MatchIT - Matching talent with business
In the previous blogpost we addressed our general approach on internships. Today we’ll dig into MatchIT, the program that TeQflo is a part of. If you follow us on social media you might have seen our interns in your feed, in the next blogposts you’ll get to know them!
Now you might be wondering what MatchIT is and to answer that question I met up with Neal Greenspan, coordinator for the program, at Ideon Science Park in Lund.
As soon as you step into the Ideon buildings you feel the innovative atmosphere embracing you, it’s something in the air. At the science park over 400 companies have their offices mixing it up with incubators, students and researchers from Lunds university and you get one hell of an innovative environment.
So, it should be no surprise that MatchIT has found roots here, it is a new and innovative way to match immigrants to the job market. We met up at the café in the Alfa building.
- I’m an ex pat myself, you know, so I know how difficult it can be to get into the Swedish labor market, and I’m from the US, I have an education and experience, still I’ve been here for many years and never fully got into the market in the traditional way, I have an entrepreneurial mindset and have created my own opportunities, but not everyone has got that, says Neal.
Neal points out being an outsider himself is a strength when it comes to coordinating the MatchIT program and his own experience is one of the reasons for him accepting the job at the program. MatchIT is a collaboration between Arbetsförmedlingen, Lund University, BTH and Region Skåne funded by the European Social Fund.
Also, he underlines that this is a pilot project aiming to create a process that can be duplicated not only in Sweden but all over Europe.
But before getting into details, let’s rewind a bit, what’s the problem really, were lies the true challenge?
Immigrants and refugees have been making their way to Europe and Sweden in great numbers the last couple of years, mostly from the middle east and northern Africa. Most of them want to work, contribute and create a safe life and home for themselves.
At the same time Sweden suffers from shortage of competence within programming and computing, companies are in great need of people with skills within those fields.
So, if just everyone immigrating could have an education within IT everything would be resolved and work perfectly, but now, that’s not what reality looks like. But there is a percentage of refugees with highly sought-after skills who struggle to find a job in “the regular way”. But, if they just got some add-ons to their skills and a little nudge, they would be ready for a “real job”. MatchIT catches these people and create a fast track to the job market and supplies companies longing for competence with workers.
- We say they should have some background working with IT or education in the field, but really just having an interest is good enough, it’s all about mindset in the end, says Neal.
But there is a high standard for getting enrolled to the program, the candidates go through many tests and interviews, and the companies involved in the program are a part of this process as well. This is to ensure it’s the right type of people who later on end up as interns and future employees.
The people enrolled have basic skills, they’re just missing a little piece to be really attractive to employers. MatchIT provides this completion. The education not only focuses on programming and IT skills, a part of it is teaching the students about the Swedish culture, workplace culture from the big picture down to the details as well as increasing their ability to speak Swedish.
Neal says working with the program has been inspiring to him as well:
- We say that people in the community don’t help each other like they used to, I think that’s true, but the people on this program really supported each other, helped each other out.
Although they’re all new to Sweden they’re from different cultures as well, they’re older, younger and have different educational backgrounds, seeing them all come together has been really cool.
One thing that unites the students according to Neal is their will:
- They have a really strong will, they are not here to receive handouts, they want to work, contribute and learn.
Thus far they have succeeded with their goals for the program, getting everyone through the education and helping them finding an internship. The internship is up and running as we speak and after 10 weeks the goal is for them to have or be in a better position to find a job. Neal says that the job doesn’t necessarily have to be at the same place as the internship but getting the hands-on experience is the boost needed finding a job.
The program will go on for at least one more round and Neal doesn’t see any need to do any radical changes for the upcoming program:
- Of course, there’s always stuff to improve, but in general we’re happy with the results and looking forward to a new round.
The next round will be broader and include other topics such as big data, data management and Python.
Leaving Ideon Science Park I feel thankful., This place is filled with people taking on the challenges of life head on creating solutions for our society, which in the end means a better life for me, for you and everyone we care about, it’s a privilege being a part of it.
I the next blogposts you'll get to know the interns working at TeQflo right now! If you're interested in an internship at TeQflo, have a look below:
Internship - People, Recruiting & Employer Branding