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Nr. 9 | DECEMBER 2014MAGAZINE

True stories:Gaining skills, qualifications and employment in Europe

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True stories: Gaining skills, qualifications and employment in Europe. An introduction. by Lubomír Valenta, Editor

From Turku to Oxford by Maaria Tirri, Finland

More than a dolce vita: A hairdresser’s apprentice went to Italy for learning and workingbyIsabelGötte,NECGermany

Race for Europe: A global player in engineering offers mobility experience to trainees by Franziska Bopp, NEC Germany

Czech citizens finding work in their desired fields abroad: A survey among individual users of the Europass Certificate Supplement by Sylvie Boumová, NEC Czech Republic

Kurz gesagtLiebe Leserin, lieber Leser!

Das Europass-Magazin informiert Sie regelmäßig über europäische Richtlinien zu Kompetenzen, Qualifikationen undBeschäftigungspolitiksowieüberdieUmsetzungvonInstrumentenundMechanismen,unterdenendasPortfoliovonEuropasseinebedeutendeRollespielt.PolitischeEntscheidungsprozessebishinzurUmsetzungsindinunterschiedlicheKontexteeingebettetundumfasseneinebreiteMengeanAkteurInnenundOrganisationen.Manchmal werden solche Prozesse aber auch zu komplex fürBürgerinnen und Bürger, sodass ihre Sinnhaftigkeit nicht mehrerkannt wird, ganz zu schweigen davon, dass der persönlicheNutzenfürdeneigenenAlltagklarersichtlichwäre.

Deshalb dreht sich in diesem Europass-Magazin alles um das Thema „MittenausdemLeben:Wieman inEuropaneueKompetenzen,QualifikationenundArbeiterwirbt“.UnsereIdeewarganzeinfach,„echte“ Menschen zu fragen, wo die Schwierigkeiten liegenundwas zumErfolg beiträgt,wenn es um Lernen undArbeitenin Europa geht; echte Menschen mit all ihren unterschiedlichen Ausgangspunkten,WünschenundMöglichkeiten.

IndenGeschichten,dievonMitgliederndesEuropass-Netzwerksgesammeltwurden,findenSieeinefinnischeSozialwissenschafterin,die sich eine spannende akademische Laufbahn in Oxfordaufgebaut hat; zwei junge Deutsche, die das Beste aus ihremBerufspraktikum im Ausland gemacht haben, und zwar in ganzverschiedenen Berufsspezialisierungen; einen Bericht aus einem weltweit tätigen Unternehmen, das aus einer persönlichenPerspektive heraus internationale Schulungsmöglichkeiten fürseine Angestellten organisiert, und kleine Erzählungen, wie dreitschechische BürgerInnen mit unterschiedlichen Vorbedingungen und unterschiedlichen Zielen in anderen europäischen Ländern Arbeit gefunden haben.

DasEuropass-NetzwerkwünschtIhneneineinteressanteLektüre,friedvolle Feiertage und einen erfolgreichen Start ins Neue Jahr!

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Contents

En brefChère lectrice, cher lecteur,

Depuisdeuxans, leMagazineEuropassvoustientinformésurlapolitiqueeuropéenneenmatièredecompétences,dequalificationsetd’emploi,ainsiquesur lamiseenœuvredesoutilsquiysontliés,parmilesquelsleportfolioEuropass,élémentclédudispositif.La définition des objectifs politiques et leurmise enœuvre estun processus complexe associant une multitude d’acteurs etd’organisations,et lescitoyensnepeuventpas toujoursmesurerl’utilitéconcrètedecesoutilsdansleurviequotidienne.

Nous avons donc décidé de consacrer ce numéro duMagazineEuropass au thème suivant : « L’accès aux compétences, auxqualificationsetà l’emploienEurope :Histoiresvécues ». L’idéeestd’expliquercesmécanismesentermessimples,etd’identifierlesdéfisetlessuccèsquijalonnentleparcoursd’apprentissageetlacarrièredescitoyensdansl’Europed’aujourd’hui,quellequesoitleursituationdedépart,leursaspirationsetleursmoyens.

