In 2018, GNA created the Professional Qualification Program in partnership with Firjan and the municipality of São João da Barra. The goal was to contribute to the career development of the city’s population and develop qualified labor.

In just 2 days over a thousand people registered for the free of charge career training courses available, among 11 different areas like civil, electrical and mechanical construction, logistics and metallurgy. After a selective process, more than 400 students started their activities. The whole program was intended to better serve students and therefore all classes were available in multiple times and in many different locations across the city of São João da Barra.

Feminine Presence

Over 20% of registrations were from women which allowed to form a female only class for the welding class.

Mentoring Program

With the intention to stimulate further the interest and stickiness of the students to the Professional Qualification Program a Mentoring Program was created. The GNA and other partner companies’ high management employees were mentors to the classes. Throughout the course they could closely follow the performance of students, helping in solving questions and providing support. 

Hiring

Through 2019 courses were completed and by the end of the Program more than 180 graduate students were hired to work on constructions projects from GNA and other companies from Porto Açu, including the whole welding female class.

 

For the students that ended up not being hired, employability workshops were offered and provided by GNA’s HR department to help them improve resumes and role play job interviews for better performance.

Recognition

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank and the main sponsor of the GNA project, classified the Professional Qualification Program as a “world class” initiative and recommended the replication of the model in other projects on their portfolio.

 

The Program is also one of the front runners of the “Prêmio Faz a Diferença 2019” (Make the Difference Prize 2019) from the local newspaper O Globo on the “Rio Development” category. The final result will be released on March 2020.

The Program in numbers

11

FREE OF CHARGE COURSES OFFERED

24

CLASSES GRADUATED

330

STUDENTS GRADUATED

180

GRADUATE STUDENTS HIRED

152

PARTICIPANTS ON THE EMPLOYABILITY WORKSHOPS