The long-term unemployed make up around a quarter of all the unemployed in South Karelia, and the number is growing even though overall unemployment and the situation of young people have started to recover from the slump caused by COVID-19 (Regional Programme for South Karelia 2022–2025). According to Employment Bulletin 2/2022 for Southeast Finland, there were a total of 571 long-term unemployed persons in the Imatra region in February 2022, which is approximately 27% of all the unemployed in the Imatra region. The majority of the long-term unemployed were male (61%). A reduction in the number of the long-term unemployment plays an important role in the maintenance of the vitality of the Imatra region. Making the labour market potential of the long-term unemployed available to employers often requires further education. In the ESF-funded project Long-term Unemployed to Employed, the city of Imatra created, in collaboration with the TE Office and Sampo, a training model to flexibly update the professional skills of the long-term unemployed and make their skills visible through the vocational parts of a degree in property maintenance. The training model has received plenty of praise from the long-term unemployed who have completed it, and they have proposed that the model be expanded. The aim of the new project is to respond to this request from the target group by expanding the already developed training model to cover new positions and industries. The project will also be able to meet the labour needs of employers. In addition, employers have requested advice related to the utilisation of wage subsidies. Some employers are not very familiar with the subsidies available for hiring the long-term unemployed, which hinders the exploitation of the subsidies and thus reduces their impact on employment. The need for advice will be further increased by a reform of the wage subsidy system in 2023. The project target group mainly consists of long-term unemployed men from Imatra and employers operating in Imatra. The estimated number of participants is 120 persons. The project’s key objectives are increasing regional vitality by developing employers’ recruitment capabilities, responding to the regional mismatch and increasing local wellbeing by combatting long-term unemployment. The key objectives include the following sub-objectives: 1. The aim of the project is to create a new VITALITY model for employer cooperation to support the employment of the long-term unemployed. The model will assist the long-term unemployed in establishing contacts with employers, highlight the labour potential of the long-term unemployed and support the employers in matters related to the hiring of the long-term unemployed. Close cooperation will reduce the threshold for companies to hire a long-term unemployed person. The model includes a digital tool to detect specific subsidised jobs in the companies. The tool will also offer the employers information about the subsidies available for hiring the long-term unemployed. 2. The project will expand the training model of the city of Imatra for the long-term unemployed to new industries. The project will improve the professional skills of the long-term unemployed and make the skills visible, thereby improving the position of the long-term unemployed in the open labour market. The project will support the long-term unemployed in finding their path to education or employment. The project will be used to train skilled workers and thus increase the vitality of the city in response to the labour mismatches in the region. 3. All project activities will increase the quality and thus the effectiveness of the intermediate labour market.