Having researched for setting up a job club network, I now appreciate how much I did not know before I started and how much I want/need to know - to be really effective. (No course was available - I should say that I did not find one!) If I were to work up a course syllabus I would want to understand who are the end-users (members of job clubs) and what are their requirements. Here one is into niche marketing.
So far my research suggests end-users will be categorised in no particular order as :
- return-to-work mothers;
- graduates seeking employment or internships;
- school-leavers wanting apprenticeships;
- inventors wanting to protect their ideas (patents, etc) and then licence-out or start-up a business etc;
- those with a product or service idea who want to start a business;
- recently or not recently unemployed wanting to get employment;
- those with a small business wanting to develop or to expand;
- keen-to-work persons with disabilities or health problems;
- former business owners wanting to move into employment;
- individuals at the first or a later threshold working life and without an inkling of the potential for themselves in the world of work; and,
- etc, etc.
A syllabus-deliverer has his or her work cut out to create a course for job club leaders where each will have that mix of group! Is it feasible to have such a mix...?
Today (9 January 2012) I found information about a USAID course for job club leaders in Argentina. Must now seek details of the syllabus!
http://mazedonien-nachrichten.blogspot.com/2011/12/job-club-re-opens-in-strumica.html
It is important to emphasise the wide diversity of job club users, their different backgrounds, aims and potentials. The development of any certificate syllabus requires care to prevent the development of a too formal straight-jacket for proceedings. My personal experience of The Hextable job club has largely been so positive because it provides an extremely helpful opportunity for mutual assistance between members which takes advantage of our many different and particular special areas of experience and knowledge. I find it very useful, for example, to learn about members current on-going employment strategies and difficulties; also to hear general group suggestions for their improvement. Future job club development should I feel continue to enable this exchange on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteIf certification is the road to go down then perhaps a modular scheme may be suitable. I'm not personally certain about the club 'classroom' practicalities of this, except that vocational experiences like the recent Businesslink business start up seminar should be part of the formal framework.
Certainly formal certification would be beneficial as part of CV continuing development. It would direct a potential employer/investor etc that the job seeker has made good constructive use of their time in a way that mere job club attendance alone may not.
The idea for a formal qualification came when I saw a post about a course being promoted by a college in Canada. It is aimed at creators / leaders of job clubs - basically a knowledge and skills base for forming and running a job club.
ReplyDeleteAt present job club 'models' are very varied in the UK (but I have only visited two others (in Kent).
At present I would stick to a course for leaders. However I like your point about "a modular scheme"; it could apply to leaders but more importantly for members. Here, I find that perhaps one members might want very basic computing knowledge and skills (just to get on the internet and start surfing). Another might want word processing from scratch.
Of course, opportunities to enrol on such courses may be available locally or perhaps for free on the internet.
I guess basic formats could be devised for mutual tuition within a job club - another something to explore and create!