The Project Citizen Soldier and Youth Integration Public Policy in the Labour Market

The aim of this study is to identify technical training elements to promote access of young people to their first job through Project Citizen Soldier (PCS). This project is a public educational policy of the federal government, whose purpose is to provide professional qualification to military graduates, allowing them to enter the labor market in better conditions. According to the Ministry of Defense from 2004 to 2011, more than 141,000 young people graduated from this project. The axis studied was “education, youth and work” connected by aspects inherent to young Brazilians and the difficult transition from school to the labor market. It addresses the following issue: how the PCS contributes to the technical training needed for the first employment during the initial military service? A qualitative method was used with an exploratory documentary research. The research instruments were questionnaires available with open and closed questions addressed to sailors of the program and recruits enrolled in the class-2012-2 at the training center of the Brazilian Navy, and also for project managers in Land Operations Command and the Defense Ministry, the study subjects. The development of the research was a case study and the unit of analysis was PCS itself. The locus of the research was Centro de Instrução Almirante Alexandrino, at Rio de Janeiro city, whose mission is to prepare sailors - technical level personnel - for the functions that will be developed in different organizations. Results showed a troubling issue: only 18% of respondents are employed and generating income, whether in the formal or informal market. A large majority, 64%, is employed, but outside the training that was assigned at the time of military service. We noticed PCS sailors now have the following skills: communication ease and team tasks development, initiative to seek relevant information, and new professional skills.