Oracle helps young people to find employment opportunities
Oracle France and Oracle Croatia are among the Oracle country organizations that are developing local initiatives to help young people to maximize their future employment potential. While Oracle Croatia is providing education and employment opportunities to students of electrical engineering and computing, Oracle France employees are coaching disadvantaged young people in essential professional skills.
Having identified a lack of Oracle DBA skills in the Croatian market, Oracle Croatia approached the University of Zagreb to see if students from its Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing would be interested in taking a free, week-long course in developing administration skills for Oracle Database 10g.
The Faculty was asked to nominate 15 promising students who were interested in developing a career as an Oracle DBA. Interest was very high, with the result that Oracle hosted 21 students from 9-13 July 2007 in a spare Oracle University Classroom provided by Oracle Croatia Education Manager Zarko Cesljas. The Oracle Database 10g Administration 1 course was taught by Oracle specialists and forms part of the standard Oracle Education syllabus.
Oracle had discovered the skills gap by means of a survey that it had conducted among its local partners and customers. This meant that at the end of the course, Oracle was able to put the students in touch with organizations that are in need of Oracle DBAs. The initiative was very successful, with all of the students being called for interview at one or more organizations.
Marin Tadic, managing director of Oracle Croatia, said, "Everyone benefits from this initiative. Students receive free, vocational training that can help them to find a job more easily when they graduate, and they can also connect with potential employers who may also be interested in investing in their further education. Employers have an opportunity to find new employees with the combination of skills they are looking for."
Oracle France, meanwhile, is helping young people from disadvantaged communities to find their way on to the career ladder. Six million people in France change jobs every year, and it is estimated that four million of those new jobs are gained as a result of networking and word of mouth. But for young people from France's underprivileged suburbs and districts, these networking opportunities are almost impossible to come by, no matter how talented and determined they are.
Oracle France recognises that there is a wealth of talent, enthusiasm and dynamism among these young people, so when it was approaches by Nos Quartiers ont des Talents (Our Neighbourhoods have Talent), it was only too happy to help.
Nos Quartiers ont des Talents (NQT) is an organization dedicated to helping talented people from disadvantaged areas of Paris to find the kind of work they are capable of. It is currently working with 2,500 such job-seekers, and asked Oracle if it would be willing to coach some of them in essential career skills such as résumé writing, interviewing techniques and professional etiquette.
Oracle was delighted to accept, and proposed an enterprise-wide initiative that would see many Oracle managers coaching young people on an ongoing and sustainable basis. Currently, 20 Oracle France managers and employees spend half a day each month with 1-5 young job-seekers, coaching them in essential skills and helping to build up their confidence in their own abilities. More than 70 school leavers have been coached by Oracle so far.
Elodie Castillo of NQT says that Oracle's participation has been key to the growing success of NQT, which now plans to take its initiative nationwide. "With Oracle's example, we now have other large companies on board, such as Danone, Areva, Generali and Accord," she said.
The initiative is being driven within Oracle by Tamar Saraga, Business Operations Director and Corporate Social Leadership Sponsor for Oracle France.
