Supporting Career
Development; The role of
University’s Career Offices
A toolkit for Career Officers
Koral Ovesny, LEO-NET; Gianluca Mattarocci and Alma Orazi, Universita degli studi di Roma Tor
Vergata; Zrinka Trusic, Erasmus Student Network.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 2
Title: Supporting Career Development; The role of the University’s Career Offices
Subtitle: A toolkit for Career Officers
Copyright © 2021 by the Erasmus Jobs Project. All rights reserved.
Last updated 10
th
May, 2022
Published by: ErasmusJobs project consortium on https://erasmusjobs.org
Author: Koral Ovesny, LEO-NET; Gianluca Mattarocci and Alma Orazi, Universita degli studi di Roma
Tor Vergata; Zrinka Trusic, Erasmus Student Network.
Contributers: partners of Erasmus Jobs Project: EIIL, ELM, ESN, EUF, LEO-NET, MUNI, UMons,
Universidad de Alcalá, Universita degli studi di Roma Tor Vergata.
Editor: Wim Gabriels, Erasmus Student Netowk
This information can be freely used and copied for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate
credit is given and any changes made are indicated. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License CC BY-NC. 4.07
This project has been funded with the support from the European
Commission. The document reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 3
Contents
Contents 3
List of Figures 4
List of Tables 4
Introduction 5
1 Reflections from the Labour Market on Career Development of International students 7
2 Evolution of the career support 19
2.1 Digitalisation of Career Services for Erasmus+ Students 21
2.1.1 One-to-many career service activities 21
2.1.2 One-to-one career service activities 22
2.1.3 Many-to-one career service activities 23
3 Facilitation Career support for Erasmus+ students 25
3.1 Workshop Guidelines 25
3.1.1 Erasmus+ on your CV 25
3.1.2 Identifying Competences 29
3.1.3 Interview Simulation Workshop 30
3.1.3.1 Recruiters 32
3.1.3.2 Applicants 33
3.2 Facilitating Career Support digitally 34
3.2.1.1 ErasmusJobs.org 35
3.2.1.2 Case 1: Real-time services for hiring employees 37
3.2.1.3 Case 2: Talent acquisition process software 38
3.2.1.4 Case 3: AfterCollege: Advanced job profiling tools 39
3.2.1.5 Case 4: Challenge and competition tools online 40
3.2.1.6 Case 5 – Advanced tools for the career service activities 41
3.2.1.7 Case 6 – Tools for self-evaluation of CV 42
References 44
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 4
List of Figures
Figure 1. How relevant are the following motivators for cooperation with business / universities? 12
Figure 2. Recognized university – to – business activities 15
Figure 3. Hard Skills vs Soft Skills, the balance (2020) 28
List of Tables
Table 1. Benefits for the different stakeholders involved 17
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 5
Introduction
Participating in a mobility experience increases the long term employability of students (Erasmus
Impact Study 2014). However, at the same time, youth in Europe is facing huge challenges to find a job
right after graduation due to the challenging labour market and the lack of skills and working
experience. For employers, a mobility experience is generally considered an asset as 64% believe
international experience is important, but eventually, the obtained transversal skills and knowledge are
the aspects that matter the most (92%). Why are the skills gained through a mobility experience not
clear and why does this lack of recognition still exist?
In response to this, the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) launched ErasmusJobs, an Erasmus+ KA2
project, to bridge the skills gap for the Erasmus Generation. The project is a collaborative cross-
European partnership between ESN, Masaryk University, Leo-Net, Universidad de Alcala, European
Institute for Industrial Leadership, Université de Mons, European University Foundation, Università
degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", and Expertise in Labour Mobility B.V.
The ErasmusJobs project aims to bridge the skills gap and enhance the transition from education to the
labour market. Building on the core principle that a mobility experience reduces long-term
unemployment, the project aims to clearly identify the skills gained during a stay abroad and make those
more understandable by employers. In order to achieve that, ErasmusJobs brings together many
stakeholders to ensure a future of employable Erasmus+ alumni.
In order to achieve this, the project is focused on identifying the skills obtained during an international
mobility and translate these to the CV and labour market, creating tools to identify such skills and work
on the recognition of skills with employers and the industry, creating a common understanding of how
these skills can be mapped and raise awareness among employers and creating a platform for all
involved stakeholders to advertise, recognise and recruit for specific transversal key competences.
Universities represent the contact point of the education system with the labour market. Since the
development of the higher education model, it has been clear that universities cannot work
independently concerning the companies. A prosperous higher education institution (HEI) has to
construct its academic offer based on the job market needs. It has to keep updated the curse topics with
the new trends in the industry. The best practices for the HEIs show that the higher quality of the
education system is usually related to the direct involvement of companies and public administration in
the course planning and management.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 6
Career officers are the university’s employees who work directly with companies to understand their
needs and advise students about their career opportunities. The quality of the service offered depends
on the capability to understand the skills requested for entering the job market shortly and provide
services that may help fill the gap between the students’ skills and the job market demand. In the last
decades, the career service has radically changed, moving from a set of more standardized activities to a
more student/company-oriented action that is more effective for increasing the probability of getting
students.
Digitalization is changing the career officers’ activities, offering the opportunity to increase the quality
of the service provided and optimize the management of the resources allocated in career advising. In
the last decades, there has been a massive growth of the services providers for career office activities.
Nowadays, universities have to train their employees to select tools and platforms that are more useful
for helping their students enter the job market.
This report tackles some of the main needs identified during the training organized for career officers
organized at the University of Rome Tor Vergata (March 24
th
– 25
th
, 2021) in the framework of the
ERASMUSJOBS project. The target audience of the document is Career Officers actively involved in the
support of recent graduates and participants of the Erasmus+ programme.
Chapter 1 “Reflections from the Labour Market on Career Development of International students” tackles
the reflection of the labour market and why it is important for universities in general, and career offices
in particular, to build bridges with the labour market in a continuously globalising world that requires
stronger entrepreneurial skills of recent graduates, identifying how Erasmus+ traineeships can
contribute further to answering the needs to the labour market and explores how. Chapter 2 “Evolution
of career support”, identifies more specifically the role of the Career offices and how this transformed
from supporting recent immigrants to work in the early 1900’s, to reflecting on the impact of
digitalisation on methods to do career support. Chapter 3 “Facilitation Career support for Erasmus+
students” outlines two workshops that Career Officers can use in face-to-face or digital setting, followed
by an overview of the Erasmus Jobs portal and other digital tools.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 7
1 Reflections from the Labour Market on Career
Development of International students
Student recruitment and other types of cooperation that leads to students engaging with company
activities to gain practical skills may be perceived as a complex topic especially for those institutions and
businesses that might not have implemented the idea before.
