Jenna Jalava – Trainee in Employment Unit

My name is Jenna and I am from Finland. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree from Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki I wanted to complement my studies with some international experience, which is why I applied for a Eurofound traineeship. After having been accepted I was fortunate enough to be able to take time off from my Master’s degree studies in order to pursue the traineeship in Dublin. With a background in economics and business administration, my time at the Employment unit of Eurofound proved to be a great opportunity to gain experience and develop my research skills.

I had the opportunity to contribute to many different projects during my time at Eurofound. I was consistently working on the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM), mainly on the Restructuring Events Database, for which I reviewed and published content submitted by the European Network of Correspondents. I also assisted in updating the Database on Restructuring Related Legislation. In addition to my work on the ERM, I drafted literature reviews for several project, notably one on labour market segmentation and one on the labour market reintegration of older dismissed workers. Furthermore, I got to assist Eurofound’s research team in various projects according to demand. My diverse workload meant that I was able to experience many different sides of working for a research organisation and develop my skills in various areas.

The great thing about working as a trainee at Eurofound was that I could to a certain extent chose which projects I wanted to work on based on my own interests. I was also allowed to work independently on my tasks and had a great deal of freedom in organising my own work, which I very much appreciated. In addition, the staff is friendly and supportive. For these reasons, I would warmly recommend a traineeship within the Employment unit for any post grad interested in the European labour market and employment research. In general, the traineeships at Eurofound are a great opportunity to familiarise oneself with the workings of an EU agency and EU policy making, as well as to gain international experience.