FUNDACIÓN DÉDALO

Thursday February 4, 2016

The Spanish FIT4Jobs pilot trained 40 young people in digital skills, teaching them the basics of Java programming, database management and soft skills for job search and teamwork.

After the programme ended, 30 out of 40 trainees signed an indefinite contract with the project’s main employer in Spain, the multinational EVERIS, a company committed to the pilot since the very beginning.

The Fit4JObs project was successfully implemented in Spain by Asociación Comunidad de Redes de Telecentros, in two regions: Catalonia and Andalusia. The Catalan Government, concretely the DG Telecommunications and Information society of the “Generalitat” supported the project in Catalonia, while the Andalusian government supported the project through its “Consorcio Fernando de los Ríos”, a public entity dealing with information society.

The recruitment of candidates for the training courses started back in May 2015. The Regional Employment Services of Catalonia and Andalusia were both involved in the process of selecting candidates.  The selection process also involved the employer (EVERIS), who used group dynamics and personal interviews in order to identify the ideal candidates for the training. EVERIS is a multinational consulting firm providing IT business and strategy solutions, application development, maintenance, and outsourcing services.

The ESPLAI Foundation coordinated the organization of 3 courses, two in Catalonian and one in Andalusia. The training courses started beginning of June and ended the last day of July. During the 164 hours of the course the participants experienced the “learning by doing” methodology, with the trainer moving away from the traditional model of “student – trainer” and rather implanting a project and teamwork approach. This idea was that students should live immediately the type of atmosphere they will find in a company setting and learn how to build strong working teams from the start.

The training curricula that was developed included a balance between the ICT hard skills such as computation and programming basics, Java programming, database building with the soft skills such as time management, project cycle, group dynamics, teamwork, communication skills, etc.