Interuniversity Master's Degree in Labor Orientation and Intermediation

Career guidance and intermediation is a professional activity that in recent years has experienced a great boom, as a consequence of the commitment that is made for career guidance in active employment policies, both in the European Union and in Spain. Unlike other measures in the labor field, the implementation of these requires personal and specialized attention to the users of these services. For this reason, public administrations and entities that act in the field of career guidance have resorted to hiring professionals and technicians, preferably university students. However, in most of the cases, it is only required to be in possession of a university degree, which is clearly insufficient since in none of them are the necessary competences acquired to be able to develop the profession with guarantees. This master's degree responds to this need.

The Master of Orientation and Job Intermediation is a pioneer in Spain, being only offered in a couple of universities so far. This is official, in addition to being interuniversity, since the two public universities in the Region of Murcia participate in it. The title is offered by the Faculty of Business of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena and by the Faculty of Labor Sciences of the Universidad de Murcia , although the teaching activities will be carried out in the facilities of the second on the Espinardo University Campus.

The Master consists of 60 ECTS credits. Its profile is designed for people who work or wish to work in the field of job counseling and job mediation in a broad sense. The study plan is verified by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation and is awaiting final approval by the Interuniversity Council of the Region of Murcia.

Master's file

Justification

The Orientation and Labor Intermediation acquires an increasing importance in our country in recent years due to the new orientations of active employment policies that, through them, aim to expand the possibilities of employability and establish systems capable of responding to the different situations that they arise throughout the entire working life of people.

However, it lacks an adequate academic framework. Professionals who access this work do so from different training areas and much of their professional performance is carried out autonomously, following the dictates of their own skills and knowledge. Thus, some academic disciplines have borrowed content that has been useful for the work of job counselors and intermediaries. The interdisciplinary nature of job counseling and intermediation is clearly observed as the contribution of disciplines such as Economics, Sociology, Law, Psychology or Pedagogy or Psychopedagogy, among others, is necessary for the correct performance of this work.

This lack of definition extends to the professional consideration of the counselor. In Spain, this varies between the different Autonomous Communities that in recent years have developed very heterogeneous regulations regarding working conditions. Under the same denomination of counselor, figures with very different functions and competencies can be included.

With the aim of meeting the training needs of the counselor and job intermediary in their different academic disciplines and so that they can carry out their work efficiently, due to the great report of their work in the economic and social field of the country, the Master of Orientation is born and Labor Intermediation.

For this, the training in the classroom and outside the classroom taught in the Master includes the participation of relevant and active professionals and researchers in the sector, allowing students to acquire first-hand knowledge and professional attitudes that are difficult to transfer in any other way. The use of own case studies by teachers allows introducing the student to real decision-making and observing how experienced professionals face these types of issues that are so relevant to their daily work.

Its design and development include the departments of Applied Economics, Sociology and Social Policy, Psychiatry and Social Psychology, Labor and Social Security Law, Financial Economics and Accounting, Political and Administration Sciences, Research methods and diagnosis in Education. In addition, we have the collaboration of professionals of recognized prestige in this field, both in the private and public sectors. The master has pre-agreements and soon agreements will be signed with the Employment and Training Service of the Region of Murcia (SEFCARM), the Guidance Association of the Region of Murcia, the Association of Development and Employment Agents of the Region of Murcia , the Local Development Agency of Cartagena, Local Initiatives, SL and the Association of University Students and Technicians of Local, Rural and Employment Promotion, among others.

goals

The general objective of the Master is to train professionals and researchers specialized in the field of job counseling and intermediation. The OIL program is a higher-level and multidisciplinary academic training that, in addition to transmitting specialized knowledge and the necessary instruments for career guidance and self-employment, fosters the personal, managerial and analytical capacities of the participants, responding to the needs of both public administrations as well as private entities and the third sector.

Competencies

Basic skills

The following basic competences will be guaranteed as a minimum, and those others that appear in the Spanish Framework of Qualifications for Higher Education (MECES). The basic competences of this study plan will allow and guarantee students:

• Know how to apply the knowledge acquired and their ability to solve problems in new or little-known environments within broader, or multidisciplinary, contexts related to their area of study.
• Being able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of formulating judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.
• Communicate their conclusions and the latest knowledge and reasons that support them to specialized and non-specialized audiences in a clear and unambiguous way.
• Possess the learning skills that allow them to continue studying in a way that will have to be largely self-directed or autonomous.

