Track change in the right direction
Trampoline House’s business workshop takes its participants out of the house and down new tracks towards a more self-sustaining future. The last track took our participants to the Metro Service in Amager that opened their doors and gave the group greater insight into working life in a Danish business.
By Annette Cecilie Jensen and Mona Birch Torbensen
Trampoline House’s Business Workshop takes its participants out of the house a lot. Here they are in front of Roskilde University, RUC
When Trampoline House’s business workshop arrived at the Metro Service, the trains were lined up like puzzle pieces ready to be matched. The group was met by two friendly gentlemen, who showed them around the busy workspace. Everyone was given a visitor’s pass and with that, the tour began. They were shown the support and control room, which, to the untrained eye, looked like a room for TV-producers. The room was covered in screens and buttons used to guide the metros around the clock. In the stewards’ room, the participants were shown the different apparatuses one typically sees stewards in the metro walking around with.
New impressions
Job coordinator in Trampoline House and leader of the business workshop, Simon Christensen, explains why the visit to the workshop and control room is significant; “What is it like to work in a Danish business? The only way to get a real impression of how it actually is to work for a Danish company is to go out and see the day-to-day tasks. Furthermore, our visits show our participants that it is feasible for them to find well-paid employment in Denmark.”
Next Practice: A way to become self-sufficient
Trampoline House has through the last three years developed the job training problem, Next Practice. Through Next Practice you learn different competencies needed to join the Danish labor market. Other than helping participants improve their language skills and understanding of the Danish context, Next Practice also offers a series of business workshops to facilitate integration into the Danish labor market. This Business Workshop is not for those who want to sit in the back of the class and listen passively. In addition to the trip to the Metro Service, the participants do mock-interviews to help prepare for job interviews.
Simon Christensen explains that “All the activities are meant to empower the participants and push them towards finding a job. It is far from everyone’s wish to become self-sufficient. In our business workshop we discuss this and communicate how important it is for them to find employment or start their own business.”
Where do the tracks lead?
The two Metro Service employees continue their tour. The doors to a colorful washing room are thrown open, releasing the stench of chemicals. The Metro Service controls maintenance and customer services for the The Copenhagen Metro Service. This means that they also are responsible for removing graffiti on many of the metro trains. The group was glad to leave this room and enter the fresh air to see the train tracks where the metros are taken apart and shipped to the workshop.
The participants were given new input on every stop with the Metro Service. Eager for more information, the participants of the workshop asked the two Metro employees question after question. The participants learned that there is an educational offer that trains you in becoming a steward with the Metro Service. It takes 10 weeks and requires a level of fluency in the Danish language. Who knows, maybe this will be the right track for some of the participants?
Support refugees’ way into the job market
In Trampoline House, we’ve developed a method that makes it easier for refugees to find a foothold in the job market. Several municipalities have already started employing our method, but in order to get a broader reach, we also need the financial support from individuals. If you, your partner or your mother would also be able to support our work with a recurring donation, it would make a great difference to our work.
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