The Comprehensive qualification and employment programme (Programa Integral de Cualificación y Empleo – PICE) is led by the Chamber of Commerce of Spain. It aims to reach a total of 16 600 contracts and 1 228 new companies for young people as well as 3 000 youth on mobility during 2016-18.

Designed by the Chamber of Commerce and implemented by its territorial offices, acting as mediators between companies and the young, PICE was created in 2014. It targets young people aged 16 to 29 with or without qualifications or work experience who wish to receive adequate vocational training to improve their skills, find employment or start their own business.

Funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), the Spanish Public Employment Service (SEPE) and the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, PICE is one of the programmes of the Spanish youth guarantee system. It comprises a series of customised measures common to all youth guarantee programmes, classified into four categories.

Young people with neither education nor work experience: training focuses on digital and employability skills. The goal is to acquire the basic skills to support access to higher education or dual training programmes.

Young people with work experience but no qualification: the aim is to guide their aptitudes and attitudes towards skills recognised by the labour market to improve their work prospects, realigning their careers towards professions in greater demand and other employment niches.

Young people with qualifications but without work experience: the purpose is to foster their employment by helping them acquire professional and practical experience through contacts with business, work placements or in-company training.

Young people with qualifications and work experience: these receive guidance to improve their skills and employment opportunities by participating in European mobility programmes and receiving support in starting their own company or changing career path.

By contacting the nearest chamber of commerce, a young person can join PICE and receive personalised guidance from a labour counsellor, who draws up a professional profile based on skills, interests and level of qualification. The counsellor then refers him/her to one of three programmes that make up PICE:

  • training programme (plan de capacitacion), a comprehensive face-to-face training path delivered at the Chambers of Commerce;
  • dual VET programme (plan de formación dual), where part of the programme is spent at the training centre (a number of hours or days) and the rest in a company through a training and apprenticeship contract;
  • mobility programme (plan de movilidad) consisting of a three-month job placement in a European country, aiming to improve language and personal skills of the participants, supporting employability prospects and opportunities of finding a job abroad.

Around 19 200 young people have received vocational guidance (first phase of the programme); another 8 500 participated in a training programme focusing on social, digital and language skills (second phase); and 4 000 more received specific training tailored to the needs of participating companies (third phase), with an overall participation of 1 178 companies.

More Information:

http://www.empleoygarantiajuvenil.es/

http://www.camara.es/camara-espana-destinara-25-millones-de-euros-ayudas-la-contratacion-de-menores-de-30-anos