EUROPASS COURSE FOR GUIDANCE PRACTITIONERS

Guidance professionals often assist their clients with career advice and counselling at important times of transitions, and people who seek guidance may be in very different situations and stages of life. Some may have specific goals in mind, such as training, starting a career or further education. Others may be at the very beginning of their reflections and are looking for orientation or help to become aware of their goals and possibilities. As different as the starting points for educational counselling and career guidance may be, the aim is always to work with clients to identify their personal strengths and competences and to show them educational and employment perspectives.

Guidance practitioners can make use of the Europass CV and profile as a valuable support tool during career counselling by helping clients to engage in self-reflection, identify their professional strongholds and present their skills and experiences more transparently.

After creating the Europass profile and taking stock of personal competences, it is easier to plan the next steps with clients to realise their development goals. Does the person want to pursue further education or postgraduate studies? For example, is she interested in learning or working abroad, or does she need support with her application? The Europass portal provides career guidance counsellors with up-to-date information and practical tools for this purpose.

These Europass tools are suitable for use in counselling:

• Job search: By linking to the job portal of EURES, the European network for job mobility in the EU, it is possible to search for jobs all over Europe.
• Course search: Since the Europass portal is also linked to national databases for further education courses in Europe, it is also possible to find suitable learning offers to expand or deepen competences. This function is currently still in the beta stage, but will be further developed in the future.
• Qualification comparison tool: The Europass portal also contains information on national qualifications, such as training courses and their contents and levels in the National and European Qualifications Framework. The new Europass portal thus provides access to learning and work opportunities in Europe, and promotes cross-border mobility.
• Information on learning and working in the EU: If you advise people who want to apply for jobs across Europe, the Europass portal also provides contacts to guidance centres and websites in each EU country, as well as background information on recognition and validation.