Profiling for better services

Abstract

In January 2005 the Federal Employment Agency and the Institute for Labour Market and Occupational Research invited over 80 guests from 25 European public employment services and from Australia to a Profiling Seminar in Nuremberg initiated by the EU Commission. Four working groups studied profiling approaches in placement services from 12 countries to compare them with their own experiences and reviewed the profiling procedures for applicability in the improvement of national services. Ideally, there were identified three types of profiling with different features, different instruments and methods that are combined in practice of national agencies: 1) Profiling as a diagnostic tool; 2) Profiling as a tool for customer segmentation and the determination of an individual customer strategy; 3) profiling as a tool for resource allocation. As result of discussions the conference held the following suggestions: The concept of profiling should be specified and differentiated. Profiling should be used to optimize business processes and should be embedded in professional concepts which are flexible enough for different customer situations. An adaptation of profiling tools to customer groups is necessary. The acceptance of profiling methods can be supported by transparency of procedures. It makes sense to focus on the strengths of customers, not on weaknesses. Customers' profiles can be used for a better job matching. Important is the evaluation of profiling methods and approaches, and the exchange of experiences. Concerning the question what contribution profiling procedures may have to reduce long-term unemployment, it was stated that in-depth profiling of individuals is considered not to be efficient, but is suited well to increase the placement opportunities for a narrowly defined group of hard to place unemployed. By improving placement procedures for better services profiling may indirectly contribute to reduce long-term unemployment. The proceedings of the seminar are documented on CD-ROM containing a summary report in English and German and presentations from the workshop. (IAB)

Cite article

Rudolph, H. & Konle-Seidl, R. (2005): Profiling for better services. Report on the European Profiling-Seminar, Nuremberg, January 12-14, 2005. Nürnberg, 24 p., Beitrag auf CD-ROM.