Volunteer Labor Corps – what services they offer, what should change in them

You may have heard about OHP, but you don’t really know what they do. We write on what help you can count on after crossing their threshold.

Years ago, Volunteer Labor Corps were associated with institutions that help – or at least try to help – the so-called troubled youth. It is mainly young angry, those who left their education at the stage of middle school or even elementary school, and do not want to return to school or work, used the services of the VLC. These difficult youth from equally difficult families destroyed their chances of a good start in adult life. You so-called well-arranged, not only did they not use the support of the troops, but also avoided them, looking at them with contempt.

The new face of labor squads

Times have changed. Labor squads – too. Today, OHP is not a bureaucratic unit that has bad associations. Now OHP is a competitive unit that is worth using. Although presented as a Polish youth organization, it performs tasks similar to a labor office or employment agency. It surpasses them in that it also invests in the education of young people, just like a school.

It is worth checking: Current job offers

– Volunteer Labor Corps offer young people aged 15-18 who have not completed primary school or do not continue their education after graduation, complete primary and secondary education and gain professional qualifications – informs Michał Łazowski, director of the Social Communication and Promotion Office , press spokesman of the General Headquarters of the Volunteer Labor Corps.

Accommodation and meals for free

The director continues: – As part of the VLC, young people are educated and at the same time have an apprenticeship in the profession of their choice, thus combining study with work. Under the watchful eye of experienced teaching staff, they also develop their talents and interests. Learning takes place on a daily basis. Accommodation and meals in the OHP dormitories are free of charge. On the basis of the concluded contract, apprentices receive a monthly salary.

And further: – For young people up to 25 years of age, we offer career counseling, personal development classes, training and help in finding a job. VLC participants and graduates can count on comprehensive support in their professional development provided by experts who know the labor market perfectly.

This means that a young person who is just entering the labor market does not remain alone in it. He can count on help and tips, but not on doing it.

From training to employment

– We also enable our youth to contact their peers from other countries as part of internships and training sessions abroad – emphasizes Łazowski. – Thanks to the implementation of projects co-financed by the European Union funds, such as “From training to employment”, we enable volunteers to acquire professional qualifications and obtain employment.

A good change is coming

The potential of OHP is discussed, among others, by representatives of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy. In their opinion, it is precisely VLCs that are to play an important role in the reform of the labor market. The ministry has announced changes, although it has not yet given specific dates for their introduction. Even the OHP name is about to change.

The unit, although still associated with the traditions dating back to 1958 (then it was established for operation), is to gain a new face. The troop services offered under the existing rules are to be expanded. According to the plans, the activity of VLC will also include conducting independent vocational education, creating and supporting social and housing cooperatives established by young people. Thus, flats are to be built in which people benefiting from the support of the troops, e.g. course participants, will live.

We recommend the guide: Structural mismatch to the labor market

There has been a mismatch on the Polish labor market for years. On the one hand, there are job vacancies and, on the other, the unemployed, but they lack the education, qualifications or aptitude to fill these vacancies. The activity of the VLC is to focus on keeping this mismatch to a minimum. There will also be an offer for young people willing to look for a job abroad, which is usually associated with a salary several times higher than our salaries. Another plan for the Voluntary Labor Corps: focusing on organizing a larger number of trips of young Poles abroad in order to take up employment, but also professional development and learning (there will be, among others, the possibility of learning a foreign language).