YOUnique4Europe – Mapping and presenting your unique personal and social competences for better employability in a digital world Erasmus Project

Project Title

YOUnique4Europe – Mapping and presenting your unique personal and social competences for better employability in a digital world

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The project focusses on learners conducting or finishing initial VET programmes. Those young people find themselves repeatedly in transitional situations in which precisely personal and social competences make the decisive difference, e.g. when applying for an EU internship or on the European labour market. Why social competences? As regards work places deep technological shifts are said to change the economy, society, in general how people work together (OECD, ILO). Technical skills will not be enough and other complementary skills will be needed, such as social skills to work collaboratively and flexibly. Hence the project aims to emphazise the role of future soft skills and bring out precisely those in VET learners. Based on different research (The World Economic Forum, Skills Development Scotland ) the consortium identified three dimensions of modern soft skills: Self-management, Social intelligence and Innovation which comprise most in demand soft skills. They will account for the operational basis for the present project and integrate for example: curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, coordinating and communicating with others, emotional intelligence, initiative and adaptability.

Methodologically the project activities are based on 3 pillars – awareness raising, enabling and guidance:
Awareness-raising: In a first step VET learners shall be equipped with a toolkit, that helps them map their unique skills profile while stressing soft skills. The tools will raise the VET learners’ awareness about the high value of soft skills and guide them through the process of revealing and laying evidence to their individual set of social and personal competences.
Enabling: After having used the toolkit of output one, the target group is expected to be more aware about their own profile and prepared for transferring this knowledge into concrete products for an application. Thus the results of the second intellectual output will consist of a curriculum for a training on how to do so. With their soft skills in mind VET learners will be trained how to design an e-portfolio for a labour market in a digital world, that compiles instruments such as Europass CV, motivations letters, videos or other formats for self-presentation; how to use of social media in a meaningful way; how to apply the e-portfolio or parts of it appropriately depending on the context in terms of sector, destination country (intercultural) and application mode (traditional vs. e-recruiting). The training will be facilitated by an online platform that contains all necessary information and learning material. Both the toolkit and the training concept will be tested with VET learners who are about to apply for an EU internship or job.
Guidance: Finally VET students are embedded in formal learning contexts with VET staff (teachers, in-company tutors) fostering their progression towards skilled workers with own unique qualities. The project aims at strengthening those VET staff in their role as guide of VET students. In a handbook complementary to the previous output they find information and recommendation which enable them to better understand the needs of “generation Z”, promote their students’ soft skills development and support them in the application phase. With a second part of the handbook the project addresses SMEs staff and their demands for know-how on modern recruitment strategies to be able to compete with established enterprises for VET graduates.

With efforts for standardization, clarity for the target groups and exhaustive description of future soft skills they will be made more visible and comparable both for VET learners and their potential hosting companies or employers, thus improving the matching process between applicant and job. The creation of an open tool to use across the EU member states makes it more interesting and inspiring for young individuals to look at both complementary training and education as well as job opportunities outside their own country. With the use of the results of the project not only VET learners but also university students and other young employees are empowered and supported to take that extra step.

Project Website

http://www.younique4.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 297096,96 Eur

Project Coordinator

IHK- PROJEKTGESELLSCHAFT MBH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITAET ROSTOCK
• MENTORTEC SERVICOS DE APOIO A PROJECTOS TECNOLOGICOS SA
• SMEBOX AB
• Reattiva – Regione Europa Attiva