• Guidance on hiring
  • The SOC Services
  • Kind of contracts
  • Hiring foreign persons
    • Labour intermediation and training services
    • Residence and work permits
    • Contingency of non-community foreign workers
    • Catalogue of all jobs difficult to hold
  • Job placement of persons with added difficulties
  • Servei telefònic del SOC per a empreses i ajuntaments per al registre d'ofertes de feina
• Job offers management
• Transversal programs
• How to become an entity or collaborating centre in terms of occupational training courses
• Continuous Training Services
• Local development programmes
• Territorial consortiums
• Frequently asked questions
• Incentives in the companies
• Aids and grants

Labour intermediation and training services (SILO)

The Labour intermediation and training services (SILO) are services that the Servei d'Ocupació de Catalunya (SOC) makes available to companies with workplaces in Catalonia that need to employ non-Community foreigners when it is difficult or even impossible to find the professional profiles that are required through the jobseekers registered with the Servei d'Ocupació de Catalunya. In this way, the SOC contributes to the rational regulation of migratory movements and favours an ordered immigration into Catalonia.

The companies with workplaces in Catalonia that need to employ workers in non-Community countries may apply for the SILO services.

The difficulty or impossibility of finding the professional profiles is justified through one of the following situations:

1. when the job offer is for employment included in the contingency of foreign workers, passed by agreement of the Council of Ministers;
2. when the job on offer comprises part of the job catalogue of posts difficult to fill;
3. when the job has been processed by the Work Office and a certificate of insufficiency of suitable jobseekers for this post has been issued.

The SILO services can be applied for at Work Offices (OT), or the Technical Office of the SOC, or by contacting the SILO office directly. The application, in the case of general job offers through contingency, can be made at the same time as starting the process in the corresponding office of the Government sub-offices in Catalonia.

To make the application the companies must fill out and sign a document that states the involvement of the government office in the processes selected, as well as the acceptance of the people selected.

Portfolio of SILO services

Pre-selection services

The SILO can undertake the task of preselecting the candidates. During this process the SILO will be in contact with the company to inform them about the development of the results. The company will make the selection of people and will start up the contracting procedure of the people concerned through the foreign offices of the Government Delegation (while there is no development and putting into practice of the transfer in questions of initial work authorisations as planned in article 138 of the Catalan Statute).

Selection of workers service

In the procedures for employing via contingency, when the responsible body has positively assessed the offer and applied to the consulate for the procedures for selection at origin, the SILO may accompany the company in the entire worker selection process; and, in the case where the company delegates this function to the SILO, it may represent it on the selection committee.

Services after the selection of workers

In the case of job offers processed through the general system, the visa requirements and travel arrangements must be made by the person interested. The SILO can help these people process their visas and prepare the trip to Catalonia.

In the job offers processed through the contingency system, the SILO can represent the company in the final stage of the selection before the Consulate, in the case that it has been given this function, and undertake the administrative procedures for the trips of the people such as those related to collecting documentation for applying for visas, and other procedures.

Information and training service for selected people

The SILO provides a foreign reception service for the people selected and provides training and information about occupational, social and cultural aspects of Catalonia. Furthermore, at the request of the SOC, through the SILO, it can organise, carry out and subsidise training activities aimed at the people selected in the questions it considers necessary.

Scope of activity

The SILO services are provided for the countries with which agreements have been signed regarding migratory movements to Spain.

The SILO services aimed at Eastern European and North African countries are undertaken by the Technical Service of the SOC (tel. 93 553 62 19).

The SILO services aimed at South America are undertaken from the SILO office in Colombia:

Head: Ms. Olga Díaz de Zubieta
Avenida Karrera 24 Número 85A47, Barrio el Polo
Bogota (Colombia)
E-mail: silo.latinoamerica@gmail.com