He employment plan Red Cross supports people with the most difficulties and barriers to access the labor market and for this purpose launched an initiative to support the employment of people unemployed over 45 years in Huelva and province.
Last year, the Organization team and the Huelva companies worked with 96 people who came up against the age barrier in their job search and now, on April 28, around Senior Talent Day, visibility will be given to value of people over 45 years of age and awareness will be promoted against discrimination based on age or ageism, that series of prejudices that makes the passage of time become a serious personal and social problem.
“Red Cross develops a specific project for unemployed people over 45 years of age who encounter many barriers in the labor market due to their age, contemplating the uniqueness of each person with the aim of guiding and reorienting their working life, reinforcing their professional skills to that they can access a job again under the best conditions”, points out Elena Pavón, head of the Red Cross Employment Plan in Huelva.
This project is aimed at people who, after losing their jobs at over 45 years of age, are looking for a new professional opportunity that allows them to rejoin the labor market and resume an independent life. The people who participate in the project carry out an intensive employment itinerary that includes training and job orientation actions, as well as workshops and information sessions to broaden their knowledge of the labor market in certain sectors of activity.
This initiative also has the co-financing of the European Social Fund and the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, through the Operational Program for Social Inclusion and Social Economy (POISES) for the period 2020-2022.
In the year 2022, 65 people out of 96 got employment. The lives of 65 families were changed. 80 people were trained in different labor sectors such as: Logistics, reception assistant, housekeeper, etc. From the Employment Plan “we analyze the situation of the labor market to know the demands of each moment and, from there, plan and adapt the offer of our courses to the possible needs of Huelva companies”. For the success of the initiative, the Employment Plan has a wide network of partner companies that “send us their job offers, so that they can be covered by our participating people,” says the person in charge.
“How to start rebuilding your life again without having anything”
Sometimes you just need a chance to be able to rewrite your story. This is the case of María García, 48 years old, with a complicated situation. She is divorced with 3 minor children without any training and she had never worked outside the home, she was dedicated exclusively to raising and taking care of the house. María, she tells that she “had her self-esteem on the ground”. María not only did the training she needed, but she also participated in different actions with which she managed to feel capable of having a future, says Antonia Pérez, counselor at Desafío +45.
Once at the Red Cross, María became interested in the basic operations course for accommodation floors. She realized that if she wanted to advance, she needed training. So she came to Desafío +45, where she carried out, this time in the online format, the one she wanted and preferred. María comments that, although it was initially a bit difficult for her to learn electronically because she did not have the necessary resources to do it, she finished it with flying colors. Neither the digital divide nor the fragile economic situation stopped her from finishing the course, and she was the first of her classmates to find a job. When she was about to finish her internship, she was called by the same company where she had done the internship to work.
María assures that “without the course training, they would never have offered me that job”, since the company requires having the degree as a requirement.
She wants to continue training and acknowledges gratefully that “sometimes to start from scratch you need a boost, a little help to reach your goals and start a new life”
The actions of the Red Cross Employment Plan are aimed at support the most vulnerable people on their path to employmentfrom the orientation to the job search to the labor insertion itself, going through training actions in skills that allow them to work in a specific sector.
To make visible the experience and value of age and taking advantage of the claim of April 30 as the Senior Talent DayHuelva Red Cross will participate in the third edition of the Virtual Meeting of Participants of the project Desafío +45which the Organization will carry out at the national LEVEL on April 28.
From the Assembly Hall of the Huelva Red Cross, we will have the opportunity to participate in this virtual meeting with international experts that will be opened by the director of the Employment Knowledge Area of the Spanish Red Cross, Maika Sánchez, who will speak about ‘Ageism as a global phenomenon. Perspectives’, to make way for Vania de la Fuente, director of the world campaign against ageism of the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-author of the first world report on ageism of the United Nations.
Subsequently, Fernando Díaz, screenwriter and writer, will add a touch of humor to the virtual meeting with the monologue ’45 years and a month’. The presentations will continue by Mayte García, coach and employment mentor and personal brand expert in professional reinvention, with the talk ‘Reinvent yourself and change your life after 45 while maintaining mental health’.
Finally, Carmen Díaz-Pache and Lara Vidal, coordinator of the Spanish Red Cross Employment Plan project ‘Desafío +45’ and coordinator of the Digital Employment project, respectively, will present the ‘Ahora soy +’ campaign and the opening of the survey. Senior Talent Slogans Challenge +45′, so that the people who have participated so far are in charge of setting the slogan for the challenge that they have overcome to break the barriers of ageism and show the value of experience and talent at any age.