General Competences

• Being able to know the evolution of the labor market and its incidence on the needs of professional orientation in today's society and in our environment.
• Being able to encourage users of the orientation to value their potentialities and interests, facilitating reflection on their skills, attitudes, successes and preferences and to achieve that they establish objectives regarding their future employment.
• Promote self-employment and the creation of companies as one of the possible career opportunities.
• Analyze trends on the employment situation at the international, European and national levels and their consequences for local labor markets.
• To elaborate and design projects that have the purpose of actions related to labor orientation and intermediation and that, where appropriate, may be destined to public calls for aid.
• Know and analyze in a critical, systematic and structured way the different theoretical and intervention models and approaches in professional guidance for their effective application
• Manage and update relevant documentation on access to employment, training and the launch of business initiatives and entrepreneurs.
• Have the ability to design introductory research papers on career guidance, employment and unemployment
• Evaluate and make reports on the orientation and labor intermediation processes and the results obtained.
• Promote and stimulate collaborative relationships between different social agents, to drive innovation and improve intervention.
• Design, develop and evaluate projects, programs, services and policies for training and personal, academic and professional development.
• Know, use and dominate sources, resources, networks, strategies and techniques of orientation and labor intermediation with efficiency and effectiveness.

General Competences

• Ability to classify the user based on their personal characteristics and refer them to the most appropriate type of orientation.
• Make proposals on employability based on the situation of the nearest labor markets and inform about the most suitable employment opportunities for the professional profile.
• Understand the professional objectives and the situation of users in relation to employment and training, supporting those who need it to carry out a job search plan and the choice of strategies and resources that are most appropriate to their profile.
• Prepare with the user an action plan that allows them to achieve the proposed objectives in relation to job placement.
• Carry out analysis and prospecting of local labor markets from the main sources of information available at the local, regional and national levels.
• Publicize the different techniques used in the job search and their use, adapting them to their characteristics and interests.
• Design and manage actions within the integration programs and initiatives aimed at groups with special difficulties in entering the labor market.
• Assess the needs of users and identify personal problems that hinder access to an occupation.
• Train users in the development of personal aspects for employment, when this poses a problem for insertion.
• Accompany the user in the implementation of the search plan, evaluating the results and modifying it if necessary.
• Evaluate the viability of creating a business activity, given the personal conditions and the situation of the productive environment.
• Know the main characteristics that an entrepreneur must meet and the necessary procedures for the creation of companies.
• Help define the business idea and the main business objectives to achieve, accompanying the definition of an initial business plan.
• Inform the entrepreneurs interested in creating your company in those questions that help them to start it.
• Carry out job prospecting tasks in the closest productive environment, identifying the occupations demanded by companies and their specific characteristics.
• Establish specific training plans aimed at training workers from local companies.
• Propose and design research studies on integration processes and employment policies
• Know the socio-economic and political environment of reference of the professional / labor guidance intervention.
• Know instruments, methods and techniques of diagnosis, development and evaluation of professional orientation directed to people, groups and organizations.
• Know systems of planning and management of services, programs and actions of professional orientation and employment
• Select types of guiding intervention according to objectives, contexts, recipients and use methods and instruments of individual, group and institutional application.
• Know and analyze both the National Qualifications and Vocational Training System and the European Qualifications Framework.
• Critically and reflectively assess the different modalities and types of transition throughout the life cycle and determine and characterize the functions and components of career guidance for the transition.
• Know and analyze the new structural framework of job training and its potential inducer for career development.

Leveling skills

These competencies correspond to those collected in the degree of labor relations and human resources and will only have to be taken by students who have not acquired them in their access qualification.

• Know the regulatory framework of labor relations.
• Know the regulatory framework of Social Security and complementary social protection.
• Acquire knowledge of Work psychology and negotiation techniques.
• Have knowledge of economics and the labor market.
• Acquire knowledge related to socio-labor policies.
• Know the basic legal elements of social relations and legal trafficking.
• Select and manage information and labor documentation in the different areas.
• Know and analyze the new structural framework of job training and its potential inducer for career development.