What can I say to you, jobseeker?

Topics

• Job seeking
• Member benefit
• Unemployment

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been thinking hard about job search terminology and have come across some surprising diction problems. Are we talking about employment or employability – i.e. do we want WE to do something or do WE want YOU to get a job? And which is better, employment or job? The former sounds like a benefit to society, the latter a bit boring. Can a job search be an “inspiring journey into your own self” without sounding cheesy? 

What about the difference between inspiration and empathy? For Irmeli, our inspirational talk about finding a work personality can feel inspiring, while for Helena it’s anxiety-provoking. Mauno is eager to grab all the tools he can, while Mikko would rather have words of encouragement after the hundredth rejection letter.

It may be that the focus on wording is linked to the fact that we are just learning how to help people find a job. The law gave us the opportunity to do so in the summer. Now we have good plans, a lot of desire, good talent and a bunch of great partners, but we are not yet experts in this field. We’re excited about the new and we’ve also realised that the task is a big one.

“Improving employment” is a truly complex, systemic challenge. It is not solved by making job search particularly easy in OmaYTK. We also need employers who want to hire. So we need incentives for employers to hire and confidence in economic growth. We need employers who are willing to employ people all over Finland, because we are a large and widespread country, in many places sparsely populated. And if jobs are not available in every nook and cranny, people should be able to move and sell their homes in a reasonable way. Education, too, needs to be courant and able to adapt to the needs of a rapidly changing labour market. The list goes on and on.

But let’s leave the pesky, overly difficult challenges for a moment and focus on just one person – our member who is out of work or looking for work. For some of them, a flashing button on OmaYTK that reads “Here’s a new job” will one day work very well and soon a new job offer will be in the mail. But those who have been out of work for a while may not want to click on the button. This may be due to insecurity about the validity of their skills, a deep-seated doubt about the opening of any job door, or simply the need to take a short break with pay during the notice period. How to recognise different situations and still inspire to move forward?

So not only socially, but also individually, helping people find a job is complex. But there is one thing that always helps: someone who listens. When you call the YTK soon, you can talk to one of our advisers who are experts in job search services. We’re not psychologists or priests, but our ears are open and if you want, we’ll tell you what you can get from us to help you on your journey. You can even tell us about it if you’re not feeling up to it.

So we don’t solve job-search problems overnight, but we are passionate about helping everyone who comes to us. Try and use the tools we bring to the table. Challenge us and let us know how you feel!

To return to the title, this is what I want to say: Together, listening to each other, we will make the job search work!

Ilona Kangas

Director of Employment Services

I help our members and employees to succeed at work in many different ways. I lead and develop the activities of YTK Worklife and am responsible for managing customer experience, marketing and communications in YTK Work life services and fund services.