On the verge of major changes in society, influenced by the impact of COVID-19 crisis and the necessity
to concentrate on the new ways of interaction and functioning, both the educational sector and the
labour market are under pressure to change.
The cultural change should happen with a grassroots approach, stemming from the need of a society for
new competences that have strong digital and entrepreneurial components. At the same time Higher
Education is confronted with the fact that they have to prepare a different educational system for
younger generations who in the light of the sought after digital and entrepreneurial skills may perceive
the lack of the basic interpersonal skills for functional relationships.
Businesses feel the pressure by failing to find a mature and responsible employee just as quickly as it
used to be in the past. Many talented young individuals out there are prepared to make use of their
potential and cultivate it to a higher level should they have a chance to have a different approach in
studies helping them with the integration on the labour market (European Parliament, 2020).
And, nonetheless, there are countless academics doing their best to help these young students in
conditions that are swiftly and unprecedentedly changing. All of this can be improved once the
university and the labour market starts to cooperate. Considering University-Business Cooperation; is
not a “nice-to-have” perspective, but a necessary and essential component in the study programme in
order to ensure graduates learn how to address societal challenges with viable business cases?
According to Quacquarelli (2018) in the Global Skills Gap in the 21st Century it is becoming more
and more vital that universities prepare graduates for the world of work. This means that the
development of soft skills, like teamwork and resilience, often become as important as the technical
skills and knowledge acquired during a degree. Opportunities for internships, study abroad, extra-
curricular activity and active learning can all contribute to the development of these and other skills
universities want. (Quacquarelli,2018).
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 8
With employers’ desire to hire students that are well-prepared for diverse work environments,
higher education institutions need to more closely examine the link between intercultural
preparation and workplace success (British Council, 2013a; Leppänen, Saarinen, & Airas 2014;
Ripmeester, 2014).
Imagine you lived in a knowledge – driven society where everyone was eager to learn, thrilled by the
idea to know themselves better and open to the improvement of their own skills in order to help society
grow with the available. In order to reach this vision for the future, this would for sure require global
talent and recruits to be talented individuals; bringing together the mindset of an entrepreneur and a
researcher.
Entrepreneur: The European Commission sees entrepreneurship as acting upon opportunities
and ideas and transforming them into value for others, which can be financial, cultural, or social
(European Commission, 2020).
Academic researcher/innovator: Professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new
knowledge, products, processes, methods and systems, and in the management of the projects
concerned (European Commission, 2005)
How does one become a talented individual with excellent human capital? They need variety of options
for employability, support for the development of entrepreneurial skills, gaining practical experience
and the opportunity to create networks.
The role of Higher Education institutions
It is the social responsibility of HEI to boost the human capital, to unwrap it and give a variety of
opportunities to have it developed further.
They need further development of the university - industry
links, new research, adapted teaching opportunities, possibilities to access resources and funding and
nonetheless an integrated UBC may have a positive impact on the ranking of universities.
1
Needs of the Business world
The labour market is confronted with a lack of skilled young individuals searching for employment due
to skills mismatch. Training costs to onboard newly recruited employees are high, as businnesses need
to overcome the skills gap, making the process of hiring new employees therefore a time and cost
1
For more information on this topic see Commission communication on a european strategy for universities, online:
https://education.ec.europa.eu/document/commission-communication-on-a-european-strategy-for-universities
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 9
intensive process for employers that want to invest in improving employees’ skills and their capacity for
innovations.
It is the domain of the Higher Education institutions to address the gap in the skills that are being
offered to the market and develop skilled human capital. HEI are well placed to bridge the skills gap; it is
a social responsibility, shared with the world of business that should offer a variety of real life learning
opportunities, complementary to classroom training.
University-Business Cooperation is about relationships
Based upon the results of the study The State of European University-Business Cooperation Final Report -
Study on the cooperation between Higher Education Institutions and public and private organisations in
Europe, introduced by Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre, 2011, the following
recommendations are being made
KEY finding: University-Business Cooperation is about relationships.
POSSIBLE action: The focus of UBC should be on the relationships between the academic and
the business Increasing and supporting the interactions between academics and business.
GOAL: Fostering activities that encourage encounters between academics and business, in
which they can exchange their ideas and build long-term relationships
2
The cooperation between university and industry is a people’s game, which should support people and
foster relationships thus leading to technological, humanitarian and economic development.
2
Source: https://www.ub-cooperation.eu/pdf/final_report.pdf
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 10
The Labour Market in Europe and the role of Education
The world of work is constantly evolving and changing. Research to better understandwhat is going, is
crucial for both businesses, Higher Education Institutions, academics, students and governments in
today’s global market.
According to Van Eerd and Guo (2020), World Economic Forum Annual Meeting:
● In 10 years’ time, 50% of jobs will be changed by automation - but only 5% eliminated.
● 9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills.
● Young, low-skilled and vulnerable people - all need help with upskilling.
It is believed that over the decade, 1.2 billion people worldwide will be affected by the rapid growth of
technology, most of them being women. We are on the verge of revolution, which rather than
eliminating jobs, will change them forever, requiring the employees to adapt to this technological
progress and work alongside with it.
In the future, 9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills, yet today 44% of Europeans aged 16-74 lack even
basic digital abilities. In Europe, the impending skills gap will lead to 1.67 million unfilled vacancies for
ICT professionals by 2025. (European Commission, 2017; World Economic Forum, 2020).
To support flourishing of not only digital skills among young individuals, universities are those who
should take on the role of mentor in this area, as in the forthcoming future the motivation of academics
and business representatives are very likely going to merge. Academics want new insight on their
research and Businesses want an access to their knowledge.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 11
Figure 1 How relevant are the following motivators for your cooperation with business / universities? Answered by
academics, HEI managers and business. Scale: 1 = not at all, 10 = to a high extent || Legend: > = lowest
The following challenges were identified for universities and career offices in the international labour
market (European University Association, 2021; .
Willingness to engage in cooperation: particularly providing the key motivating factor for
those involved.
Focus on mainly intellectual capabilities of their students
Focus on skills development
Focus on graduates and employability in order to get the insight on the quality of education
provided
Focus on improved ranking which equals better graduate employment: students are
making career focused study decisions
3
In Europe, even though Universities have moved from their traditional scope in their strategies to be
more impact oriented, both for their education and research activities, study programmes can still be
observed as very theoretically oriented with limited interconnection with practice or with low focus on
individual skills and that lead to limited inclusion of placements into curriculum which prevents the
creation of a link to support entrepreneurial skills,
The current impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused a shift from in-person education to virtual
and distant learning emphasised the need for more knowledge sharing and engagement. With students,
the young brains, learning often from their homes, lacking the real educational interaction, the
3
Source: https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/2007157/i-graduate/ISB%20Whitepaper%20Jul%2021.pdf
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 12
traditional learning based on simple theoretical education is no longer apt and stimulating. The change in
educational approach at the university level towards the university – to – business cooperation depends
on the maximised communication, motivation, willingness and capability to share knowledge between
the stakeholders in order to lead to a change in our society with a more entrepreneurial spirit in the jobs
of future generations.
