The Public Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC) has incorporated a team of 225 people, employment counselors, into its 70 Employment Offices during the month of December. This initiative, which has a budget of approximately nine million euros financed by the Sectoral Employment Conference, is one of the measures included in the SOC's transformation plan to improve people's employability and facilitate their access to the labor market.
Through the incorporation of this team of people, the aim is to boost guidance at the Employment Offices by implementing the guaranteed services established by the state Employment Law and paying special attention to the most vulnerable and priority groups established in the same law.
This personalized, comprehensive, and inclusive guidance service offered by the Employment Offices represents a key element of the SOC Transformation Plan. Diagnosis, advice, and itinerary design will help job seekers improve their knowledge of the labor market, analyze their skills, and outline the steps to follow to improve their employability and enter the labor market, either through an employment contract or through self-employment.
The 225 professionals are already incorporated and working in their respective officesA personalized guidance service allows for a better response, adapting services to specific needs and to carry out a comprehensive approach to the person, where she becomes the protagonist of her story.
With the incorporation of these 225 professionals into the Oficines de Treball, the Government of the Generalitat will be able to adjust employment policies more closely to each person, placing special emphasis on aspects such as, firstly, the identification of people's needs and potential through the development of occupational diagnoses and profiles that allow understanding the starting point and drawing up a plan for improving their employability. Secondly, accompanying job seekers throughout their employability improvement plan included in their personalized itinerary and, lastly, providing information and advice to job seekers in identifying and planning vocational training opportunities to improve their employability.
Professional profile of employment counselors
The incorporation of these new counselors began on December 2 and, since last Monday, December 9, they are all already incorporated and working in their respective employment offices. The number of new counselors per office ranges from 5 people who have joined the offices with a greater number of activities, to one person, for those offices with less influx.
The new counseling staff has passed a selection process to ensure the suitability of their competency profile to the objectives of the SOC Transformation Plan and the orientation services of the Offices. Priority has thus been given to people with a university degree or equivalent, preferably in specialties such as labor relations, pedagogy, psychopedagogy, psychology, labor sciences, sociology, social education or social work, and complementary training related to professional orientation fields has been valued. All of them have a minimum of three years of experience in professional orientation.
The new counseling staff will receive between December 2024 and January 2025 in the various territories (Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona and Lleida), specific training to understand the institutional framework of the Public Employment Service and its competency-based orientation model.