Problem addressed

In 2019, 14.4% of young people in France aged 18 to 29 were not in employment, education or training. Public employment services can be a key support to getting young people into employment. However, the support provided can often be short-term and not tailored to the young person. This may be ineffective, particularly when dealing with young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) that are more vulnerable – for example, long-term unemployed or those with a low level of skills – as they may need more hands-on, continuous and integrated support to get into and stay in the labour market.

Innovative solution

PARI Jeunes (Programme d'Accompagnement pour la Remobilisation de l'Insertion des Jeunes) was a programme implemented in Lille, France, from 2015 to 2017 to provide young people NEETs aged 18 to 25 with intensive support and guidance in finding and securing employment. PARI Jeunes gave beneficiaries funding for training courses or work equipment along with hands-on guidance over a two-year period. The innovative element of the programme was the intensive nature of the personalised guidance. The programme provided participants with four dedicated job and employment coaches, as well as the use of a computer room, to help them to access expertise and technology needed when searching for a job. The employment coaches were selected for their knowledge of private companies and their experience of working with young people NEETs. Each coach provided a unique skillset and was specifically chosen to provide the young person with expert personal guidance which they would not receive elsewhere.

Each trainee’s individual programme lasted 4 months and included practice interviews, group workshops on essential steps in accessing companies, business visits, workplace experiences, job search technique workshops and advice on how best to showcase their skills and abilities. The trainer to trainee ratio was also monitored across the programme to ensure quality. The overall goal of the programme was for every young person to find an internship, a course that leads to a qualification, an employment opportunity, be that part-time or full-time, or to develop a plan for their path to professional integration.

The PARI Jeunes programme ran for a total of 18 months from 2015 to 2017. The programme was coordinated by the Training Institute of Vitamine T Group (VT), an organisation that provides counselling and employment services to those struggling to secure a job, including the long-term unemployed, inexperienced and people who have a disability.

The VT developed an outreach strategy, directly approaching young people in public spaces and coordinating with local youth-related organisations to identify 1 402 young people NEETs. These young people were then invited to a programme presentation at the VT’s headquarters in Lesquin, northern France. 697 attended the programme presentation in Lesquin and were interviewed by a job coach to assess their eligibility for the programme, their situation and the next steps of action in their job search. During its 18-month implementation period, 601 of the young people that were enrolled onto the PARI Jeunes programme were enrolled through this process. Young people on the programme had faced a range of obstacles to finding employment: 31% were living in a household where no one was employed, 20% were receiving a state guaranteed minimum income and 8% were homeless.

Key results and benefits

Out of the 601 young people who were enrolled in the programme, 403 (67%) progressed onto employment, an internship, a workplace immersion course or a voluntary placement. One of them, Sylvain, was unemployed for nearly five years before being chosen by the VT as a recruit for the PARI Jeunes programme. During the training activities, Sylvain learned how to write a CV and prepare for interviews. He was then offered a temporary job opportunity through the VT’s network and internal branch VITAM. When VITAM later offered Sylvain an interview for a permanent position, he utilised the training he had received through the programme to prepare properly for the interview and successfully secured the position.

Potential for mainstreaming

The PARI Jeunes programme was co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) under the 2014–2020 programming period for the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), which exclusively targets people NEETs. The ESF provided EUR 932 085, equating to 92% of the project’s total budget. Using this funding, the VT was able to achieve enhanced support and a favourable ratio of trainers to participants on the programme. Ensuring this ratio of trainers to participants is a key condition for its successful transfer to another context as the intense and personalised nature of the counselling allowed the programme to reach young people NEETs that were further from the labour market.

After recognising a wider need for this type of individualised support, the VT training institute broadened the target group of the programme to include older people, whilst continuing to focus on young people NEETs. Further European funding will be sought as part of the VT’s other work, to assist in purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) required for certain job roles and to help trainees pass driving qualifications.