mail. Persons who do not have e-mail but who have a mobile phone receive an SMS with the matching job vacancies. Persons who have neither e-mail nor a mobile phone are contacted by letter. The tool also matches and communicates job vacancies of the temporary employment sector. Temporary job vacancies are a step to a permanent job for many youngsters. This requires innovating PPC (public-private cooperation) between the public sector (VDAB) and the private sector (temporary employment sector)

Description of target users and groups

Low and average skilled youngsters in Flanders.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

The temporary employment sector was very interested in participating in the Youth Work Project from the start. Consultants of this sector got a training to use the VDAB-tools to upload vacancies in the VDAB job-database. The management was also successful in transforming the existing structures. A technological innovation requires good back office operations. Back office counsellors help the jobseekers who call the office after receiving an SMS or job vacancies. The quality of the job vacancies is continuously screened before they are effectively released for matching. Moreover the counsellors need to handle automated processes that take place in real time. These automated processes are much quicker than the counsellor but are black box processes and e.g. never offer job vacancies in such a nuanced way as the counsellor. Machine and man must evolve towards a good harmonious relationship.

Technology solution

Communication software recently implemented by the VDAB (campaign management system Siebel by Oracle) receives information about the matching results (description of the job vacancy, address of the employer, job application procedure etc. and communication information about the jobseeker) and informs the jobseeker in real time about the job vacancy, by e-mail, SMS or letter. If the jobseeker receives an email, he clicks on the hyperlink and finds all details of the job description. If he receives an sms, he phones the VDAB counsellor for more information. If the jobseeker doesn't have email or mobile phone, he receives a letter with the job offers. A pilot project will start where jobseekers get free email-accounts in the local job shops and on every PC with an internet connection.

Main results, benefits and impacts

In the city of Ostend, unemployment of young low-skilled persons decreased by 25% in one year. Youngsters now receive job vacancies electronically from their first day of unemployment. From the first day of their unemployment onwards they agree by contract that they must deal with the job vacancies received in an active way. The global amount of job vacancies received is monitored and when either too many of too few job vacancies are received, additional interviews take place to resolve the situation. Innovation: - The government uses modern communication technologies in this project - Communication tools used (mainly SMS) are unique in government communication - Communication tools used (e-mail and SMS) respond to the world of the youngsters, at whom the project was initially aimed. - The matching and communication technology used are culture-independent and may be beneficial to reaching jobseekers of foreign descent. - The project contributes to an increased output for the government (offer more job vacancies to jobseekers) while resources remain the same: economically speaking, the productivity of the VDAB rises. - The project contributes to a better functioning of the Flemish labour market - The project realizes a unique PPC between the public sector (VDAB) and the private temporary employment sector. - Despite the high bets on technology, this project also holds advantages for the VDAB counsellor. Employers and jobseekers who are directly involved in the project are ‘served’ more quickly and are provided with a very concrete and targeted offer. This will raise customer satisfaction. Other jobseekers may benefit from the time gained by this project. There will be more time to guide them, and as a result, they will also be more satisfied about the service. In sum, this project allows VDAB collaborators to work with customers who are more satisfied on all levels. This also makes the collaborators feel better and more satisfied about their job. The project is more than a technological innovation. Feedback from the job vacancies communicated to the jobseeker is used for process improvement purposes, such as the quality of professional aspirations of the jobseeker on the basis of the number of job vacancies received and the reactions to them.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

The project was started mid 2006. Its target group consisted of all jobseekers from the city of Ostend and the job vacancies involved were those from the region of Ostend. At a later stage (second half of 2006) the job vacancies involved were expanded to those of the temporary employment sector. In the spring of 2007 the project was expanded to the entire Ostend/Ieper area. By the end of 2007/ beginning of 2008 the project will be expanded to the entire Flemish region. Other public authorities can also use our experience in the communication with their customers. During a recent demo of the campaign management software used on an Oracle customer day the entire concept was well received by both public authorities and companies.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - The communication technology used is the so-called campaign management software. This allows us to do communication campaigns among jobseekers, employers, partners etc. The experience gained in the project can also be used in other VDAB communication actions. Lesson 2 - The project is expandable to other target groups and areas. The VDAB has concrete plans to match and communicate particular job vacancies for specific target groups of vulnerable jobseekers (older persons, foreigners and persons with a disability) by means of the same technology. Scope: Regional (sub-national)