Graduate work placement

What it means

A graduate work placement is an active labour market measure run by the labour office. A young person under 26 who has finished school and is registered as a jobseeker gains first work experience with an employer in the field they studied or a related one.

The placement usually lasts at least three and at most six months, at 20 hours a week, and cannot be extended. During it the graduate is not an employee: there is no employment contract, no wage and no contributions paid by the employer. The labour office pays the graduate a flat allowance towards costs.

The aim is to help graduates out of the trap of nobody hiring them without experience, and to let employers get to know a future colleague at little cost. When the placement ends, the graduate receives a certificate confirming it, which serves as evidence of experience.

How it works in practice

An employer wishing to take a graduate applies to the relevant labour office and signs an agreement with the office and the graduate. It describes the content of the placement, the workplace, the hours and the name of the employee responsible for mentoring. The office then checks that the placement really runs as agreed.

As this is not employment, the graduate is not registered with the Social Insurance Agency as an employee and does not appear in payroll. The employer must still provide health and safety, an induction and reasonable working conditions, just as for its own staff.

For a company, a graduate placement is a cheap way to test a young person and strengthen its employer branding at the same time. If the graduate proves themselves, a regular employment contract can follow, and the labour office sometimes offers a further allowance for such hiring.

What to watch out for

A graduate on placement must not replace a regular employee or do work the company would otherwise pay wages for. If an inspection finds disguised employment, the allowance may have to be repaid and a fine for illegal employment imposed. The placement must genuinely be about learning.

A common misunderstanding concerns the hours: 20 hours a week is a ceiling, not a guideline, and it cannot be topped up with extra work under an agreement with the same employer. If you want the graduate for more hours, go straight to an employment contract, or a student work agreement if they are still studying.