Les histoires qui suivent ont été recueillis par les membres duréseau Europass. Ils témoignent de parcours très différents :un chercheuse en sciences sociales finlandais qui a réussi uneintéressante carrière universitaire àOxford ; deux jeunes élèvesallemands de l’enseignement professionnel qui ont su valoriserau maximum une expérience internationale, dans des domained’activité différents ; une société internationale qui a choisi lastratégiedelamicroperspectivepourproposeràsonpersonneldesactionsinternationalesdeformation;enfin,troiscitoyenstchèquesauxparcoursetambitionsdifférentsenquêted’unemploidansunautrepayseuropéen.

LeréseauEuropassvoussouhaitebonnelectureetvousadressesesmeilleursvœuxpourl’année2015.

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True storiesGainingSkills,QualificationsandEmploymentinEurope

Dear readers,

inovertwoyearsofitsexistence,theEuropassMagazinehasbeenbringingyouinformationonthemakingoftheEuropeanpoliciesonskills,qualificationsandemployment,andontheimplementationoftherelatedtoolsandmechanismsamongwhichtheEuropassportfoliohasbeenplayinganimportantrole.Policymakingandimplementationisamulti-sidedprocesswithvaryingcontextsandawiderangeofindividualsandorganisationstakingpart.However,policymakingcansometimesalsobecomealittletoocomplexforindividualcitizenstomakesenseof,letalonetoclearlygraspthebenefitsitbringsintoa person’s everyday life.

Therefore,wehavedecidedtodedicatethiseditionoftheEuropassMagazinetoatopiccalled„Truestories:GainingSkills,QualificationsandEmploymentinEurope.“Theideaissimplytoreachouttorealpeopleandfindoutwhataretheactualchallenges and successes of learning andworking in contemporary Europe as encountered by individualswithvariousstartingpoints,desiresandpossibilities.

AmongthecollectionofstoriespresentedonthefollowingpagesbythemembersoftheEuropassNetworkyouwillfindasocialscientistfromFinlandwhohasworked herself up to building an interesting academic career inOxford; twoyoungGermanvocationallearnerswhohavemadethebestoftheirinternationaltraining experience, even though in very different areas of specialisation;an account of how a globally relevant company takes amicro perspective inorganisinginternationaltrainingopportunitiesforitsemployees;andtheshortstoriesofthreeCzechcitizensofdifferentbackgroundsandambitionsfindingworkinotherEuropeancountries.

TheEuropassNetworkwishesyouaninspiringreading,apeacefulholidaytimeandasuccessfulstartintothenewyear2015.

On behalf of the Europass Magazine TeamLubomír Valenta, Editor

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From Turku to OxfordMaaria Tirri, Finland

KatriEevaisayoungFinnishwomanwhoseambitionsandstudieshavetakenhertotheUnitedKingdom.SheiscurrentlyworkingonherPhDonEUhighereducationpolicyattheUniversityofOxford.SheisalsoaJuniorDeanatoneofOxford’s38colleges.KatrisharedwiththeEuropassMagazineherstoryabouttheinspiringpathtogetthere.

Qualificationsandinternationalexperiences

KatriEevadidherbachelor’s(BA)andmaster’s(MA)degreesineducationscience,specializinginhighereducationpolicy,attheUniversityofTurku,Finland. Incorporatinginternationalelementstoherstudieswas importantforKatrifromtheverybeginning.“IworkedasummerinLondonafterthefirstyearofmyBAandthenthefollowingyearIparticipatedinanErasmusexchangetoIreland”,sheexplains.KatriwasalsoinvolvedintheErasmusStudentNetworkatheruniversityandtutoredinternationalstudentsinherfaculty.

Atonetime,KatriendedupinBrussels,thebeatingheartoftheEuropeanUnion.“AsIwasfinishingmymaster’sdegree,IworkedonanErasmustraineeshipinBrussels,attheCouncilofEuropeanProfessionalandManagerialStaff(EUROCADRES).Following this, I started working for FinUnions, theEU office of the Finnish trade union confederation.Simultaneously, I was working on my MA thesis andtookmylastexamsattheFinnishEmbassyinBrussels.I graduated in 2010, and immediately startedworkingat the European Parliament, mostly in the Committeefor Education and Culture. Striving for a deeperunderstandingoftheresearchinthisfield,IdecidedtopursueadoctorateatOxford,”Katriexplains.Afterthreeyears in the European Parliament, Katri started her PhD in the autumn of 2013.

