Wednesday 8^th February 2017

The IV Employment Launcher of Calvià reaches its midway registering its first seven labour insertions


The Mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal; the Deputy Mayor of Economy, Employment and Innovation, and the IFOC President, Mari Carmen Iglesias Manjón and the Employment Launchers' technician at Fundación Santa María la Real, Marta Costa, today visited the team of unemployed people that make up the IV Employment Launcher, which represents an innovative public-private strategy in the fight against unemployment.

Calvià's IV Employment Launcher started functioning in November to help a score of unemployed people (men and women, of different ages, training profiles and work careers) to train a new job search, with new tools, according to the labour market and the needs of the business network.

The initiative counts on the collaboration of the Obra Social de La Caixa which participated with the financing of 10,000 euros of the two projects implemented between 2016 and 2017.

With this IV Launcher, Calvià is constituted as the state-level municipality with more employment projects carried out, thus confirming the involvement of the Town Hall in the promotion of employment and active employment policies, as reiterated by the Mayor Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, who thanked all collaborating entities for their involvement and expressed his satisfaction with the results of these programmes.

On her behalf, Mari Carmen Iglesias Manjón has highlighted the important role played by the Employment Launchers and Solidarity Entrepreneurship as valid and effective tools in the real and effective labour insertion of their participants, regardless of their age, educational level and previous working experience.

The representatives of the various promoter entities have visited today the team to know the operation of the initiative in its midway, and know the activities that they will carry out until the end, in the month of April.

Intensive training

The participants themselves and their coordinator, Inma Alcina, have explained that during these first months they have met several days a week in the premises assigned by the Ajuntament and have trained together emotional intelligence dynamics, coaching, communication and personal branding. Next, they have detailed that to make their job search more professional, they have distributed their tasks by projects and have traced the companies in which they are interested, to make their search more organised, professional and effective.

"The fact that they do the search together and not alone, on their own, but as a team, is a very important support that everyone values very positively. In addition, the programme is helping them to have more security and confidence when it comes to promoting themselves professionally”, explained the coordinator, Inma Alcina.

First achievements

As a result of the change in attitude, proactivity and collective work, there are 7 members who have already found work in different sectors, such as administration, marketing, audiovisual or cleaning, amongst others. It is also worth noting that 7 other colleagues are considering self-employment as a work possibility and that they are taking advantage of their participation in the programme to carry out their entrepreneurial projects linked to training, therapy services, hospitality or leisure activities.

"At this time and until April, the launcher faces a crucial stage, in which it contacts companies, recruiters, entities, or even potential investors who support these projects. As a team, it will be easier to become visible, expand contact networks and not miss any opportunity, "said Marta Costa, who recalled that Fundación Santa María la Real has driven more than 325 launchers throughout the country since 2013, helping more than 6,500 unemployed people in their job search.

Peer support

The visit to the IV Launcher was also attended by Assia Ivanova, Mar Casas, and Jaime Vidal, members of the previous editions of the programme, who have told their experiences and encouraged the current members to make the most of the programme, which seeks new solutions or measures to promote employment under the collaborative culture.

Within the programme of activities of the IFOC it is planned for the May-October 2017 period, the V Launcher of Calvià, also from an intergenerational perspective with a municipal financing of € 53,500.