Traineeship

What is a traineeship?

If you are looking for a job and want to gain more work experience or try to break into a new field, traineeships might provide that option for you. It is no actual employment, but rather a short-term, temporary stay at a workplace, during which you can further qualify yourself, gain something to add to your CV, get a foothold in the job market and figure out if a certain kind of work suits you well.

Traineeships are only available to those receiving unemployment benefits, social assistance, sick pay and rehabilitees. You do not receive salary during a traineeship, but rather your regular benefit.

You can complete a traineeship at both public and private companies. As a main rule, it is not allowed to do it at the company you were last employed by. The duration of the traineeship is determined by whether you are a recent graduate or not and the benefits you receive:

• Unemployment benefit recipients - four weeks
• Unemployment benefit recipients (graduate) - eight weeks
• Social assistance recipient - 13 weeks with option to prolong
• Rehabilitee - 13 weeks with option to prolong
  

For companies, traineeships are a way to try out if a potential employee fits the workplace. They do not have to pay salary or insurance and can assess the candidate’s suitability for an actual employment or a wage substitute position.

Rules for traineeships in 2019

There are some rules to follow for you and your employer, when applying for a traineeship.

• You have to be approved for a traineeship
• Your traineeship at a specific employer has to be approved by the jobcentre
• The duration of the traineeship may not exceed the established period
• You have to continue seeking full time employment during your traineeship
• You are not subject to rules established for employees outside of workplace health and safety provisions and anti-discrimination laws
• There has to be a reasonable relation between the number of regular employees and the number of employees with wage subsidiaries or trainees
• If not done otherwise, the job centre will cover occupational injuries and damages and injuries caused during your traineeship
  

How do you apply for a traineeship?

It is relatively easy for employment seekers to apply for a traineeship. To begin with, you need to find an appropriate company that can offer you tasks within an area you want to collect more experience in. If you do not want to look for a company yourself, you can find many ads for traineeships on several job databases. After you and the company reach agreement, they have to apply for the jobcentre to approve the traineeship. This can be done at vitas.bm.dk

Hereafter you have to contact your jobcentre yourself and enter the traineeship into your plan on Jobnet. After you have done this and it has been approved by the jobcentre, you are free to enter into a traineeship agreement and begin.

Traineeships during sick leave

Even during sick leave it is still possible to complete a traineeship. The purpose of a traineeship during sick leave is to clarify whether you are fit for work and readjust to make it easier to get back onto the job market. For sick pay recipients, the duration of a traineeship is set to 13 weeks with the option of prolonging it. This is because it is usually not feasible to work full hours during traineeship.

If you were placed in sick leave while in employment, it is possible to apply for a traineeship at your old workplace. However, this is only possible, in case there was no chance of regaining your old position through a speedy recovery.

You, your caseworker and a job consultant will assess your need of rest, competences, interests and relevant job opportunities for the future. After doing this, your traineeship can begin.

Your job consultant will continuously follow up and write a report. The report will contain evaluations on whether you can be declared fit for work or if you can transition into flexible employment, early retirement, rehabilitation etc.