WhenaskedwhyshechoseherspecificMAqualification,Katrigivesathoughtthroughanswer.“AFinnishmaster’sdegree in social sciences provides a strong academic foundationwithskillsthatarehighlytransferabletotheworldofwork.Italsoprovidesavastrangeofemploymentopportunities,asthedegreeisdirectlyapplicabletovariousfields,”shereplies.

“These seemed to be significant challenges at the time, and were often time-consuming and stressful. Nevertheless, those hurdles provided me with a greater confidence to pursue my goals and strengthened my belief in what I wanted to achieve”

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Gainingnewskillsforemployment AccordingtoKatri,beingabletomanageawiderangeof informationandknowledge ishermostvaluedskill regardingstudiesaswellasemployment.“Iregardforeignlanguageskillsandcompetenceininteractingwithawiderangeofpeopleveryvaluableintoday’sworldofwork.Inaddition,interpersonalcommunication,understandingdifferentwaysoftacklingproblemsandtheabilitytoworkunderpressurearesignificantfactorsforsuccessinanycareer,”shesays.

Whenaskedwhatitactuallytakesto“gainnewskills“incontemporarysociety,Katriemphasizestheimportanceoflifelonglearning.Forher, itentailsnotonlyacquiringnewskillsandknowledgebutalsomaintainingthemandkeepingthemuptodate.“Ofcourse,professionalknowledgeandskillsarevital,butIconsidertheknowledgeandskillsacquiredthroughinformalactivitiesasequallyimportant,”sheadds.

Buthowdoesonereallygainnewskills?Katrihighlightsavarietyofwide-ranginginterests.“Inotonlyreadwidelyinmyfieldofspecialisationbutalsokeepanopenmindtolearningfromabroadrangeofothersubjects.Iseekoutlecturesindifferentfieldsandbranches,aswellastrainingopportunities,tohonemyskills.Continuouslearningcanbeexhaustinganditisindeedsometimesdifficulttomaintainexistingskillsandabilities,”sheexplains.

AccordingtoKatri,herdegreeineducationsciencehasbeenrelevantinthejobsearch,eventhoughsometimesitwouldbeconfusingforemployerswhothinksheisateacher.Whensearchingforemployment,KatrifoundtheEuropassdocumentsuseful.SheusedtheEuropassCVwhensheappliedforjobsinBrussels.“SomeemployerspreferredEuropassbecauseitfacilitatedcomparisonbetweencandidates.WhenapplyingtotheUniversityofOxford,theDiplomaSupplementwasaveryusefultool,too,todescribetheknowledgeandskillsthatIhadacquiredinmyBAandMAstudies,”sheexplains.

InspirationfortheEuropassMagazinereaders

One’scareerpath isseldomsmoothandtrouble-free.Katrispeaksaboutvariouschallengesalongherway,forexamplethenecessitytolearnnewlanguagesandadaptcommunicationalskillsattheworkplace.“Theseseemedtobesignificantchallengesatthetime,andwereoftentime-consumingandstressful.Nevertheless,thosehurdlesprovidedmewithagreater

confidencetopursuemygoalsandstrengthenedmybeliefinwhatIwantedtoachieve,”sheemphasizes.

To finish our interview, I askedKatri for a piece ofadvice. If the readers of the Europass Magazine wereinterestedinacareerpathsimilartohers,whatwouldbetheimportantthingsforthemtodo?Katri’sadvicewasquitesimple.“Followyourtrueinterests,be internationally minded, study languages and beopentonewopportunities.Don’tbeafraidoftryingnewthingsortakingrisks–theyoftenresult inthegreatest academic as well as employment-relatedopportunitieswhereyouleastexpectedthem.Linkingwithpeoplewhoshareyourinterestispriceless,too.Building strongnetworks is an asset in everyfield,”sheexplains.

The roadmay be a bit demanding and bumpy at times, but gaining skills, qualifications and employment in Europe isachievable.OrasKatriputsit,“therewillcertainlybechallengesandobstaclesalongtheway,buttheycanbeovercome”.

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More than a dolce vita Ahairdresser’sapprenticewenttoItalyforlearningandworkingIsabel Götte, NEC Germany

Italyhasalongtraditionasadestinationofeducationaljourneys.Standingforculturalhistory,creativityandtheartoflivingitattractspeoplefromallovertheworld.

