At the Skarpt Läge job fair in February, young adults aged 18 to 30 met with employers with one hope in mind: to leave the venue with a job. Two months later, 184 of the job seekers had found employment as a direct result of the fair. Today, Skarpt Läge is more than a job fair; it’s an important meeting place for forging partnerships.

“Today, Skarpt Läge isn’t just a job fair, it’s a meeting place that generates many synergy effects. For instance, this year we collaborated with Hvitfeldska and Aniara upper secondary schools, which sent 25 wonderful and positive third year students to work as volunteers at the fair. We regularly visit youth organisations such as MiM Kunskapscenter (MiM Knowledge Centre) and SOS Children’s Villages, where we teach young people how to seek jobs, expand their contacts and network with employers. Many of the resulting contacts have led to job offers,” says Lotta Forsberg, project manager at Skarpt Läge.

On 22 February, the Skarpt Läge fair opened at a new venue, the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre in Gothenburg. For three hours, young adults, regardless of their training and qualification backgrounds, had the opportunity to be matched with employers ready to offer jobs on the spot. The concept is simple: all the employers exhibiting at the fair had something to offer in the form of jobs, training or internships, and the young job seekers all turned up well prepared with their CVs. A follow-up study two months later showed that 184 of the job seekers had found jobs, of which 94 were full-time. Most of the jobs were in the warehouse logistics and hotel & restaurant sectors. Recruitment and interviews are still in progress. After six months the outcome will be measured again, and is expected to be even better.

With 1,831 participants, the fair broke its previous visitor record. It is hoped that Skarpt Läge will not only be the best job fair for young people in Gothenburg, but will become the best platform for young people seeking to enter the employment market in Sweden.

Skarpt Läge is built on a partnership between the Trade & Industry Group at Göteborg & Co, Gothia Towers/Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, the Swedish Public Employment Service, Visita and Labour Market and Adult Education (Arbetsmarknad och Vuxenutbildning).