The entrepreneurial spirit can be defined as:
Be proactive to identify the opportunities and follow them
Have problem-solving mindset that is creative with resources
be resilient and withstand adversity
have a persistent and positive outlook
This would represent a young professional worthy of forcing the changes for the whole society and how
the society is functioning. According to the literature review produced within the ErasmusJobs project
by Gardel & Egli (2021); this matches with the skills gained through Erasmus+ mobilities and valued by
employers.
How does a university switch from their usual ways of functioning into an institution providing the
supporting atmosphere to motivate the young brains into becoming entrepreneurial?
4
Higher
Education Institutions engaged in creative ways of working together with businesses may become the
more attractive option for both domestic and international students, which will have an impact on the
competitive higher education market, where Higher Education Institutions need to 'fight' for their place.
A university to industry cooperation may just start by a small preparatory step: the supervision of the
thesis by the professional from the company or having a consultant for a business project. At the same
time, it may be some common project financed by some European funds or a joint activity like having a
professional explaining the practical issues from their own experience.
4
For more information on this topic see What’s cooking? / Cookbook for Employability online:
https://www.labourmobility.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/StudyQld_Cookbook-for-Employability-
V8_AW.pdf
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 13
More in-depth cooperation of the universities – to – industry cooperation in the short term, as well as
in the long term horizon, could develop in in common curricula or common research that would lead
to the valorisation and management of common outputs.
Having common curricula, employers involved in curricula co-design, co-delivery or common
management as seen in the picture below, presents some open space for businesses to have an eye on
the most prosperous students and take them under their protection and supervision, paving the carrier
mutually advantageous both for the student and the company.
Common research based on the company’s assignment facilitates the progress of a company and if
based on the university’s request, it loops the educational institution closer to current trends. The
cooperation in this area leads to the activities in more areas. It is very likely that an academic
cooperating with a business in research would be open to involve more business colleagues in giving
lectures, for example, and the businesses may gain on the innovation process and the competitive
advantage by having an access to the latest research activities, thus such activities can be viewed as
mutually beneficial.
“Valorisation activities relate to the commercialisation of knowledge emerging from a Higher education
institution, such as ‘commercialisation of Research & Development’, ‘academic entrepreneurship’ and
‘student entrepreneurship’. Management activities relate to illustrate a more strategic nature to
cooperation between Higher education institution and business with the activities grouped into three
categories: ‘governance’, ‘shared resources’ and ‘industry support (European Commission, 2019).
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 14
Nonetheless, there are other ways of building foundation for the university-to-industry cooperation.
Even though it may not be recognized in the annual assessment of an academic or measured in the
survey, the informal bonds are of equal importance to support the idea of entrepreneurial environment
at the university.
Prof. Dr. Todd Davey, Arno Meerman, Dr. Victoria Galan Muros, Balzhan Orazbayeva and Prof. Dr.
Thomas Baaken, the authors of the Final report on the state of University-Business Cooperation in
Europe, a European Commission study conducted in 2016 and 2017, state that the broader notion of
university-to-industry cooperation could also be understood as informal and formal social links:
attendance at industry sponsored meetings,
attendance at conferences,
personal informal contacts,
informal contacts, talks and meetings,
ad-hoc advice and networking with practitioners,
informal technology transfer,
career talks, interviews, career fairs
According to the State of the University – Business cooperation in Europe Final Report there is a need to
shift the assessment of universities away from the focus on publications to the focus on stronger
cooperation with businesses (European Commission, 2018). A cultural shift needs to happen pushing
Figure 2 recognized university – to – business activities
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 15
national governments to change their way of functioning in regards to funding, thus becoming the
facilitator of the modern 21
st
Century’s education with a win-win quality, where the outcome of such
activity would have a significant impact on the society as a whole (European Commission, 2018).
Currently, the most common ways for universities to collaborate with businesses happens through
student projects, dual education programmes, co-creation of curricula, lifelong learning, common
research and development projects, mobility of staff and consulting. The most common ways for
businesses to collaborate with universities also happens through mobilities and dual education
programmes, but they also seek consulting, governance, support and involve themselves into shared
resources (Ripmeester, 2014).
Some typical profile of an academic in cooperation with industry may be depicted as follows:
- they start their cooperation with business on their own initiative
- they cooperate with more than one company
- the companies are from their own area, region, country
- they plan the sustainable cooperation
- they are involved in more than one activity
On the other hand, the profile of the business to university cooperation would be:
- the one who finds the partner at the university to work on the set task
- the one who cooperates with more than one university
- the one who continues the cooperation with more activities
- the one who plans and maintains the cooperation
The advantages of such cooperation for universities would surface in innovation strategies which help
build a competitive advantage over other HEIs and may advance the ranking by developing more
research and development, whereas the organisation would gain on its social performance and gain
greater credibility with its stakeholders.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 16
For Business
Universities
Research
Students
- discover talented individuals
- help improve their business
profile
- help progress and gain profit
- access to the latest
discoveries and innovation
- new ways for teaching
- more practice embedded
education
- better graduate profile
- better ranking
- possible valorisation of
research and development
- insight in the challenges of
the sectors / employers
- new ways of teaching,
classroom simulations of
real professional contexts
- source for research, insights
in the challenges of the
sector / the labour market as
well as specific needs for
innovation
- impact of their research on
society
- reputation
- more professional
realisation
- more practical learning,
thus better developed skills
- learning about one’s own
natural talents and career
awareness
- insight in the challenges
and innovation needs in the
professional sector
- more attractiveness for the
labour marked
- becoming entrepreneurial
Table 1: Benefits for the different stakeholders involved
It is generally recognised that there are three types of barriers to university - to - industry cooperation; a
lack of funding, a lack of university-business relations and problems with achieving stable results.
Universities may experience limited resources for mobility experiences and on top of that many
educational institutions lack employees with business experience, which would add to the feeling of
internal obstacles to the cooperation.
The university management should be made aware of the importance of working with the labour
market, now more than ever. Different initiatives and pilots can be developed by teaching staff and
liaison officers. Good practices can find their way through the institution on a bottom up basis. However,
the institution’s management should formally support UBC in its many appearances, by creating a
framework and putting the necessary earmarked resources at the disposal of the institutions’
departments to build out UBC in each study programme. UBC initiatives can take place off-campus and
on-campus.
