Internship meet-up at University West
For the second time, University West and Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) arranged a common internship meet-up. The background for the meet-up is the government assignment "Trainee in Government agencies" where authorities have the mission of providing internships.
Beatrice Löfström coordinates work with internships at University West. She says:
- This autumn, the university offers 5-8 internships, and they are placed throughout the university, including the library, the administration and our departments. Based on the internships offered, Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) has matched profiles from the target groups, and these candidates have been invited to the meet-up.
During the meet-up, approximately 40 people were invited by via the Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) and Folkuniversitetet"Korta vägen". Most of them came from Trollhättan and Vänersborg, but there were also some engineers from Åmål. They received information about University West and were booked for short interviews with representatives from the university.
This is a useful experience from job seekers' viewpoint as it allows networking, presenting themselves at an interview, receiving feedback on their CV, and the opportunity to meet student counsellor. The internship is an important experience that creates good conditions for getting jobs, as it provides experience from both specific tasks and working at a government agency," says Beatrice.
Shared their experiences
Nour Almardoud and Michelle Nahhas, both from Syria, did internship at the University West during the fall / winter 2016-2017 and are currently working at the Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen). They participated during the internship meet-up and shared their experience about the way to get the first job in Sweden.
"I am a qualified lawyer and during the internship I was supervised by the lawyer at the university. For example, I worked on examining agreements. I learned, among others, how the legal system in Sweden works. When I accepted the internship, I did not know exactly what it would lead to but I discovered that the internship actually led to job, "says Michelle.
Nour, who was educated as an electrical engineer in her native country, interned at the University as a teaching assistant in the engineering programmes.
"I learned the occupational vocabulary in Swedish, that was most important to me," she says. Then I got the chance to work at the Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen). It's cool to be there.
A necessary cooperation
Both University West and Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) are very positive about the cooperation between them.
"It's a necessary collaboration, we have candidates and university has internships. If we do this correctly, there will be quality internships that can provide work later. It should be the right place for the right individual.
"The university has a good basic structure regarding the work of receiving trainees, so it is easy for us to collaborate "says Mikaela Halleröd from Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen).
-It is a learning of professional language and an opportunity to gain experience, Irena Bliznac from Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) points out.
Read more about praktik i staten (Arbetsgivarverket) (In Swedish)
*Nour Almardoud and Michelle Nahhas both did their internship at University West.*