• This year's Network Day focused on careers advice for young people who are difficult to reach.
• The Aachen Youth Employment Agency is a regional cooperation between the Aachen-Düren Employment Agency, the Aachen City Region Job Center and the Youth and Schools Department.
• Intensive relationship work, promoting strengths, offering tailor-made advice: Three important prerequisites for success.

No, she doesn't have a patent remedy, laughs Dr. phil. Selma Haupt, speaker of the keynote speech at the network meeting of the Aachen Youth Employment Agency. "How can careers guidance be successful with young people who are difficult to reach?" was the central question at this year's event, which was organized this week by the Youth Promotion and Youth Social Work Department of the city's Youth and Schools Department. A good first approach: "Take the young people seriously, respond to them. But also question yourself: Where are we perhaps making things difficult for the young people? Or what additional personal challenges might the young people have?" advises Haupt.

Comprehensive, uncomplicated and networked support from a single source

The Youth Employment Agency is a regional cooperation of experts from the Aachen-Düren Employment Agency, the Jobcenter of the Aachen city region and the Youth and School Department, which also houses the municipal youth employment assistance service. The aim is to offer young people, often characterized by social, family or personal challenges, holistic, uncomplicated and networked support from a single source during the transition from school to work. Such a network is actually planned in all municipalities throughout Germany. "But the level of cooperation is crucial and that all the players know each other," says Astrid Brokmann from the Aachen-Düren Employment Agency. And this works extremely well in Aachen - even though there are no additional staff for the tasks. Speaker Haupt can only confirm this from her first impressions: "I rarely experience such commitment as we have here today," she says, enthusiastic about the ideas, wishes and enthusiasm of all the participants. Monika Krüger, Head of the Youth Promotion and Youth Social Work Department, is convinced that "the diversity of the three institutions is also a strength when it comes to offering young people tailored advice".

Intensive relationship work as a success factor

The tasks of the three members of the network are quite different. "We have a job to do for the labor market," says Bernd Schwarze from the Jobcenter der StädteRegion Aachen, focusing primarily on the Jobcenter and the employment agency. But he quickly adds: "But of course we also have a social mission." The aim is to empower and support young people so that they can "lead a self-determined life in the future without citizen's allowance or other transfer payments". "The form of counseling has changed. Today, we seek out the young people much more," explains Schwarze: "As a result, the compulsion to work with us is receding into the background. And yes, there is a group that is difficult for us to reach." Establishing and maintaining relationships is particularly important here. Kerstin Dudda from the City of Aachen's youth employment assistance service adds: "And it's about self-efficacy. When young people experience that they can do certain things, it boosts their self-esteem." This is very possible in internships or in youth vocational assistance, for example, because young people can try out different - also very practical - projects there. She also emphasizes the importance of building relationships with young people, building trust - but also conveying a realistic assessment of aspirations and reality.

Astrid Brokmann from the employment agency describes a typical process: "First, we start with career guidance in the classroom. After that, there are usually individual consultation hours that the young people can attend." But of course there is also a close exchange with the schools, the teachers responsible for careers guidance there and the respective school social workers, who are best placed to assess their pupils and can therefore also identify young people who are at risk of ending up unemployed without training. "That happens in year 10 at the latest." Such cases are then brought to the attention of all those involved in the network in order to develop a joint strategy for everyone: How do we proceed? What suits whom? Initially in theory, if the young person gives their consent and releases the experts from data protection, but also in concrete terms: "If a young person 'plays along', then it usually becomes a success story," says Brokmann.

Ideas and wishes of the experts

The youth employment agency in Aachen is also a success story. Speaker Haupt summarized some of the ideas and wishes that the 40 or so experts developed together at the Nadelfabrik on Aachen's Reichsweg: "Greater appreciation for the placement staff for their challenging work. And it is important to promote and support the resources of the specialists, for example by giving them the opportunity to have longer conversations. Or more available internships so that they can provide young people with positive experiences more quickly." And a kind of "reward system" for young people who are committed to working on their future would also be conceivable. What might that look like? "I can't give too much away yet, but we are currently talking to Alemannia Aachen about joint activities for the young people," says Astrid Brokmann curiously.