Erasmus+ Internships and Job placements to improve interaction between education and labour
market
An interesting idea in this concept is the scenario, where a Higher Education Institution becomes so
profoundly involved in the industry that it becomes an unseparated part of the region/nation, serving as
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 17
an important facilitator of local or national changes in the areas involved. New ways of cooperation need
to arise, and indeed, new ways of cooperation are being created. Even though it may seem that with
COVID-19 it is difficult to start new activities, it is just the perception from the point of what we were all
used to: the old ways of functioning.
Traineeship mobilities, which have been by far the most common way of interconnection between the
stakeholders (university, students, companies or institutions) are undergoing major change. In the
COVID-19 era, the perception of what a mobility experience entails, has changed. In the reaction to the
spread of coronavirus, the European Union issued the instructions where it encouraged the Higher
Education Institutions to be flexible and pragmatic to help the students from all geographical area to
pursue their mobility activities, even remotely (European Commission, 2020).
In 2020, The European Council ensured that all the actions are clearly communicated and coordinated
and according to its latest issue of Conclusions of 22 October 2021 (European Commission, 2021), it
recalls the goal to transform Europe digitally, to gain digital sovereignty, particularly with the focus on
digital skills and education in its “Path to the Digital Decade”. In light of this development, each part
involved in the goal of university-to-industry would first need to identify its resources such as financial
resources and human capital, followed by the universities need to encourage financial incentives,
support the staff undergo digital transformation and strategically encourage students to take part in
internships in partnerships with the industry. Business on the other hand should redesign it’s operations
with in line with digitalisation processes, build stronger connections to university career centres and
involve students in the digital transportation.
Talking about students and internships, in particular, for many years the European Commission has
promoted the establishment of regional consortia for traineeship mobility and many successful
consortia have been formed. The Erasmus+ University Consortia for traineeship mobility play a key role
as a regional point of contact for different target groups: students, graduates, Higher Education
Institutions, host organisations/companies and decision makers.
Moreover, the Erasmus+ University Consortia have considerable potential for creating added value:
quality assurance of traineeships for both trainees and host organisations, quality services in an efficient
and cost-effective manner or knowledge centres for international traineeship expertise.
The Career Offices connected to these consortia can play a key role in promoting and supporting active
networking between Higher Education Institutions and companies, in helping to unlock more
traineeship opportunities for young graduates, raising the quality of the traineeship experience for all
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 18
parties involved. They can facilitate dialogue and cooperation between the HEI members and different
regional stakeholders (policy decision makers, regional employment agencies, regional companies), for
which these consortia could act as a go between.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 19
2 Evolution of the career support
The career service has been changing in the last decades, and the type, quality, and assistance requested
by the job market and the students have been affected by the new skills demanded. An analysis of the
historical development of the career service had to consider the following milestones (Dey and
Cruzvergara, 2014):
Figure 1. The evolution of the career service (Dey and Cruzvergara, 2014)
The first idea of vocation bureaus was born in the United States in early 1900 to help immigrants find a
job upon arrival based on the skill and expertise they had in their home country. Job search at that time
was relatively easy. It did not require specific skills because there was a lack of supply of human
resources necessary for supporting the country's industrial development and employers.
The demand for new jobs was quite intense because the country’s growth was fast, and everyone could
find the occupation that fit the best with their skills and abilities. Employers typically offered directly
training on the job for the new employees that allowed low-skilled individuals to get a job (Hirschman
and Mogford, 2009). The vocational bureaus' role was only to collect job offers and provide them to all
the people looking for a job without providing any additional service for the employees or the
employers.
The job market in the period 1920-1940 has changed because the life quality standards had improved,
and families started to invest in developing their children's skills by spending money in elementary and
secondary school. At this stage, the role of education in preparing for the job market has changed.
1900-1920
Vocational
Guidance
1920-1940
Teachers
Guidance
1940-1970
Job
Placement
1970-1990
Career
Counseling
1990-2010
Professional
networking
2010-2030
Connections
&
communities
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 20
Teachers assumed the role of education guidance for the students to help them get an opportunity in the
job market (Pope, 2000). At this stage, the interaction of education with the job market was not a rule.
Only some schools, especially in the bigger towns and cities where the number of students was high
enough to justify the service, can offer a valuable service to their students. At this stage, the career
advisory was provided directly by the teachers in charge to identify skills and abilities and advise pupils
about job opportunities.
After 1940 the career service changed. It became an absolute job placement service in which the higher
education institutions hire specialized employees that must help students enter the job market.
Differently, concerning the previous scenario, the focus of the service became both the students' skills
and attitudes and the current job offers in the market. Career services had to study the job market
trends carefully and adjust the academic path based on the new job profiles requested by the industry.
The service aims to create career planning that allows students to reach their target in the job market
(Kretovicks, Honaker, and Kraning, 1999).
The job market in the 1970s-1990s has become more selective, and universities could no longer offer a
first job opportunity to all the graduates. The previous mechanism that evaluated the career office only
based on the number of graduates that obtain a job immediately after graduation is no longer
sustainable. The service offered by universities at this stage was to provide academic programs that
match the industry's needs and assist students in preparing themselves for their future careers and
competing in the job market to have access to the job they want (Castella, 1990).
Starting from the 1990s, universities have increased their attention to the opportunities offered by
professional networking and have begun planning and organizing events to strengthen relationships
with key industry partners (Dey and Real, 2010). The development of technology and the rising of social
networks also impacted career service activities that increased the university's reputation in the
industry and focused more on creating a brand identity in the international job market.
In the XXI century, the perceived quality of the career series has reached the maximum. The success of a
university cannot be independent of respect for the quality of the job market placement (Dey and
Cruzvergara, 2014). The choice of the university is also affected by the network of companies involved
and the capacity to help students develop their specific career paths. Each student has unique skills and
expectations that the career office must consider in the mentoring activities. Successful universities can
offer customized services by organizing career meetings and helping students create their network from
a selected number of employers, alumni, faculty members, and public servants who are usually invited
(in the presence or virtually) at the university.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 21
The pandemic has affected career service activity by changing their way of interacting with students and
employers due to the social distancing rules and the lockdown issues. In a few days, all the activities
were obliged to move online. The digitalization of the service has sped up for both the career offices and
the recruiters with new skills requested to support students in entering the job market. Online
interviews have become a standard (at least for the first steps of the selection process). Students
received counselling through virtual meetings with career officers and online tools offered on the
university's website (mock job interviews, job search seminars, etc.). The new normal created for
managing the emergency is expected to
Last also, after the end of the pandemic, the social distancing rules and career officers must consider the
new scenario for the human resource selection procedure that will characterize the following decades
(Caligiuri et al., 2020).
2.1 Digitalisation of Career Services for Erasmus+ Students
Due to the nature of Erasmus+ mobilities being depended on academic calendars or internship
placements, Erasmus+ alumni return from mobilities at different times, making in person career support
for Erasmus+ students at the sending institution more complicated. Furthermore, if students are not
local to their sending institution but commute to campus or were living in student housing prior to their
exchange, it is likely they will not be physically active on campus after completing their semester abroad.
Technology can help facilitate the job of a career office by offering new opportunities to engage with
recent Erasmus+ graduates to improve the quality of the service offered to students and reduce the cost
and the time spent supporting each student that requires the service. Career services solutions offered
may be classified in three types of support:
One to many;
One to one;
Many to one.
A detailed description of the role of digitalization in the different types of services provided by the
career offices will be described in the following subsections.
2.1.1 One-to-many career service activities
A one-to-many allows organizing activities with one speaker, digital solutions allow for this interaction
to happen simultaneously with different people connected from the comfort of their home through the
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 22
internet. The interaction is only one-way, and listeners may interact only by using chat and other
discussion tools provided and supervised by the speaker.
The one-to-many solution fits standardized services that career offices have to repeat several times for
the different cohorts of students for introducing to the career service. The solution is frequently used
for organizing seminars about CV writing tips, rules for creating a customized motivation letter, an
overview of the steps in a selection procedure, etc.
The online solution will allow to register for only one of the lectures and offer the students the
opportunity to access and follow the seminar with a flexible schedule. The chance to organize MOOC
instead of the standard face-to-face workshop will also allow students to select to attend only the topics
that they do not know and fully customize the service based on their previous experience in the job
market for the student.
The online solution represents a clear value-added solution for all the higher education institutions that
have many students that are not living nearby or that have different campuses widespread in the area
because by using the online tool; all the students will receive the same quality of the career service
advisory independently concerning the possibility to reach the university every day. The cost and the
time necessary for organizing the activities in a digital environment is significantly lower concerning the
face-to-face scenario.
2.1.2 One-to-one career service activities
The one-to-one activities for a career office are fully customized based on the student's specific needs.
They are the most valuable and time-consuming activities for the career offices. Officers’ experience in
understanding students’ needs is the critical success factor for ensuring a high-quality service.
One-to-one interviews and meetings represent a standard tool used in the selection procedure by
employers. In a virtual scenario, the interview style may differ from face-to-face. Students have to be
trained to perform at their best, even in a virtual environment, because the average duration will be
lower, the interaction with the interviewer will be limited, and the tools used during the interview
(market simulation, case study, etc.) may be different.
The opportunity to use online solutions has also increased the companies' interest in hiring
internationally. The competition in the job market has grown significantly, with more international
candidates evaluated online for a job position in each country. In this new scenario, the success rate in a
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 23
job interview is expected to be lower, and so the advisory service could be requested by each student for
a more extended period.
Digital solutions have also offered new tools for the selection procedures that companies currently use
to select the best candidates by using artificial intelligence in the screening of the candidates and by
creating challenges or hackathons online for evaluating the ability to do teamwork and compete in the
real world scenario. In the former system, the main aim of the digital tool is to make a pre-screening of
the applicants and reduce the time spent in the selection procedure.
The success probability of an application is influenced by the knowledge of the criteria considered by
the AI for evaluating applications. In the latter, the digital framework allows the creation of a more
interesting and innovative solution for testing the applicants’ skills for which students have to be trained
to perform at their best.
Digital tools help optimize the time scheduling activities for the career officers when the number of
students is higher and when they do not live nearby the university facilities. Some of the activities could
be effectively organized remotely, and the career officers may benefit from the opportunity of doing
smart working for some days of the week.
2.1.3 Many-to-one career service activities
The many-to-one tools are helpful to increase the possibility of developing an international network and
organizing (at reasonable costs) events useful for the student's career path.
The first innovation is related to moving conferences with industry leaders from face-to-face to online.
The solution seems to be very effective to have more speakers involved who perceive this type of
activity as less time-consuming and are interested in being involved. The agenda construction for such
events is usually more accessible because delegates do not have to spend time traveling to reach the
conference venue. The number and standing of potential speakers could be higher than in a standard
event.
Some universities also use online tools to offer mentoring services to the students who want to enter or
are just entered into the job marketing. The online solution makes it easier to identify professionals who
want to help young graduates at the beginning of their careers. From the mentee's point of view, the
digital solution typically allows faster interaction with the mentor but may not allow establishing a long-
term personal relationship.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 24
Online community and meet-ups are also solutions helpful to creating and maintaining an alumni
association that could help the university in the placement activities. The community requires to
organize events periodically among the members to assist in networking opportunities. The online
solution seems to perform best when former students move abroad for their careers or, more generally,
when they have busy agendas.
Activities organized online offer the opportunity to share them with other partner universities to
maximize the number of students involved. A joint project based on career service activities managed
online may be successful if the partners share knowledge and experience to offer their students the best
service. A clear advantage of the digital solution is related to sharing the service cost that will provide a
high-quality service by developing a joint activity for universities with limited budgets.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 25
3 Facilitation Career support for Erasmus+
students
3.1 Workshop Guidelines
In order for recent Erasmus+ participants to understand how to better link the competences students
have gained abroad, Career Offices need to be better equipped at supporting students in this process.
This chapter aims at providing career officers with two workshop outlines that career officers can
implement during a physical or online workshop.
These two workshops outlines will tackle the skills recognition and how to link this to your CV on the
one hand, while addressing the processes of being interviewed through interview simulations in the
second exercise.
The first exercise, titled “Erasmus+ on your CV” lasts 90 minutes, while the second workshop titled
“Interview simulations”, lasts 90 minutes as well. Both exercises can be combined to a 3 hour workshop.
3.1.1 Erasmus+ on your CV
This session aims to empower the participants with detailed knowledge on how to identify, assess and
strengthen their skills gained during their mobility period and apply that knowledge in their personal
and professional lives.
● Learning how to sell the Erasmus experience in professional context
● Showing the overlap between top skills of the labour market and soft skills
● Learning how to use the skills booklet and dictionary;
● Understanding the importance of mobility experiences in enhancing competences;
● Understanding the three ways of learning (formal, non-formal and informal);
● Understanding the differences between soft skills and hard skills:
● Being able to connect personal experiences with the theory explained;
● Being able to identify the skills gained through personal volunteering.
Duration:
90 min
Participants:
20-30
Preparation:
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 26
Introduction
The facilitator opens the session and explains to the participants how the session will go. The
facilitator introduces him/herself, sets some rules, explains the objectives of the workshop and
the tools that he/she is going to use.
Short Ice-breaking Game
The participants introduce themselves (name, university study background, nationality, … ) and
point out the most important skill (can be either soft or hard) that they have gained because of
Erasmus.
*The facilitator must write down the skills on a flipchart or online whiteboard
Soft Skills vs Hard Skills
Hard skills are abilities that can be easily measured and defined,
they are accurate and technical related to the job position, they are
often verbs of action. Soft skills are closer to your personality, they
are less specific and can come in handy in various situations
(transversal).
The facilitator creates 2 (online) flipcharts: one for soft skills and one for
hard skills. The participants need to write down different ideas on both
flipcharts, using their experience and knowledge. The participants have
7 – 10 minutes to write down their ideas and 3 minutes to have a short
discussion around them.
The facilitator can use the following guiding questions to make the
discussion easier:
● Do you think that some skills can be placed on both sides?
● Why?
● Do you think that a hard skill can be a soft skill and the other way
round? Why?
After the discussion is over, the facilitator explains the differences
between soft and hard skills.
Papers with roles
Chairs
Watch / timer
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 27
Knowledge - Skills - Attitude Model
Divide the group and ask them to come up with definitions of knowledge, skills and attitude, providing
us with some examples. The groups have 10 minutes to come up with their definitions and present them
briefly. The participants can ask questions and comment on the outcomes of the teams. Once the
presentations are over, the facilitator presents the KSA model, explains what competence development
is and gives some examples.
Skill: The ability, coming from one’s knowledge, practise, aptitude, etc., to do something well. An ability
and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively
carry out complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills),
and/or people (interpersonal skills).
Competence: A cluster of related abilities, commitments, knowledge, and skills that enable a person (or
an organisation) to act effectively in a job or situation. A measurable pattern of knowledge, skills, and
behaviours that an individual needs to perform work roles or occupational functions successfully.
Figure 3 Hard Skills vs Soft Skills, the balance (2020)
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 28
Knowledge: know what
theories, facts, concepts,
information, description, etc
Skills: know-how
processes, operations, practical
application, procedures, etc.
Attitude: individual traits
values, beliefs, personal and
interpersonal behaviours, etc.
Project Management (competence ex. )
Knowledge
knowing the project process and its stages (setting goals and objectives,
implementation, evaluation, reporting, etc.)
Skill
knowing how to use different project management tools how to measure the
impact of the activities how to create a communication strategy/plan for a
targeted group
Attitude
inspired to turn ideas into a project and execute it motivated to improve the
competence
Erasmus Skills on your CV
Show a relevant job vacancy for the student group, and ask them to select the competences
they feel are relevant to the vacancy that they gained through their mobility experience.
Participants are asked to select which competences they gained through mobility
(see the handout on the next two pages).
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 29
Note: If they want, they can take an assessment through assessment.erasmusskills.eu, to
assess their competences.
The participants have 15 minutes to work on this activity. After that, 3-4 participants will be asked to
present their experience and to convince the recruiter they are the best person for the job. The role of
the recruiter can be played by the facilitator, another participant or someone external.
This part of the activity lasts for 10 minutes, after which the audience can give feedback on the
interviews, followed by the recruiter and facilitator.
TIP
Share the EramusJobs CV and Interview Guidelines in the ErasmusJobs toolkit
or visit the ErasmusJobs Competence Center
3.1.2 Identifying Competences
Select which competences you have gained through your mobility by visiting the ErasmusJobs
Competence Center.
The competences centre contains a list of competences divided into clusters and identified through a
process of HR mapping of youth workers and mobility students, and research carried out by the
ErasmusJobs project activities that targeted students, recruiters and Higher Education Institutions.
The competences are aligned with the ever-changing labour market and its demands based on the global
developments, as well as policy documents, mechanisms and processes such as Sustainable
Development Goals, European Youth Work Agenda, European Skills Agenda, Skills Forecast and more.
Select those that you find most relevant to discuss in your recruitment process.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 30
3.1.3 Interview Simulation Workshop
The main idea behind the simulation is to create a space for participants to practice describing their
mobility/studying experience, verbalise the competences gained and developed and present themselves
as a young professional. In order to do this, this document contains an explanation on how to set up a
simulation, which roles to assign and how to debrief after the simulation is over.
Before the activity, ask the participants to prepare for the interview based on their own experience. Ask
them to determine the opportunity that they would like to apply for and design their presentation
accordingly by using their own personal experience. They don't necessarily need to share the
opportunity with the recruiter (this can be done during the debriefing) but for the volunteers who have a
lot of experience, it would be easier for them to put it in the context if they had an aim.
Duration:
90 min
Participants:
10 -15
Preparation:
Materials
Introduction
The facilitator opens the session and explains to the participants how the session will go and explains
to them how the interview simulations will be executed, they reveal and define the main terms that
will be used during the session and ask if anyone has any questions.
The facilitator divides the participants into two groups: recruiters and applicants. The recruiters
receive their type, and the applicants theirs and they are supposed to prepare for the interview -
recruiters think about their behaviour and prepare their questions, and applicants prepare how they
will prepare themselves.
Interview simulations
One recruiter and one applicant are matched and they do interviews in pairs (
for example, if you have 20 applicants, you would have 10 pairs). They give each
other feedback. Ideally, you would have time to repeat the interview
Papers with roles
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 31
simulation, this time implementing the feedback received. E.g. 5 minutes for an
interview, 5 minutes for feedback, 5 minutes for reviewing and implementing
feedback, 5 minutes for redoing it.
The groups are switched - previous recruiters are now applicants and vice versa
and the same process is repeated.
Chairs
Watch / timer
De-rolling
Participants are de-rolled from their recruiter and applicant roles and they
assume their volunteer roles back.
● ‘De-rolling’ is simply how to get one out of character. This can be done
in a few ways:
○ Get moving! Can be as simple as shaking out your body – your
arms, legs, feet, hands. Alternatively, participants can simply
close their eyes and take a few deep breaths.
○ You can have a quick energizer or take a quick break.
Debrief
Debriefing is the facilitation of learning from experience. Debriefing is the
discussion that follows training activities to review and analyse what has just
happened. Debriefing is a process of guided reflection carried out after a
learning activity or a series of activities which allows participants to express
their thoughts and feelings about the content and process of the learning
experience. It is a time to step back and spend some time sharing feelings,
experiences, drawing different ideas and arriving to some conclusions.
Examples of questions you can ask in the debriefing stage:
● How did the simulation go?
● What strategy did you take? How did you decide on this or that?
● How did you feel during the activity?
● What did you learn from the process?
● What did you learn about yourself?
● How can you apply this experience/knowledge?
● Is there anything else you would like to learn or practice to feel more
confident in a real life situation?
● If you would do it again, what would you do differently?