In2013MichelleKnippingmadeherpersonaleducationaltriptoItaly.ShewasatthattimeahairdresserintrainingandtookthechancetogoabroadforaninternshipinFlorence.HavingreceivedaletterfromtheChamberofSkilledCrafts

Braunschweig-Lüneburg-StadethatofferedapprenticesthepossibilitytotakepartinamobilityperiodofworkingandlearninginItaly,shedecidedto apply forpartaking.Oneyearbefore, a colleagueofMichelle’swhowas then also an apprenticewent toNorway and returnedwith a lotofexperienceandnewideas.“Shewasalivingexampleofthefactthatgoing abroad forworkinghelpsyoudevelopnew skills”, saysMichelle.“Itoowantedto learnasmuchaspossibleduringmyapprenticeship–

thereforeaworkplacementabroadwasagreatopportunityforme!”Hermotivationtomoveforlearningwasveryhigh:“Iwouldhavegoneanywhere!”confirmsMichelle.“ButItalyasalandoffashionandcreativitywassimplyperfect.”

So,inMay2013sheleftwithtwootherapprenticesforFlorencewheretheywent for three weeks to the hairdresser’s school “Scuola Parrucchieri PinoCapasso” andworked for an associated hairdresser’s shop. “The day of ourdepartureIwasverynervous”,admitsMichelleforwhomitwasthefirsttimeshehadtoaccustomherselftoforeignstudyandworksurroundings.ButthewarmwelcomeofthenewschoolmatesandcolleaguesinFlorencehelpedhervery much.

Inaddition,shenotonlyhadthepossibilitytogetincontactwiththeFlorentinepeoplebutalsowithyoungpeoplefrommanydifferentcountriesasshestayedinahostelforthreeweeks.LookingbacksheisconvincedthatgoingtoFlorencewasaninspiringnewexperience:“Igainedalotofpersonalskillsandself-confidenceandgottoknowalotaboutothercultures.ApartfromthatInaturallylearnednewprofessionaltechniques.Andofcourse,IlearnedItalian!”

ThelanguagewasindeedoneofthegreatestchallengesforMichelle:shehadhadjustlittleknowledgeofItalianbefore,andmostofhernewcolleaguesandfellowpupilshadinturnonlybasicknowledgeofEnglish.Butneverthelessshemanagedtocommunicate:“InItalypeoplespeakgesticulating–thathelpedalot!”Whatsheenjoyedmostwasworkingatahairdresser’sshopwhereshewasabletoattendtoclientsindependently.

MichelleisconvincedthattheskillsshegainedduringherstayinItalywillturnoutprettyimportantforherfutureworklife.Shefindsherinternshipabroadaveryinstructiveand

fascinatingwayofacquiringnewskills.HerlearningoutcomesarenowdocumentedintheEuropassMobility–theEuropassdocumentthatstandsamongstotherthingsforthecouragetolearnandworkinforeigncountries.Michelle’stimetoapplyfora jobhasnotcomeyetbecausehercurrentapprenticeship supervisorGabrieleStammerjohannofferedher furtheremploymentafterthetraining.Inheropinion,theEuropassMobilityisabletodocumentthelearningoutcomesinamoredetailedwaythanaworkingcertificate.GainingexperienceandskillsabroadisforGabrieleStammerjohannanimportantpartofapprenticeship:“Asahairdresseryouneedtodevelopprofessionalskillsandinadditiontothatitisimportanttoworkautonomouslyandtobecommunicative.Goingabroadisthereforeaperfecttrainingforthejob!”ThatisalsothepointofviewofMichelle.Sheishappytohavefacedthe“adventuremobility”–andcouldevenimaginedoingitagain!

Thewarmwelcomeofthenewschoolmatesandcolleagues in Florence helped her very much.

