Main objective of the project:  Innovation

Horizontal priority: Open education and innovative practices in a digital era

• Promoting quality
• Innovation and recognition of youth work
• Promoting engaging, connecting and empowering young people

Youth unemployment has lifelong effects on income and employment stability, because affected young people start out with weaker early-career credentials, and show lower confidence and resilience in dealing with labour market opportunities and setbacks over the course of their working lives. The world of work has become an increasingly challenging environment, especially for young people. Youth unemployment in the EU is persistently higher than for other age groups. It becomes a much more serious issue when we are talking about young people who come from groups at risk. They are facing increasingly more obstacles when it comes to entering the labour market. Young people with fewer opportunities, NEETS, economically disadvantaged people, and young migrants are expected to demonstrate strong and relevant employability skills in order to get and keep a job. The problem is there are not many opportunities available for these where they can receive career guidance advice, acquire new skills and competences, prepare for the labour market, so that they can be qualified and competitive enough.

EMPLOY Project has developed this online multilingual mentoring e-Hub, where young people can find:

• Advice - via the available EMPLOY Skills and Competences Handbook for delivering mentoring for successful entrance into the labour market
• Mentoring topics - provide the full description of the mentoring pathways to be followed in providing services to young users
• Mentoring tools - provide description and applications of methods envisaged to enable the mentoring process: online communication through online sessions
• Peer learning - allowing mentees from different countries to communicate and exchange information, which will further foster the quality of the mentoring process
• Useful and relevant learning materials

Last but not least, the EMPLOY Project boost empowerment of young people who come from risk environments, providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills that will help them achieve their personal and professional endeavours.

The main impact dimensions:

• Youth workers in the field of providing mentoring and career guidance will improve their awareness on the issues faced by young unemployed people and benefits of online connectivity and networking, while also enhancing their motivation to help such young people, especially when they come from groups at risk.
• NEETS will benefit from online space for social networking, mentorship, and skills development, which will help them in the process of successful integration into the labour market;
• Young with fewer opportunities will receive support regarding specialised trainings, career guidance advice and mentorship from people that understand their challenges and struggles regarding finding and keeping an appropriate job position;
• Economically disadvantaged young people will mentoring support how to identify and pursue available jobs or to find and use the most relevant training resources that will contribute to their professional development and realisation;
• Young migrants and refugees will receive special training, mentoring and support, providing them with information and advice about: their labour rights and responsibilities, opportunities for skills development and job-focus training.

EMPLOY Skills and Competences Handbook - created as a set of key knowledge, skills and competences that young people should possess in order to successfully enter into the labour market and to continue with professional development. The Skills and Competences Handbook is innovative in its core ideas and goals by being the first attempt for a transnational framework with European outreach. Currently, there is no existing guidelines with the envisioned content or goals, no manual on how to best focus efforts on employability competences, career guidance, and mentoring for young people at risk. The Handbook contains manydifferent sections of valuable information, insights and good practices for young people in the context of their integration into the labour market, whichcan be applicable not only to the ones involved in the EMPLOY network, but for other young people facing similar struggles in other scenarios.The handbook is based on the wording and principles of the European Qualification Framework, which offer visibility and comparability across Europe. The handbook is a synthesis of all the state-of-the-art in programmes for encouragement of young people from groups at risk available in partner countries, Europe and on an international scale. The handbook along provides descriptions of the learning outcomes to be acquired by young people using the services provided by the EMPLOY Mentoring e-Hub. The EMPLOY Skills and Competences Handbook is distributed freely and is available on the platform, as well as available through all social media accounts. The Handbook is distributed freely and is available on the platform, as well as available through all social media accounts.

Policy Toolkit - is an innovative set of recommendations for policy- and decision-makers and other key stakeholders at all levels to enhance the youth policies in the context of fostering integration of young people from groups at risk into the labour market. The Policy toolkit will be based on the synthesised results from the previous activities of the EMPLOY project and will include the implementation and/or improvement of policies and guidelines, educational measures, and a roadmap for further knowledge transfer activities. The toolkit will be available online in 6 languages (EN, BG, TR, HU, Sl, and IT), downloadable, and adaptable to the institutional needs of all relevant policy- and decision-makers, as well as other key stakeholders in the field of youth employment. It aims to harmonise existing policies and services in the field. Mentoring platforms and services are one of the tools to support future generations to get prepared for the challenges on the labour markets in Europe and to pursue their ideas in a long-term and sustainable perspective. The toolkit will reflect the lessons learnt from the blended mobility mentoring sessions; training of youth workers for mentors; the continuous communication during the project with the target groups and other stakeholders; the feedback provided through the mentoring e-Hub, and the elaboration process of the EMPLOY Skills and Competences Handbook. The synthesis of these project insights will be placed in the context of 5 EU countries represented in the partnership (BG, HU, Sl, IT, and TR) and the overall EU landscape.It will map and highlight good practices established and will provide evidence base that might influence development of national and European policies in the field of lifting barriers and empowering young people to be successful on the labour market. The Policy toolkit will have the objective to inform policy makers and decision makers at all levels, from local to regional to transnational, about key conclusions of the project. It is intended, among others, for national and EU authorities in the field. Moreover, the toolkit will emphasis on the key role of youth workers in supporting social innovations and mentoring processes and the need for harmonising their continuous training in line with the EMPLOY methodology tools for delivering mentoring to young social innovators.