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 32
There are two main roles the participants can get assigned - recruiters and volunteers. Recruiters are
the ones who should ask questions according to the description of their role. Volunteers should think
about the keywords, phrases, sentences that can help them achieve the goal according to the
description of their experience. For each of the roles, there are two types. Therefore, the participants
should be split into a maximum of four groups. If the number of the participants is small, they should still
be split into two groups - one group will be recruiters and the other one applicants.
Once the participants are split into groups and they have an opportunity to discuss their roles and what
they will do, participants from all groups should have an opportunity to take part in the interview
simulations. This means that if there are four groups (two groups of the recruiters and two groups of
volunteers), both types of the recruiters and both types of the volunteers should get their time to do the
interview. For example, in the first simulation, there can be a recruiter from type 1 and a volunteer from
type 1. In the next interview, there can be a recruiter from type 2 and a volunteer from type 2. In an
interview afterwards, there can be another recruiter from type 1 and a volunteer from type 2, and so on.
Note: If it would make it easier for the participants, an opportunity they are applying for can be
determined beforehand but it is not necessary as both recruiters and volunteers should focus on
presenting their volunteering experience as an added value to their growth as a professional, as well as
verbalise the competences and think of ways to use any form of validation they have been awarded.
3.1.3.1 Recruiters
The participants who get assigned the role of recruiters are the ones who should think about
the potential question to ask the volunteer coming to an interview and hoping to get an
opportunity that they are applying for. There are two types of recruiters (described below).
Depending on the description of the type the participants were assigned, they should think of
the questions to ask the interviewee. They should use the information provided in the
description in order to think of the potential questions that will lead to the final outcome
mentioned in the description.
Type #1
You are recruiters. You know a lot of non-formal and informal education but don’t think that can be in
the same range with a formal education and a university degree. For you, participating in international
education and training events are a nice way to pass the time but for a job - not enough. You have your
mind set on saying ‘no’ at the end of the interview, no matter what the person you’re interviewing tells
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 33
you. Think of the questions you are going to ask and the reasons why international skills don’t work for
you.
Type #2
You are recruiters. You don’t know much about Erasmus+ and International student mobility. To you, it
is more or less the same as a regular education degree. You think someone can learn different things
through international student mobility, but you don’t know how it is possible to prove that you learned
something through non-formal or informal education, so you are a bit cautious about the validity and
reliability of any kind of certificate.
Note for recruiters:
● Type #1 is open to listening them out, however, they are stubborn and set in their ways and
their mind can't be changed, while type #2 is sceptical and questions everything that the
participants say due to their lack of knowledge.
● Examples of questions a recruiter could ask:
○ If the applicant says that they have leadership competence, a recruiter could ask them
to give a practical example where they have developed this competence.
○ A recruiter can ask what type of learning opportunities applicants have utilised besides
having a formal education.
○ A recruiter can ask what the applicant learnt from volunteering that they can apply in
their work.
3.1.3.2 Applicants
The participants who get assigned the roles of applicants (or better explained, interviewees) aim to get
the opportunity they are applying for. There are two types of recruiters (described below). Depending
on the description of the type the participants were assigned, they should think of the best ways to
prove their competences and use their volunteering experience as a stepping stone in growing as a
young professional and standing out among the other candidates.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 34
3.2 Facilitating Career Support digitally
The students frequently evaluate career officers and universities to select a university. A good track
record in the placement may represent an advantage for the university to increase the number and the
quality of the students enrolled. A preliminary evaluation of the quality of the service provided is based
on:
Information availability and content
Ease of use or usability
Privacy and security
Entertainment and graphic style
Fulfilment and readability
Technology is changing the job market, and the education system has to change to offer its students
services that may support them in entering the job market. The career office activities have changed
from a simple guidance service to a placement service in which the value-added perceived is mainly
related to networking, connections, and alumni community.
The career officer's new and less standardized service may be provided using technology and digital
tools to increase the quality of the service offered without requesting a significant increase in the
budget expenditures.
The Covid-19 has sped up the innovation by forcing career services to use for the first time technology
tolls for one-to-one activities, one-to-many events, and many-to-one tools. Digital solutions available for
career officers’ actions are growing over time, and universities have to select the tools that are more
useful based on the students’ skill skills, the target job market, and the type of activities jointly organized
with the industry.
Online tools offer many solutions for the career office, especially those that work with a many Erasmus+
students and graduates that spend time abroad. Universities are investing resources to develop new
websites that are appealing to students, and companies need to be updated periodically and customized
based on the community's specific needs that have to be served.
In this chapter, we will present the ErasmusJobs.org portal, while also highlighting some of the digital
tools that Career Officers might find useful to further support Erasmus+ graduates searching for jobs as
well as help them improve the visualisation of their gained competences.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 35
3.2.1.1 ErasmusJobs.org
The central element of the ErasmusJobs project is the development of a job platform specifically
targeting graduated Erasmus+ alumni (seeking a job between 0-5 years after obtaining the degree).
Building on the research conducted, the job platform highlights the competence profile of the students,
hereby providing a more comprehensive overview of the students’ knowledge and skills than a
traditional CV would do. In addition, the platform will place emphasis on mobility experience, languages,
volunteering and the informal and non-formal learning that such experiences teach and transversal
skills gained through both the academic experience, as well as the mobility experience as such. The
platform will capture a lot more than formal learning and professional experience, aiming to provide all
stakeholders more tools to successfully enter, recruit or teach for the labour market.
At the same time, the platform aims to increase labour mobility around Europe, offering international
opportunities to Erasmus+ alumni. With a focus on languages and emphasis on skills, the job platform
will allow to explore, enter and recruit for international career paths.
Furthermore, the platform aims to provide a solution for the tracking of Erasmus+ alumni allowing
integrated tracking of the formal degree, skills gained through non-formal learning, mobility experiences
and the first job.
ErasmusJobs
ErasmusJobs.org brings together the Erasmus Generation and employers. Created by the
Erasmus Student Network (ESN) in the ErasmusJobs project the website focuses on increasing
the employability of students who have experienced a mobility exchange, highlighting its
beneficial effects to future employers. The platform wants to facilitate the interaction and
application process between Erasmus+ graduates and employers recruiting young people with
an international mindset.
- Helps students in the creation of an attractive profile, highlighting skills gained through
mobility experiences, volunteering and other extracurricular activities.
- The detailed profile will help employers to recruit talent with matching skills, educational
background and experiences.
- The platform provides career offices and universities with a concrete tool to support
students in the creation of a competence profile and the transition to the labour market.
