PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT SERVICES IN THE SPOTLIGHT: EXAMPLES FROM GERMANY AND FRANCE
Public Employment Services (PES) play a critical role in active labour market policies, helping to match jobseekers with job opportunities, and supporting job changers. Matching is not a straight forward activity. The skills demanded by employers e.g. in emerging jobs, may not be those held by jobseekers. Moreover, jobseekers are not a homogenous group as they represent a 50 year age span, and hold different life roles in different social, economic, and geographical circumstances, and at different life stages. The condition of a country’s economy, and the nature of and the political values of its leadership may also define PES goals, and such may sometimes be completely at variance with a person-centred public service ethic. The client career visualising and planning service component of PES is often lost or sidelined by other pressures and political considerations.
Germany and France provide us with different examples of career support (career visualising and planning approaches) by PES.
The Federal Employment Agency (Germany) offers integration-oriented guidance and placement for unemployed. Having registered with the PES, every unemployed agrees a personal appointment with an employment integration counsellor. Based upon an assessment of client skills, competences and personal situation (mobility, care for children, health, economic and social situation, etc.), an individual action plan is elaborated. An IT system for competence-based profiling, matching and action planning (VerBis) supports employment counselling. Depending on the needs identified, actions are job search, job search training, other training/qualification or more in-depth support involving in-house or external services. As part of its Lifelong Guidance Strategy, the Federal Employment Service provides a more in-depth career guidance service (using Internal Holistic Integration Counselling approach) for unemployed with complex needs in order to support a sustainable integration. Evaluation of pilots showed faster integration and higher integration rates due to more frequent guidance interventions (counsellors with lower case loads). In 2013, the PES Germany launched Qualifizierungsberatung (Guidance for upskilling) for companies, mainly for SMEs, as a new in-house service to be delivered by specially trained PES consultants for employers. They support employers with a tool for demographic staff analysis, assessment of recruitment and training needs, selection of training providers and adequate learning forms, and controlling methods of upskilling. For more information:
In France, the public employment service offices, Pôle Emploi, provides guidance through individual interviews and online tools and services. They offer information, guidance and placement services for adults who are seeking a job or wish to retrain, move or develop additional skills. This provision is delivered by employment advisors through the countrywide network of employment agencies, which cater for all adults whether they are in or seeking for an employment, waged or self-employed. Another network reporting to the Ministry of Employment is employment centres (Maisons de l’emploi). Their purpose is to help the various agencies involved (local authorities, Pôle Emploi), to work more closely based on an area plan. The national information centre for continuing training known as the Centre INFFO, also under the umbrella of the Ministry of Employment, provides online career guidance information for career professionals and for adults through a national portal where people have access to quality information about education, training and career opportunities. The Employment Store (Emploi Store) offers a range of individual online services (online courses, advice, quizzes, etc.) grouped together by theme:
a) choosing a profession; b) training; c) preparing your application; d) finding a job; e) setting up a business; f) finding an international job, etc. For more information: