Janis Siliņš is a 55 year-old woodworker, who lives in Madona and is long-term unemployed. He sometimes takes odd jobs to earn money for his family, and although he has been looking for a permanent job, he hasn’t had any success. His lack of appropriate experience, skills and abilities does not meet today’s labour market requirements. Digital skills are a big obstacle for him; he can’t search for a job or reply to possible employers using the internet, as he doesn’t have his own computer and internet connection.
Janis decided to take part in this training course because of his family. He wanted to prove himself as a good husband, dad, and granddad, by improving his interpersonal skills, and by being integrated in the labour market. Since Janis doesn’t have a driving licence, he couldn’t attend the training course in Madona. Thus, the Job-Yes online training course was a great opportunity for him; he could stay at home and acquire knowledge by himself, at no expense.
When answering the question “Why are interpersonal skills important at work?” Janis emphasised that ‘Today’s labour market requires a basic knowledge of entrepreneurship, economic, management, and of course, digital skills.’
Janis is fully satisfied with the Job-Yes course balance, between online and face to face meetings. The training schedule perfectly fits his needs. He couldn’t afford to get to the centre of Madona every day, so the Job-Yes online course was the perfect solution for him. Regarding the online tools, the most difficult thing for him was to understand how everything works. For Janis, using a computer was something new so it wasn’t easy to start using the internet and especially the online tools. He had problems with downloading and printing documents. Janis recognized that he learnt a lot of new things about the evaluation process and the definition of interpersonal skills. He enjoyed the whole learning process and found the exercises very interesting. The most useful ones were the OERs about having a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; this sphere was entirely new for him which is why he found it interesting. After having completed the Job-Yes online training course, Janis felt more professional and had much more confidence in himself. He didn’t prepare an ‘Action plan’, as it was too difficult for him. He understood the importance of lifelong learning within the labour market, ‘Training courses are always useful as you never know when you may need a specific skill, ability or experience in your life, the more you have, and develop, the better it is. Despite still being unemployed, he is planning to attend a micro wood workshop.
The interviews were carried out by the training facilitator: Ainars Iesavs, VPIC