Job coaching – support for finding a job or your self-employment

Do you need personalised support for entering working life or planning your own business due to a medical condition or disability?

Job coaching is one of the many vocational rehabilitation services Kela can offer. Read more about vocational rehabilitation for young persons if you are 16–29 and your functional capacity has declined significantly for some other reason than a medical condition or disability and you do not have a job or a place of study.

What is job coaching?

Job coaching is a service that is tailored to your needs. Job coaching can help you find a job, start your own business or develop a business you already run. You work together with a job coach to make a plan on how to achieve your goals.

Your job coach can help you with for example the following:

• finding a job that is suitable for you, considering your health and life situation
• planning, starting or developing your own business.

Job coaching is free of charge for you.

Who can get job coaching?

Job coaching may be a good option for you if

• you need the support of a job coach to enter working life or start your own business
• you need support when you start a full-time or part-time job
• you are almost finished with your studies and you need help with entering working life
• you are planning to start your own business and you need a detailed plan and help from a job coach
• you already have your own business but you need help with starting or developing your operations.

What is job coaching like?

Job coaching can last for up to 13 months. It includes

• up to 25 meetings with your coach
• up to 95 days of rehabilitation at your chosen workplace or in your own business.

You will be paid for the work you do during your job coaching.

During the coaching, you will get help with for example the following:

• looking for work and developing your work life skills
• starting your own business
• learn about healthy work practices.

Your job coach will also help you get support from other actors, such as

• healthcare providers
• employment services
• other actors that can help you succeed.

How to apply

If you want to apply for vocational rehabilitation in the form of job coaching, you need a medical statement B (B-lausunto) from a doctor or some other kind of medical documentation that has the same information as a medical statement B.

Once you have a medical statement B or other medical documentation, do as follows:

1. Fill in the application form for vocational rehabilitation KU 101e (PDF).

   • Save the blank form to your device. Do not fill in the form directly in the browser because some of the information may not be saved that way.
   • Open the form with Adobe Reader and fill it in.
   • Tell us in the application which service provider’s rehabilitation you want to participate in. Use Kela’s service provider search to look up rehabilitation service providers (available in Finnish and Swedish).
   • Save the completed application form on your device. Note that the application must be in PDF format.
2. Send the application in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish).

   • Log in to OmaKela and select Tee hakemus (Submit an application).
   • First select Sairastaminen ja kuntoutus (Sickness and rehabilitation). Then select Kuntoutus – tee hakemus (Rehabilitation – Submit an application). Finally, select Ammatillinen kuntoutus (Vocational rehabilitation).
   • If you send your application in OmaKela, you do not need to sign it.
3. If you have supporting documents, send them via OmaKela after you have submitted your application. If they are paper documents, you can photograph them.

   • Send us a copy of your medical statement B or other medical documentation as a supporting document with your application.
4. Visit OmaKela to see if Kela has made a decision on your application. We will also send the decision notice to the rehabilitation service provider. This tells the service provider that Kela will pay for your rehabilitation, and the service provider will reserve a place for you on the rehabilitation course.

If you cannot use OmaKela, mail your application to Kela. Save the form to your device and fill it in after saving it. Print out the completed form and send it and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

Let us know if you cannot attend job coaching

Remember to tell Kela immediately if you cannot participate in job coaching. Let us know that you have to cancel by sending a message to us in the OmaKela e-service or by calling our customer service number for rehabilitation clients.

We recommend that you also contact the service provider to let them know you have to cancel.

Check if you can get rehabilitation allowance and travel cost reimbursements

Kela pays rehabilitation allowance to give you financial security during rehabilitation. Kela may also reimburse you for rehabilitation-related travel costs.