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Sunday, 05 September 2010

National Internship and Job Placement Program

Introduction:

The high unemployment rate (35%) in Macedonia remains to be is troublesome for economic development of the country. The USAID Macedonia Competitiveness Project recognizes that skill shortages and inadequate workforce development are widely acknowledged as a critical issue facing the economic growth and unemployment in Macedonia. Thus, one of the activities identified by the project and consultants is the Internship and Job Placement program.

The aims of the program are:

  • to reduce the gap between the supply of the workforce and users of these talents especially with the shortages in the sectors/industries where the workforce is needed,
  • to educate the business community and education providers in the country on the benefits of the internship program and
  • develop an internship program so, the companies that can not afford to bear the recruitment cost could benefit by being part of the program.

Objectives:

The MCP understands that supporting companies is a long-term process and outcome and impact that these activities would produce at the company level and for economic growth of the country, is gradual. As a result, the project understands the need for quick reaction to help companies grow so, the strategic goal of the MCP project is to help companies find and recruit the best talents in the job market.

The specific objectives of the national internship and job placement program are:

  • to support education institutions (vocation schools and Universities) with placement services for their students,
  • to improve employability skills of students through training so, they are better prepared when looking for internship and /or job,
  • to introduce the internship methodology, as a regulating mechanism for the responsibilities of students and companies after the selection and placements of students in the company,
  • to support the companies with recruitment services so, the cost of hiring a new employee is reduced significantly,
  • to assist companies with the most up-dated and largest data base job seekers and students looking for internship.

The “approach”

For this reason, the project is launching a National Job and Internship Placement portal that would facilitate the supply of the talented workforce for the needs of FDI’s and local companies in Macedonia. The project strongly believes that a national internship program implemented in the entire county and supported by most of the education providers will lead to better employment opportunities offered by companies.

In addition through the internship and job placement program the project will assist companies with immediate need to recruit people in the labor market. For this reason, a platform will be designed and developed to facilitate the match between the internship/job seekers and companies looking to recruit them.

The portal will be an interactive platform which would allow interaction between students and job seekers and companies in a real time. However, the software is only a tool that would facilitate the match between job seekers and companies whereas; the business partner together with MCP will work in the implementation of the activities described in the strategic concept (see the figure bellow):

  • Marketing and Promotion: This includes marketing and promotion activities that would increase the awareness of among both, general population and specific target group, that such program exists in Macedonia,
  • Adoption: Interactive activities such as: on-line career fair, forums, video-presentation by the companies and on-line presentation are some of the actions provided by the portal that would allow both students and job seekers on one hand and companies on the other hand to communicate in a real time,
  • Training: A training program will be developed and delivered for businesses, on the internship methodology and students, on employability skills to better prepare them before the exchange of job applications and job offers takes place,
  • Placements: After the adoption the next phase is the realization which includes the real placement of students on internship or jobs. To facilitate the match a huge data base of applications and jobs will be generated.