Connecting jobseekers with new opportunities

By Alex Froment-Curtil, Vodafone Group Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer

For people who have found themselves out of work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, being able to stay connected becomes even more critical at a time when finances are likely to be under pressure. We know that this a period when jobseekers need support as they search for a new role or reskill in order to pursue a new role in a different industry.

So today, Vodafone has launched jobseekers.connected– a package of support for jobseekers where we operate in Europe, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa that will help them find new roles, develop and learn new skills and explore new career opportunities, particularly in technology roles.

At the heart of this package is special connectivity offers, ranging from discounts on mobile and converged plans to free extra mobile data allowances. We’re also zero-rating access to many popular job portals to ensure that browsing these sites does not come out of data allowances.

In many of our markets in Europe, we are also donating Facebook advertising and media spend to help jobseekers promote their profiles with relevant potential employers. Those candidates that are shortlisted will feature in Facebook adverts to reach hiring managers.

Vodafone first launched an exclusive partnership with the global e-learning platform Udemy in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. We’re extending that arrangement to give continued access to more than 600 curated courses with Udemy, ranging from personal growth, productivity and professional skills, to a suite of tech skills. In some Vodafone countries, we’re also extending local partnerships with other e-learning platforms.

Our Future Jobs Finder tool is available everywhere we operate and is designed to help people of all ages and all walks of life explore job opportunities in digital or technology roles.  Although some job seekers won’t have tech backgrounds, the skills they already have can be transferable to new roles. 

Future Jobs Finder helps identify those transferable skills and strengths, giving recommendations on career opportunities and e-learning that are tailored to people’s individual aptitudes and backgrounds.

This initiative is the first since we announced our new brand positioning – Together We Can – and aptly demonstrates our belief that the partnership between technology and society can create a better future and improve people’s lives.