What is a New Start Centre?
Can the 50+ be a useful resource for a New Start Centre and would a New Start Centre be useful for them?
When we started Life Competence 50+ we wanted to create a contact arena through which jobseekers, those who have been away from work for a long time due to illness, employers, unions, businesses and public authorities could meet. The arena would contain methods/models for starting again/a new start.
The Swedish government has also put forward a proposal in the same vein. That is to say, to gather a number of different players in one go under the same roof, to make it easier for the individual quickly to receive help and support. The government calls this New Start Centre.
In the Life Competence 50+ project, we have carried out an inventory of the different needs that such a New Start Centre could provide for. We have also outlined and tested both the contents and how the activities at such a centre could be carried out. A group of jobseekers carried out the inventory. In part, they made an inventory of their own needs and in part conducted conversations with union representatives, amongst others. The group and those responsible for Life Competence 50+ have also visited small companies and interviewed company management regarding their need for activities that could be offered at a new start centre.
The group of jobseekers has also mapped the employment agencies active in the region, the occupational fields in which they work and the age groups on which they focus. In addition, those who have been away from work for a long period due to illness have in a separate activity had the opportunity to convey their needs.
New Start Centre
Parallel to these activities, Life Competence 50+ has developed a model for how we can, through a specially designed mentor-training course, inspire others and also help older jobseekers to develop into mentors for people who have recently started companies. The project found out that it was necessary to have a specially designed training course by testing a first round of mentorship programmes for people who have recently started companies, without any specific training for the mentors.
Few of the 50+ had enough self-confidence to take on such a role without first gaining an understanding of and training in what it means to be a mentor and a transferer of knowledge. Life Competence 50+ thus developed a special model and structure for the training of mentors. The target group has also tested the training course, with good results. In their roles as mentors and transferers of knowledge, several of the 50+ are now prepared to support new business owners.
Flow co-ordination start of new businesses
In another part of our project, we focused on producing a model for making it easier for people who have just set up a business to get started with their business idea. Starting a company in Sweden usually involves a lot of contact with the authorities and a lot of forms to fill in. We presented the model we produced to Nutek, which snapped up the idea. The model is based upon the idea that the prospective business owner through one click on the computer can download all the forms that he or she needs to start his or her particular type of company.
A representative from Life Competence 50+ is currently a member of the reference group that Nutek started in order to transform the model into a future way of simplifying life for someone who has just started a business. We will also present our model to the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications at the end of the project.
For more information please contact one our our development partners.
