"We must push the green wave"
– There is a huge shortage of everything! Leif Pääjärvi from Utbildning Nord exclaims early during the conference. And of course he is right. In Norrbotten, almost all professions are in shortage. So what can we do about it? Now various actors in the county are joining forces to jointly seek solutions. At the end of May, the Competence Council gathered at Boden Business Park.
Mechanics, waitresses, sheet metal workers. Teachers and nurses. Employers in Norrbotten are calling for people, while very few Norrbotten residents are unemployed. Within the framework of the North Sweden Green Deal project, a working group is taking a closer look at how the skills supply problem can be untangled.
It's about both attracting new residents to the county and making the most of those who are here. It's about showing the county's young people what exciting future opportunities are here, exploiting the potential of newcomers and breaking the pattern where the county's LTU students leave Norrbotten.
So what are the keys to skills supply? Here are some points from the meeting at Boden Business Park.
The meeting participants who supported and softened the competence issue. Back row from left: Erik Ranängen, Nicklas Häggström, Dusanka Catak, Linda Rönnbäck, Martin Bergvall, Börje Lindqvist, Leif Pääjärvi. Front row from left: Stina Almkvist, Vera Westerlund, Femkantens Adult Education, Stina Karlsson, Stina Johansson, Caroline Stafström and Sara Kandel.
Employers need to think ahead
Employers looking for people need to think ahead and tell people about training courses that provide a smooth path to employment with them. Vera Westerlund, Femkanten's adult education, tells about a job advertisement where automation operators were sought. The employer did not tell them that there was a training course and that it was even possible to complete it before the application deadline.
– Companies need to show that there is training when they are looking for people. It is very important that you promote the job and the training. If you send out an advertisement looking for automation operators, you will reach them, but they probably don't want to move to get a job. But if you say: "look, we have a 22-week training that you can take before the application period expires". Why isn't there a link to the training in the advertisement? That's how we have to think and work, says Vera Westerlund.
She is supported by Linda Rönnbäck, who works with Teknikcollege, a platform for collaboration between schools and industry.
– I want to see ads like “SSAB is looking for you in 48 weeks – apply for this training”. Companies miss it!
Stina Karlsson, Norrbotten's municipalities, calls for a holistic approach where appeals from municipalities and a guide to relocation guides are added.
– What if we could have “Welcome”, training and job advertisements in one package? says Stina Karlsson, who works at Norrbotten municipalities.
Education for tomorrow's working life
Today's needs may not be the same as the needs when the next cohort of students is ready. Here it is important to think ahead. It is difficult to get training on hydrogen today, as there is no industry in place yet. The investments in the Ore Line and the Norrbothnia Line will require a skilled workforce in the railway sector in a couple of years. There is an opportunity here.
– We can become experts in a lot of areas, such as hydrogen and railways, says Erik Ranängen, Byggföretagen.
– It is really a chance to put this region on the map. We are having discussions with H2GS and SSAB about their needs, says Niklas Häggström, Luleå Municipality's adult education.
Region Norrbotten has had discussions at government level and has requested a closer dialogue, that more vocational education courses be located in Norrbotten and that it should be possible to start courses without a clear employer. This is an advocacy effort that has already led to an invitation for more dialogue.
The Skills Council meeting was rounded off with a workshop on the continued work.
Attracting immigrants
Several members of the Competence Council highlight that large companies need to use their contacts, accommodations and networks and be more active in acquiring competence.
– For example, we need to build up Gällivare's attractiveness as a place to live. We need housing and culture. Charter a plane and bring people here, let them meet, eat good food, look around, go home. If ten move here, they will attract ten more here, says Erik Ranängen at Byggföretagen.
– Large companies should get involved a thousand times. Offer a terrible place to stay and treat them to the worst dinner the first week. Let others tell you how good their company is to work for. Tell them they can apply for a vocational education, “study it in Skövde if you want but come up later and get your place,” says Marie Kuoljok at the Lapland Local Government Association.
Connect young people to companies
– More and more companies are coming to schools, because the boy next door no longer comes knocking and wants a job. No one knocks. You have to go and find out, says Linda Rönnbäck, Technical College.
She urges workplaces in industry to accept prao students. Teknikcollege has produced information material for employers.
– Companies need to step up and be receptive. There is a huge fear, but we are trying to explain that young people should not work but see and learn.
There is a need for short-term housing solutions as well.
– The companies in Malmfälten would love for our students to come and our students would think it was really exciting to be in the mine for four weeks. Imagine getting students during their internship at high school, getting them to establish themselves with the company and the local area. But where will they live? Can we get a train where they can stay, or a ferry to Finland?, Linda ponders.
Connect students to Norrbotten
LTU has 19 students. 000% of them come from other parts of the country. 70% of the students leave the county. They are a potential gold mine – if we can get more of them to stay.
– Here we have 19 people in place that we don't need to hunt for at a job fair in Barcelona, says Stina Johansson, a strategist at LTU.
But there is a lot that needs to be done to turn students into new Norrbotten residents.
– We are not the best in the world at connecting our companies with students. The local roots are not great. They go home and work summer jobs and do internships, they go home and write their thesis and live for free with mom and dad, says Stina.
The key is to engage students early in their education.
– The students say that you have to get in touch with Luleå residents and companies in the first year. You're a little hungry when you arrive, then it's kind of too late. There must be preparedness to receive students for internships, promise summer jobs and thesis projects in one package, says Stina Johansson.
There are plans to launch "Green Deal Buses" - to travel around Norrbotten with curious students and connect them with companies and municipalities.
– They should come when the municipalities are at their best, not on a gray Monday, not meeting in the municipal building. We want it to be personal, cool and special. The municipalities can show off their best side with jobs, housing and leisure, says Stina Johansson about the plans.
Despite the bleak numbers, she sees that there is now a window of opportunity to reverse the trend.
– There are other reasons to stay now. This is where the green transition is happening. We need to push the green wave, that you are there and make a difference.
Boden is one of the municipalities that will need expertise around hydrogen. At the same time as the Competence Council met, H2GS was working in another part of Boden Business Park.
Invest in working life skills
The entire school system has a responsibility to guide students towards working life. Young people, but also job seekers and SFI students, need a toolbox to be able to make good choices about education and future profession. It is about both self-knowledge and gaining insights into working life and the world around them.
– There will be increased motivation to study if you put the larger perspective, if it becomes clear that "I am studying for working life," says Börje Lindqvist at Luleå Municipality's labor market administration.
The municipality has been involved in developing digital tools that will help individuals make good decisions about their future professional life.
Working with validation
Validation is an assessment and evaluation of knowledge and skills. This applies to both knowledge gained through studies, but also knowledge gained from work or everyday life. It can involve obtaining a certificate of your knowledge in welding, a language learned through living in another country, or a foreign healthcare training course.
– Validation is an opportunity for everyone to come forward with their expertise, but it takes a lot for my dream of validation to become a reality, says Dusanka Catak, who will be the project manager for validation within the North Sweden Green Deal.
Validation can also identify exactly where the knowledge gaps are so that they can be filled. This can help solve the staffing crisis in healthcare.
– We are now looking at a variant where you do most of your validation in the workplace and the care teachers do the rest, says Marie Kuoljok at the Lapland Local Government Association.
Text and photo: Sara Stylbäck Vesa.
The North Sweden Green Deal is an initiative to realize a sustainable societal transition, in the wake of the new industrial establishments.
The project is run by Region Norrbotten and Region Västerbotten together with a number of other actors. It is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).