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Race for EuropeAglobalplayerinengineeringoffersmobilityexperiencetotraineesFranziska Bopp, NEC Germany

Theautomotivesectorisoneofthemostglobalizedindustriesintheworld.Companies,theirworkersandtheproductionofcarsaredistributedallovertheworld.Thus,thesecompanieshavealwaysbeenpioneersininternationalization.Suchattitudeshouldbesharedbytheiremployeesaswell.Naturally,thebestwaytoteachandfosterinterculturalawarenessandunderstandingistopromotefirst-handinternationalexperience.ItistothisendthattheGermanautomobilecompanyAUDIoffersitstraineesthree-monthstaysintheirpartnercompaniesabroad.

“Ourinternationalexchangesstarted13yearsago,whenforthefirsttimetraineesweresentabroad- at that time stillwithout a certificate such astheEuropassMobility,”remembersUteMiehling,responsibleforinternationalmobilityintheteamfor commercial vocational education at AUDIin Ingolstadt. She has introduced the Europass Mobilityasastandardmeansofdocumentationoflearningoutcomesacquiredby theirapprenticesabroad. Over the last six years, Ms Miehlinghas issued more than 200 Europass Mobility documents. “TheEuropassMobility allows for averydetaileddescriptionnotonlyoftheprofessionalskillsbutalsooftheorganizational,social,interculturalandlanguagecompetences.Furthermore,itisacceptedalloverEurope”,sheisconvinced.

TraineesatAUDIaresenttoLamborghini,BentleyorBugattiaswellastoSEAT,VWSlovakiaorAUDIHungariaandAUDIBrussels.Fortheyoungtrainees–oftennotolderthan18–this isanexciting,uniqueexperience.NatalieReichelandJeremiasRisch,bothapprenticestobecomecarmechatronicstechnicians,spentthreemonthsatAUDIHungariainautumn2013.BothenjoyedtheirtimeinHungaryverymuchandwouldrecommendthisexperiencetotheirfellowtrainees.“IwasimpressedofthefriendlinessandhelpfulnessofmycolleaguesinHungary.FromthefirstdayIwaspartoftheteameventhoughconversationsweresometimesdifficultbecauseofthelanguage”,saysNatalie.Thiswarmwelcomehelpedthemverymuchinasituationwhentheyhadtoarrangetheirdailylifeinaforeigncountrycompletelyontheirown.“Todoyourowncooking,washinganddailytasksfarawayfromyourfamilywasanewexperienceforme”,Jeremyadmits.“ButIbecamemoreindependentandself-confidentinresult”.

NatalieandJeremiasreceivedtheirEuropassMobilitycertificatesaftertheirstayinHungary.ThedocumentstatestheirprofessionaltasksanddutiesduringtheirtimeatAUDIHungarybutalsogivesanaccountofwhichsocial,organizational,languageandotherskillstheyhaveshown.BothareveryhappytohavetheseskillsandcompetencesdocumentedthroughaEurope-widerecognisedinstrument.“TheEuropassMobilityisveryimportant”,thinksJeremy.“Thedocumentcanhelpalotwhenyouapplyforjobsafteryourtraineeship.”AndNatalieadds:“FormysupervisorsaswellasforfutureemployersitisimportanttohaveanofficialcertificationofmyactivitiesinHungary.Thisexperiencebecameapartofmyprofessionalandpersonalbiography.NowIhaveareliableevidenceofthisfact.”

UteMiehlingisconvincedthatcertifyingskillsandcompetencesinthedocumentisavaluablevalidationnotonlyfortheapprenticesthemselvesbutalsoforfurtherassignmentsofthepeoplewithinandoutsidethecompany.ForthefuturesheisplanningtoalsousetheEuropassCVintheapplicationprocedureformobilityplacementsabroad.“TheclearandstructuredlayoutoftheEuropassCVmakesiteasytoreadandunderstandwhichskillsanapplicanthas.Furthermore,IcanquicklycomparethecandidatesandtakemydecisiononthebasisofasoundinterpretationoftheirCVs.Thissavesmytimeandhelpsinthedecision-makingprocess.“

„From the first day I was part of the team even though conversations were sometimes difficult because of the language“

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MsMiehling’ssupervisor,MarcoReich,DirectorofCommercialVocationalEducationatAUDIAGIngolstadt,fullysupportsherview,andadds:“AUDIisabiginternationalcompanywithintheglobalVolkswagenGroup.Workinginaninternationalenvironmentisourdailyroutine.That’swhyweofferevenouryoungestemployees–apprenticesandstudents–theexperience

of internationalworkingmobility.”ForMrReich, theadvantagesfortheindividualandthecompanyoutweighbyfarthetemporaryabsenceofanapprentice. “Apart fromadeepenedprofessionalexpertiseour traineesacquiresocialskillsandbuildtheirowninternationalnetworks.Thishelpslater in their professional career. It’s easier for them to understand and respectsensitivitiesandneedsofforeignbusinesspartners.”

