The social services office's skills coordinator – a role that makes a difference

In 2023, the social services office in Skellefteå decided to introduce a completely new role – a skills coordinator. This is one of the municipality's strategic initiatives for skills development within social services, and the positive results have been immediate.

The role of skills coordinator is part of the strategy to address the changing conditions and needs facing municipal healthcare, care, and support services. Demographic trends toward an increasing proportion of older people with more complex care needs are placing higher demands on staff skills, which is also reflected in changes to legislation.

At the same time, like other municipalities, we face the challenge of recruiting skilled staff. More and more employees lack vocational training and sometimes have language deficiencies. One objective of the role is therefore to increase the proportion of employees with formal vocational skills in social services. In short, the assignment is to:

• Coordinate skills development for employees in social services.
• Develop and follow up on training programs.
  Work strategically in collaboration to ensure that training courses match the industry's skills needs and that the range and structure of training courses reflect demand.
• Collaborate with upper secondary schools to, among other things, ensure the quality of training programs and attract more young people to apply for the healthcare and social care program.

The skills coordinator provides support and guidance to employees at the social services office, and the primary target group is those who work closely with users and lack vocational training.

"I am a 'bridge builder' between employees, education, and employers, so that the process works for both the employee and the business," says Martina Lindgren, skills coordinator at the social services office.

Some concrete projects

The skills coordinator played a decisive role in the successful relaunch of the Elderly Care Initiative. Previously, few employees had completed their studies, but in 2024, a comprehensive approach was taken in close collaboration with several key roles. The working methods surrounding the Elderly Care Initiative were then changed, and the process was given a clear structure and a clear division of responsibilities. In the fall of 2025, significantly more employees completed their studies.

Since the overall mission is to meet future needs in health and social care, the skills coordinator also works to attract more young people to education/work in the field. In collaboration with Vård- och omsorgscollege (Health and Social Care College) and Go Care, a national initiative aimed at secondary school students and their guardians was launched last fall.

One of the new initiatives from Skellefteå Municipality was to offer autumn break jobs to young people in grades 8–9, which proved very popular. Summer jobs have previously been offered to grade 9 and first-year high school students, as well as extra jobs for 16–17-year-olds. All this is done to give young people an insight into and interest in healthcare, care, and support.

Questions and answers about the project

Read more: SE26 project