The Comprehensive Competence Profile compiles competences gained abroad while also
addressing expectations from employers.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 36
More information
ErasmusJobs.org
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 37
3.2.1.2 Case 1: Real-time services for hiring employees
The development of digital tools is no longer a choice because the current generation of students
(generation Z) is globally oriented, influenced by social networks, highly demanding, eager to stand out,
interested in feedback after the experience, and responsible for social issues. The type of service
requested must be online, updated in real-time, and provide standard information about the job
opening, the recruitment process stage and informal feedback, and the job or interview experience.
Handshake
How to: How does it work
Category: Career service opportunities
Job seekers: 9,000,000+
Career offices: 1,400+
Employers: 650,000+
Handshake was created in 2013 to ensure that all college students have equal access to
meaningful careers. Job-seekers have to download the app, create their profile, interact directly
with the HR of companies looking for new talents, and read reviews by past employees and
applicants for the job.
Employers can customize their job offers with all the details they want to disclose, prioritize
their criteria for screening applicants, and conduct online some of the interview stages.
Career officers can link directly with the system providing all the students the direct access to
the platform with the school/university credentials and monitoring their application online.
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 38
3.2.1.3 Case 2: Talent acquisition process software
From the employer's point of view, recruiting directly on campus is expensive as it requires the
employer to identify a team of recruiters that could visit a campus where there are potential candidates
for their job positions. A standard team involved in a recruitment process includes recruiters involved in
the interviews, a campus recruiting director, an operation manager, and a marketer. Frequently,
companies will not have the opportunity to have a whole, entire team for the recruitment. Digital
solutions are offered to companies to reduce the number of people involved in the selection process and
standardize certain steps of the procedure to provide a high-quality service to applicants even with a
low number of HR employees involved.
YELLO
How to: How does it work
category: Career service opportunities
User countries: 70 +
Languages: 15+
Employers: 300+
YELLO is software developed in 2008 used by employers and career offices for organizing and
managing the interview process for hiring new resources in a company.
Recruiters may decide to use the software because it offers several real-time statistics on the job
application processing that allow them to monitor each applicant's performance effectively and
identify if there are problems or bottlenecks in the process.
Career officers may benefit from the tool, especially when organizing campus recruiting events.
The tool allows us to easily schedule the interviews and all the events that will take place online
or onsite.
more info:
yello.co
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 39
3.2.1.4 Case 3: AfterCollege: Advanced job profiling tools
A career officer has to help students evaluate their skills (both hard and soft skills) and their
expectations for the job market. Sometimes, a simple interview is not sufficient to fully collect all the
information necessary to understand the candidate. The complete profiling of the job seekers may
request several face-to-face meetings that, when the number of students increases, become
economically unsustainable for the HEI. Artificial intelligence may help profile the students better by
collecting additional information about the job description posted on the website they read, how much
time they spent on each proposal, and which job they decided to start the application procedure.
AfterCollege
How to: How does it work
Category: Career service opportunities
Data as of to 2021:
Job seekers: 5,000,000+
Career offices: 2000+
Employers: 25,000+
AfterCollege is an example of an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to correctly identify
the job profile that fits the best with student expectations. The profiling of the job seeker is
based on the declared preferences and the behaviour in analysing and evaluating different job
proposals.
The AI tool will be able to interpret the time spent evaluating different job proposals and the
positive or negative judgment on the previous job descriptions. It could help understand the real
expectations of a first-time job seeker.
more info: aftercollege.com
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 40
3.2.1.5 Case 4: Challenge and competition tools online
Companies are looking for innovation from outsiders that can be more suitable for identifying
innovative approaches for problem-solving that are currently not evaluated by the current
employees. A solution frequently adopted for determining the best candidates in the market is
to present problems that have to be solved individually (challenge) or in a group (hackathon),
and the winner and above the average participants usually have access to a preferred path for
the selection procedure in the company.
To increase the number of participants in the challenge or the hackathon, usually, the call is
disseminated through the web and social networks, and the more the participants have
different backgrounds and experiences, the higher will be the probability of success in
identifying innovative and “out of the box” solutions. Some websites offer a complete database
of the upcoming event with the requirements for joining the project (like target degree and
expertise, n° of team members, etc.)
Mindsumo
How does it work
Category: Online Assessment tools
Data updated to 2021:
Career offices: 2,500+
Challenges: 1,500+
Ideas and project developed: 200,000+
Mindsumo offers the opportunity for employers to frame a Challenge, launch the Challenge,
and manage the results and the outputs of the challenge produced by different groups
involved worldwide.
Job-seekers may benefit from joining the challenge to get in touch with the corporations, and
if their output is considered of merit, it could represent an opportunity for a first job offer.
Career officers may use the tool to offer students an experience of a challenge and to interact
in an international scenario with teams with different backgrounds and experiences.
More info: mindsumo.com
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 41
3.2.1.6 Case 5 – Advanced tools for the career service activities
Digitalization has also changed the approach to work for career officers that may use digital tools to
increase the number of students served and increase the number of services offered to each student.
Tolls requested usually have to be able to work on data about candidates, employers, and job offers to
create customized statistics that may be useful to identify students that are performing better or worse
in the selection procedure, employers that are more or less selective in hiring new employees and to
understand the type of job and skills that are more requested or no longer requested by the market.
Gradleaders
How does it work
Career service opportunities
Data updated to 2021:
Countries: 259
Employers by year: 77,000+
Job opportunities by year: 1,300,000+
Gradleaders is a digital tool that allows supporting career services to manage and monitor their
activities for a successful placement of students.
The solution allows for increasing the number of job offerings available for the students by
considering more companies operating in different countries, helps in organizing virtual career
fairs, and offers automated email campaigns and automated reports on placements for tour
students.
More info: gradleaders.com
Erasmus Jobs - Supporting Career Development 42
3.2.1.7 Case 6 – Tools for self-evaluation of CV
Companies are frequently suffering from an overload of requests for each job posted. The number of
applications increases even more in job markets characterized by a high unemployment rate. The
standard solution adopted is to use applicant tracking systems to screen the applications and exclude
those that do not fit the job description based on automated text analysis. To increase the probability of
success of students, the career office has to consider the impact of ATS on the job application, and some
tools online may be helpful for testing if the CV of the applicant and the motivation letter is coherent or
not with the job description posted by the company.
Jobscan
How does it work
Career service opportunities
Data updated to 2021:
Job seekers successfully hired: 1,000,000+
Job seekers may use Jobscan to analyse how their cv fits with the job description they want
to apply for to avoid that Applicant Training systems usually used by corporations will
exclude their cv in a pre-screening procedure. The software will analyse the keywords of
the job description by using artificial intelligence software, and it will provide some advice
on customizing the CV and the presentation letter based on the employer’s needs.
Higher education institutions and career services organizations may improve employment
outcomes for students and underserved populations and increase career coaching
efficiency by using the tool.
Source: www.jobscan.com
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