PRESENTATION OF THE EXCHANGE
City, Country of exchange: Västerås, Sweden
Period of exchange: 23/04/2018 – 22/10/2018
Duration of exchange: 6 months
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE EXCHANGE
I discovered the program through an entrepreneurship-related seminar I attended in Greece, and where there was information on European business programs. My main idea was to create a Careers Advice Center and Professional Orientation Business with the view to be an advisory service, offering support and guidance to students of all academic levels, graduates, and job-seekers. It would also engage with employed people from various social groups, in order to contribute to their professional and personal development, helping them as individuals to smoothly transition from one working or educational environment to another. Among other types of support the proposed business would help them with the drafting of business-related documents (personal file / portfolio, CV, etc.) and other similar support requirements. The Careers Office of the proposed business, is intended by design to help increase the opportunities and overall potential of the interested clients in finding a suitable job, by offering a range of supportive services.
The concept of being mentored in a similar business in another country that has the same objective as mine has been my key motivation for participating in the program. The opportunity I have been given – to discover how the labour market and the business sector work in Sweden, was the best possible experience I could hope for.
The company «Back to Work AB» deals daily with the training of job-seekers, supporting them in finding suitable employment. I participated in the program at the aforementioned company as a Career Counsellor, so there was a direct link between my own occupation and the company’s core business.
I decided to participate in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs program in order to learn how to develop my own business in a multicultural context, a key element for making it a success story. Furthermore, in the context of the broad mix of job-seekers and colleagues cultural background, the sharing of skills/competences become very relevant for my project. Participating in a programme like that, gave me the chance to develop a crucial network for the further development of my business plan. The knowledge and experience I have gained have already become the foundation for me to proceed on with my own business development.
PROFILE OF THE ENTREPRENEURS
NEW ENTREPRENEUR
Styliani Polyzoidou
Company name: «Careers Advice Center and Professional Orientation Business»
Sector of activity: Community, social and personal services / Education and training services
HOST ENTREPRENEUR
Mr. Samuel Dag
Company name: «Back to Work AB» http://backtowork.se/
Sector of activity: Education and training services
QUOTES
During the European program “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs” at the company «Back to Work AB», I gained invaluable insight and experience on how the type of business I am interested in operates in Sweden. My familiarisation with the Swedish job market has helped me open up my business horizons, providing me with plenty new ideas on how to further improve my own business plan. I have developed a great professional relationship with Mr. Dag and his colleagues at «Back to Work AB» and would hereby like to sincerely thank them for all their help! I would also like to thank my Intermediary Organization “Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas” for the excellent collaboration we have had from the initialisation of the exchange to its conclusion, and finally, the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) program for the opportunity that has given me to acquire an experience that would otherwise have been unreachable to me!
It was a nice experience for us to host Stelina in our company for these past 6 months as a New Entrepreneur. She has brought in interesting new ideas from her country as well as out-of-the-box thinking and unique methods for approaching job-seekers from the two countries where she has worked in the past, Greece and Italy. We have thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration and we wish her all the best in her coming business steps.
