On Wednesday 16 January, the Leganés employment shuttle programme welcomed representatives of public administrations and social organisations from eight countries that make up the European Network responsible for studying long-term unemployment. One of the priorities of the European Commission is the issue of employment and the study and promotion of different measures and solutions to combat long-term unemployment.

Present at the event were Álvaro Retortillo (director of the Employment area of the Santa María la Real Foundation), Cristina Campo (coach of the Leganés shuttle), José Antonio Villaverde (economic promotion director of the Leganés Town Hall) and Laura Castelar (Fundación Telefónica).  All took the floor and contributed their grain of sand explaining their work and their vision on the complexity of unemployment issue. 

Many topics were touched upon: the philosophy of the program, the methodology, the financing... But the process of personal and professional transformation of the participants of the shuttle was also discussed. They even put images on those thoughts and feelings. We shared anecdotes and experiences, how we felt before being part of the program and how it has transformed us personally and when looking for a job, we explained our daily work by projects, our activities and our employability map. 

We reflect on how important this type of program is (in fact everyone should be able to access it). It's effective and it works! Now we have a defined professional profile, we have improved our job search strategies (employment offices, network of contacts, job search engines and portals, employment apps, temporary work agencies...) and various tools for improving employability (resume, job interviews, video resume, SWOT analysis, Inntalent, etc.).

We also gave room to thoughts and reflections of some colleagues where the ultimate goal is not only to get a job, but to get an opportunity for academic or professional study, or some other measure of activation.

It was a visit, where in addition to practicing English, we exchanged smiles and received the attention and support of everyone in the room.

Thank you! Ευχαριστώ! Danke! Obrigado! Merci! Täname! Tack! Kiitos!