ForNathalieReichel themostdifficultsituationcamewhenshehadtoleaveHungary.“Thepeople,theworkandthecountryhadbecomeveryfamiliartomesoIfeltlikeIhadtoleaveapartofmyselfwhenIhadtogobacktoGermany.”ThisisprobablythebestresultofmobilityexperiencesinEurope:tofeelabitathomeatplacesyouhaveneverbeenbefore.

One of the tasks of Jeremy Risch (second on the right) and Natalie Reichel (first on the right) in Hungary was to convert an AUDI A3 into a police car.

TheEuropassViralVideoCompetition2014hasitswinners!In the previous edition of the Europass Magazine, we informed you about the Europass Viral Video Competition for the year 2014. The results are here now, after 62 videos were submitted and over 4000 people participated in the public vote.

Watch the winning videos here:

1st prize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9F9xqRPIpM2nd prize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_hrOGYyWZs 3rd prize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bto8_78rCR8

...and enjoy the great story of the making of the video that reached to the top this year:

The idea of the winning video was generated by second-year multimedia students at the Design Department of Kuressaare Regional Training Centre (Estonia) in a subject called Vocational Projects. When we heard from the Estonian National Europass Centre about the Europass Viral Video Competition we immediately thought of animation and humour. First, we read carefully the task of the competition, and then went on to background research on Europass to be sure that we know all about it. The next task was to get ready for a brainstorm: we tried to boil Europass down to its very essence and came up with the phrase „important paper“. We draw a mental map and put down all the main roles and our personal experiences with paper in our everyday lives. Then we circled the most emotional, most universal and funniest roles of paper on the mind map. Each student chose one scene and drew a storyboard for taking a photo to be later used in parallax animation. Most of the actors in the scenes are us ourselves. Finally we needed good music from Jamendo that would support the epic nature of looking back in one‘s life, also creating a funny dissonance with the not so deep but nonetheless important moments such as feeding an F grade paper to a pet, making a spitball or being saved by a toilet roll handed by a stranger. We were almost done, but how to get a video go viral? Well, a cute kitten will always do the job as countless photos and videos on the internet prove.Merit Karise, ,supervisor and teacher co-ordinating Estonia

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Czech citizens finding work in their desired fields abroadA survey among individual users of the Europass Certificate SupplementSylvie Boumová, NEC Czech Republic

The National Europass Center Czech Republic (NEC CZ) is run by theNational Institute of Education.NECCZhas been issuing theEuropassCertificate Supplement (ECS) since 2007 in cooperation with upper-secondaryvocational schools.Currently the ECS is provided for around800fieldsofstudyinCzech,English,GermanandFrench.In2014,almost65.000 graduates obtained their Certificate Supplements. The figureamountsformorethan50%ofallsecondaryeducationgraduatesinthecountrythisyear.ThosegraduateswhohavenotobtainedtheirECSafterthecompletionoftheirstudymaysubmitanindividualrequesttotheNECCZ.Thisservicecanbeprovidedretroactivelywithoutalimitoftheyearofgraduation.

In order to obtain a valuable feedback on the usefulness of the ECS, NEC CZ launched a survey among individual applicants inAugust2014.Aquestionnaireconsistingof5questionswassentto315individuals,and101answerswerereceived.

Amongthefeedbackreceivedthroughthequestionnairewere,amongothers,thefollowingstatements:

„To me, the Certificate Supplement is like my leaving exam for foreign countries.“

„Great that the ECS is free of charge.“

„When I have presented my ECS at a job interview, the HR valued that I was well prepared.“

„A Labour Office in Germany automatically recognized my achieved qualification.“

„Europass set my level of education into the level of education of the given country.“

„Without my ECS I would not have had a chance to ask for a job corresponding to my qualification.“

InformationreceivedthroughthesurveysignalizesthattheECSisoneofthemostusefuldocumentsforcitizenswhowishtoworkorstudyacrosstheEuropeanUnion.ItalsoallowedustocreatealistofthemostsignificantadvantagesoftheECSaccordingtoCzechcitizens:• available free of charge in 3 languages;• recognized in all of Europe and even beyond;• describesclearlythegainedqualifications(andtheirEQFlevel);• describesvocationalcompetencesrelatedtotherespectivefieldofstudy.

