What will they do after Ktedralskolan ?

During our trip in Sweden, we worked about the young professional insertion : we wanted to know how the young see their future. So we have used three different perspectives : a guidance counselor, an employment agency and young people.

Interview with M. Dahlberg, guidance counselor at Katedralskolan

• Is there lots of students who come to see you ?

  Yes, about 30 students a week and I go in class.

• Do they have an idea of what they want to do after high-school when they come to see you or not ?

  It's 50/50, but at Katedralskolan, students are very ambitious, more than in other schools where I worked.

• What do they do when they haven't ideas ?

  They can come to see me, we talk, I give them a web site (arbetsförmelingen.se) where they can find information about many jobs. They can also join a group where they try to find a job discussing with other students. We haven't test as you have in France so I tell them to listen to their heart.

• What is the most popular guidance ?

  Lots of students go to university : 80%. Often they want to be doctor, engineer, lawyer or psychologist.

• How old are students when they find a job ?

  Many students begin working at 15-16 years old during holidays or week-ends but they have a occupation after 23 years old when they finish university, or later if they do long studies.

• Do they want to work in Sweden or in a foreign country ?

  I have worked at Katedralskolan since October and here many students are interested to work in other countries. In a week I saw more students who want to find a job abroad than in five years in other places where I worked. This is good for them but the problem is that it is hard to help them because I don't know lots of things about studies or situations vacant in other countries.

• Do you think that it's easy for students to find a job ?

  No, I think it's difficult and it's hard to help them because there is lots of unemployment.

• Can the government  help students ?

                           Not so much because you get money when you have been employed, but young people have never                                      worked so they don't receive help.

Interview at Arbetsförmelingen (pôle emploi)

In Sweden you have two sorts of students. The first sort work for their degree and after do a break before start to work. For the other part the young jobseekers the battle is hard.

In fact, today it is more difficult to find a job in Sweden, the last ten years the labour market changes a lot. To find a job the jobseekers must search earlier and earlier.

Nowadays it is very interesting for students to search summer jobs, because it is a good experience of labour and at final it counts on the CV. However, it is also more difficult than a few years ago to find a summer job and students must search their job between December and February, after it is late.

To get a job you must be active, aware and have a direct contact with your employer. First, be active and aware is really important because the labour market change every days and fast because of internet. Moreover, it exists three hundred of recruiting company approved by the state but it cost money for the employer therefore some companies like IKEA take links on their websites for jobseekers with the announces. In a second time you must have a direct contact with the company and send it a CV and try to having a talk for presenting yourself.

Arbetsförmelingen could help you to consulting internet on a computer, writing your CV or a letter and preparing the interview with the company. Some of jobseekers want to find a job in another country.

For international search it could be complicate, if you want a job outside of European Union like Australia or Canada, it is worse if you want to go in United-States. It is easier to find a job in Norway 700 000 Swedish work in Norway, Norway demands a lot of workers especially for job banks.

It is more difficult now to find a job ynah few years ago but Arbetsförmelingen encourages young jobseekers to do a summer job or work at the international, it is good on the CV.

Youth survey

On average, Boys want to do longer study than girls (7.1% for girls against 66.7% for boys for 5 years after high school) but the girls prefer go in an other country for their school or job (100% of the boys want to stay Sweden, while 50% of girls want to leave).

The Young are pessimistic about their future with 100% of boys who don't think keeping the same job their whole life and one third of young think their professional future will be difficult. But, more than half of them already work in the summer or on weekends.

Anaïs, Laurie, Clément, Aline