On 28 January 2025, region Helmond-De Peel got moving again during the second inspiring "Working Together Works" session. An afternoon in which professionals from the field came together to find each other, learn from each other and forge concrete plans for the future.
A flying start
Frank Pijnenburg, Quartermaster of Werkcentrum Helmond-De Peel, opened the afternoon with a clear view of the future. He took the participants through the annual plan for 2025 and set the course. What are the ambitions? Where do the opportunities lie? And how can we make even more impact together as a region? Key themes such as labour mobility, cooperation within promising sectors and the role of the Work Centre in regional issues were central. An inspiring kick-off that immediately set the tone for the rest of the session.
Speed dating: short, sweet and full of energy
A room full of enthusiastic professionals, a stopwatch and stimulating questions. Led by Silvia Costa, Coordinator Werkcentrum Helmond-De Peel, the participants went on a speed date. In this dynamic setting, participants interacted with each other using stimulating questions. These ranged from serious topics, such as personal cooperation goals, to light-hearted and playful questions such as: if you could choose a superpower to help your colleagues, which one would it be? The speed dates resulted in new connections being made and the energy bubbling off!
In-depth break-out sessions
After this dynamic start, participants dived into depth during the break-out sessions. Led by Melanie van Lin and Hellen Bouwmans (Employer Services) and Frank and Silvia (Job Seeker Services), the guiding themes from the annual plan were further explored. Within job search services, four main pillars were discussed:
- Career advice and the guide function: how can we guide jobseekers even more specifically in their career development and support them in their choices?
- Labour mobility and promising sectors: How can we guide talents to sectors with labour shortages and respond to regional labour market needs?
- Identify and address gaps: What gaps in service delivery do we experience and how can we solve them structurally?
- Knowledge sharing and networking: What creative and innovative methods can we use to strengthen knowledge exchange?
Groups brainstormed on concrete areas for improvement and action plans that can be directly applied in practice.
In employer services, the focus was on strengthening cooperation between involved parties such as UWV, Senzer, SBB, Ter AA, Social Partners, WIN and Werkcentrum Helmond-De Peel. Work was done on:
- Interconnection of services: how can we support employers even more efficiently and remove barriers?
- Expertise promotion: sharing and developing knowledge within and between organisations to provide the best possible advice to employers.
- Support on labour market issues: What challenges do employers experience and how can we proactively address them?
- Harnessing untapped potential: How do we ensure that jobseekers with a distance to the labour market are better supported and placed?
The breakout sessions not only provided valuable insights, but also concrete follow-up steps that the partners can start working on immediately.
Working together
The outcome of this afternoon? Concrete plans, new insights and, above all, a lot of enthusiasm to continue building together! During the closing drinks, people continued talking, made new contacts and made follow-up appointments.
This edition of "Working Together Works" proved once again how valuable it is to come together, spar and join forces. Because together we put our shoulders to the wheel!