Thefollowingsuggestionsforimprovementswerementioned.TheECSshouldbe:• providedalsoforpartialqualifications;• betterinter-connectedwitheducationalsystemsintheEUcountries;• availableonlineforfreedownload(thisisalreadythecaseinmanyEUcountries);• betterpromotedamongemployersandHRspecialists;• translatedintootherlanguages,forexampleSpanish.

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InformationreceivedthroughthesurveysignalizesthattheECSisoneofthemostusefuldocumentsforcitizenswhowishtoworkorstudyacrosstheEuropeanUnion.

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Three of the respondents of the survey shared their stories with us:

MartinGrülling,Ostravagraduated in 1991 in General Economics, 50+ years old

I decided to look for employment in another country of the European Union, and I chose Great Britain. The fees ofEmploymentAgenciesseemedquitehighsoItookonsearchingforjobopportunitiesdirectlyatemployersviaemailandtelephonecommunication.ItturnedoutthatIneededadocumentthatwouldserveasproofforrecognitionofmyCzecheducationinotherEUcountries.IcansaythattheEuropassCertificateSupplementIhavepresentedhelpedmeduringtheinterviewandwasappreciatedandfullysatisfactoryfortheforeignemployer.Thedocumenthelpedmegainthejobeventually.Ilearnedintheprocessthatlanguagecompetenceandarecordofworkexperienceisnotquitesufficient:youneedtohaveyourformalqualificationrecognisedaswell.Iamabovefiftyyearsold,andthesedaysitisnottooeasytogetandkeepanewjobatmyage,letaloneinaforeigncoutnry.Iconsideritasuccessthat I did.

ZdeněkChytra,Berlinfinished apprenticeship in 2001 as a Waiter, 33 years old

Initially,IgotregisteredinGermanyasajobseekerwithonlybasicleveleducation.WhenIpresentedmyEuropassCeritificateSupplement,however,theEmploymentOfficeautomaticallyrecognizedmyqualificationwhichledtoamuchwideraccesstoemploymentopportunitieswithouttheneedtotakeadditionalcourses.Thishelpedmealottosucceedinthelabourmarket.Ittookme2weekstofindajobinGermany.IwaslookingforitdirectlywhenIwasthere,butInevertriedtofindoneinGermanywhilebeingintheCzechRepublic.FirstIwastryingtofindajobingastronomyandtheninIT.NowIworkasanITservicetechnician.

Petr Tropschuh, Munich graduated in 1997 in Car Bodywork - Engineering Production.

IhavebeenlivinginMunich,Germany,since2004.Igainedmyvocationalcertificateasacarbodyworker,whichisaprofessionIverymuchlike,intheCzechRepublic.However,atonepoint Idecidedtotrymyluckandmove to Germany.Unfortunately,Icouldnotfindajobinmyprofessionthere,soIspentthefirst fiveyearsworking in a restaurant.Thiswasmainly due to the factthatmyeducationwasnotrecognizedandIdidnothavethefinancestostudyagaininGermany.In2006,IstartedworkingattheMunichairportwhichincreasedmyinterestinairtransportindustry.IwantedtobecomeanaircraftmechanicandIputallmyeffortsintoachievingthisgoal.Ifoundthe company Aero Bildungs on the internet, and they informed me about Europass.Consequently, IobtainedmyEuropassCertificateSupplement

andthankstoitIcouldstartacourseforthedesiredprofession,whichwaspaidforbytheMunichLabourOffice.NowIworkattheE.I.S.AircraftMunichandIcansayitisagreatjob.Thiscouldnothavehappenedwithoutmydedication,ofcourse,butalsotherecognitionofmyqualificationthroughEuropasshelpedagooddeal.

The Europass Magazine has been produced by 3s Unternehmensberatung on behalf of the European Commission.©European Union, 2014

Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged. The information and views set out in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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