In 2006 the Ruhama Foundation was selected together with 10 other NGOs in the country to participate in the project “Accredited social services for workforce employment in Roma communities”, a project implemented by the Resource Centre for Roma Communities Cluj-Napoca in partnership with The National Agency for Employment. Within this project 2 persons from the organization were qualified in the job of Employment Agent after graduating the course held by The Regional Centre for Professional Training for Adults Cluj-Napoca. In June 2006 the Ruhama Foundation was accredited by the National Agency for Employment to provide counselling and information services for employment and workforce mediation services on the internal market.

The first major activity of the department was to create the Centre for Mediation, Information and Counselling for Roma citizens looking for a job in the Tetchea region and its surroundings. The Centre was created after winning a public service auction held by the County Agency for Employment Bihor for a contract for providing mediation, information and professional counselling services to unemployed people of Roma ethnicity in Tetchea and the surrounding areas.

The employment services provided by Ruhama Foundation are mainly constituted of: job market information, career counselling and orientation, psychological evaluation to draw socio-occupational profile, Job Club services (support to elaborate CVs, interview behaviour etc.), job placement services.

Professional information and counselling services are provided to jobseekers and are mainly constituted of: offering information about job market and evolutions in job market, personality evaluation and self-evaluation for professional orientation, skill development and self-esteem building for jobseekers, training in active methods and techniques in job seeking (image at interviews, how to fill CV etc.)

Job placement services have to role to connect job vacancies available on the market to jobseekers, with the final aim of having each jobseeker hired. The requests are coming from jobseekers, to help them identify available employment opportunities and also from the employers, to help them select and recruit personnel for their job vacancies. The main activities carried out for this purpose are: jobseekers requests registration, identification of job vacancies, collecting information about each job vacancy, offering information about available jobseekers to the employers, analysis of job description for each job vacancy, establishing the psycho-professional profile of the suitable candidate, search (in own database and others) and complex evaluation (through preinterviews and professional, psychological and situational tests administration) of the candidates and recommending jobseekers that fit into the psycho-professional profile agreeg with the employer.

Activities

In 2008, Ruhama foundation implemented the Phare project „CAREERS Centre for Professional Orientation, Mediation and Training for Youth in Bihor County” in partnership with the Bihor County Council, Faculty of Social Sciences from University of Oradea, Bihor County Employment Agency and European partner Gesellschaft für Soziale Unternehmensberatung Berlin/Bruxelles, with expertise in employment services and policies. The main objective of the project was to increase flexibility, adaptability and employment rate for 500 young unemployed and jobseekers from Bihor County by creating an integrated employment service: career information and counselling, job placement and professional training, capitalizing European best practices within the private-public partnership. Through this project, we established in Oradea the CAREERS Centre, nearby the university campus.
 In 2007 the Department for Employment Services repeatedly tried to establish collaborations with economic agents in order to supply jobs to unemployed Romas which were the target group for the employment services at that moment. The collaborations did not end in hiring because the economic agents gave up on supplying services before holding any interviews. In 2007, 38 persons benefited from information, counselling and work mediation services, of which 31 were employed. In June 2007 the Information, Mediation and Counselling Services for Employment were evaluated by the County Agency for Employment Bihor and as a result, the services’ accreditation was extended for another year.  The Ruhama Foundation is a founding member of the NGO Network for Employment in Romania - RONOR, alongside 37 other NGOs. The network was created at the National Conference of NGOs for Employment held between April 24th and 26th 2007 in Busteni.

Results

2008

• Along 2008, the employment service recorded the following results:
• 434 people informed, counselled and mediated
• 34 people evaluated from a psycho-occupational view
• 127 participants in Job Clubs
• 4 job fairs organized
• 245 participants in job fairs
• 33 employers registered in job fairs
• 356 employers recorded in the database
• 541 CVs registered in the database
• 42 jobseekers hired after job placement

2007

Until the end of 2007, the Department for Employment Services has provided information, counselling and job placement services to a number of 227 people of which 56 were successfully employed, the majority of them being Roma ethnics from Bihor County.

Contacts

Information and applications at CAREERS Centre of Ruhama Foundation, located in Oradea, University 5th street, in the Campus of Social Sciences Faculty, by phone: 0259 456 180, by email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or directly on the website www.carierebihor.ro.