Generation Y’s Virtual Guide to Skill Development and Personal Branding in Social Media Erasmus Project

Project Title

Generation Y’s Virtual Guide to Skill Development and Personal Branding in Social Media

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

‘Generation Y’s Virtual Guide to Skill Development and Personal Branding in Social Media’ aimed to design a virtual guide to increase Generation Y’s employability by improving their skills and personal branding qualities.
In order to accomplish this goal, four institutions from Europe with different expertise areas came together under the coordination of Sabanci University, namely Universum Communications from Sweden, which is experienced in research and has a large network of employers and universities all around Europe; Novancia Business School from France with intensive knowledge in social media use; Turk Kultur Vakfı from Turkey, which is experienced in Intercultural Learning; and Abdullah Gul University (AGU) from Turkey, which contributed to the Project with its experience in volunteer work and EU projects.
The main activities in the Project are described below:
Staff Training “Understanding Gen Y” :
A special training with 20 participants from four different countries who work full time with the Generation Y members took place in Istanbul on 27 September-1 October 2016. The training provided the partners of the Project with general knowledge about Generation Y to equip them with skills necessary to meet the needs and expectations of Generation Y
Research on The Skills Employers Are Looking For in Gen Y:
To analyze what soft skills employers expect Gen Y to have, widescale research was conducted among 1299 recruiters from public and private sectors as well as various NGOs in Europe. After collecting the extensive data from recruiters, the top soft skills expected from Gen Y were listed respectively as Reliability, Responsibility, Communication, Positive Attitude, and Team Work.
Research on New Recruitment and Job Search Trends:
The aim of this research was to understand how target groups, namely students, employers, and career services, use social media for recruitment purposes. A survey on social media use was carried out for each target group. 1329 students, 108 employers, and 27 career services were surveyed in total. The main result of these surveys was that the 62% of the employers were using social media as a recruitment tool while only 30 % of the students were using social media for job search. Both employers and students ranked LinkedIn as the first social media tool for career-focused use.
International Boot Camp for Students “Skill Development and Personal Branding Training”:
After identifying the top soft skills needed by employers and social media trends, a special training program was designed to equip the students with these skills to attract recruiters and raise awareness on the importance of personal branding through social media. A boot camp, a two-week training planned within the scope of Learning / Teaching / Training activities, was held at Sabancı University, Turkey, and in Novancia Business School, France, with the participation of 30 selected students and an international group of trainers and facilitators. The first week of the boot camp aimed participants to explore themselves, discover their strengths and competencies, and realize the importance of soft skills in professional life. The second week of the boot camp was devoted to in-class presentations and peer-reviewed study groups about personal branding and effective use of social media.
Youth Employability Skills Development Resources:
The main goal of this intellectual output was to create a resource containing tools and information on how to develop and enhance each soft skill. A group of project partners, employers, students, and career specialists were gathered to create resources (videos, articles, books, films) that helped students improve their soft skills. The resources were shared on the project website and served as a content map for Virtual Guide. A report containing key messages and summaries of activities in the boot camp was also generated.
Creation of Virtual Guide:
Virtual Guide consisted of different materials to help students develop the top 5 soft skills, effectively use social media, and build strong online presence. The Guide content was transformed into a digital version in both English and Turkish (available from https://guideforgeny.sabanciuniv.edu and https://binyaprak.com/profil/8316-geny). Thanks to Virtual Guide and our reports, students are able to a) understand the changing world and business conditions b) learn the soft skills preferred by employers, c) manage their own personal brand, and d) effectively market themselves to the employers via social media.
The project output, the virtual guide, is expected to equip students with the necessary behavioral competencies and, hence, increase the youth employability at the local and regional level in the long run. With Virtual Guide, networking activities and international collaboration in career development among higher education institutions will be further improved.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 238415 Eur

Project Coordinator

SABANCI UNIVERSITESI & Country: TR

Project Partners

• Universum Communications Sweden AB
• Novancia
• Türk Kültür Vakfi
• Abdullah Gul University