Life begins at 40 : designing career guidance services specific for the over 40 jobseekers

Abstract

The purpose of this long essay is to identify and understand what is understood by career guidance services by the over 40 job seeker's perspective; then try to identify the needs in relation to career guidance by this specific target group, proceeding with Analysing whether such needs are being met by the local Public Employment Service (namely the ETC), and if not recommend how such service can be improved. The literature review will include a definition of career guidance services, with a reference to the Lisbon strategy which sheds light on the fact that the 40+ jobseeker is indeed part of a vulnerable group in employment related issues. A focus on the obstacles encountered by the 40+ jobseeker will also be mentioned, together with what is available as career guidance in the local context, that it provided by the ETC, including, schemes, services of the Employment Ad visors and other related statistics. Sources of data were a qualitative one, including 2 focus groups, each with 10 over 40 jobseekers who are currently registering with ETC, and who have registering for more than 6 months, less than 1 year. The analysis revealed that the 40+ jobseekers experiences discrimination when it comes to employment, thus effecting morale and motivation. It also highlighted the need for more assistance by the Employment Advisor and not only, but also added schemes and increased awareness on the qualities pertaining to the older worker, and user involvement. Such implications propose the idea of creating specific career guidance services for specific user needs, and provide a improved definition of the role of the Employment Advisor within the ETC.