Soft Skills for Youth Employment

<< Background >>Newly graduated young people find it difficult to be employed and to make it sustainable. The development of technical and fine skills is very effective in dealing with these challenges. Nowadays, recruitment specialists take into account fine skills rather than technical skills. The development of fine skills is considered to be vital for the employment of young graduates. Therefore, in this project, this project application was made in order to understand how effective fine skills are in the employment of young graduates and to increase their employment rates.This project addressed the following needsIdentification of deficiencies in the fine skills of young graduatesIdentification of deficiencies from the employer's perspective,Training of young people through the organisation and implementation of fine skills training,A more inclusive awareness of the importance of fine skills in working life,Improving the fine skills of young people, enabling employability and sustainability in the labour market,Publishing the findings in an academic and peer-reviewed journal to provide policy recommendations and a policy tool for the youth employment problem,Thus strengthening the link between policy, research and practice.<< Objectives >>The following objectives were realised in this project:Identification of deficiencies in the fine skills of young graduatesIdentification of deficiencies from the employer's perspective,Training of young people through the organisation and implementation of fine skills training,A more inclusive awareness of the importance of fine skills in working life,Improving the fine skills of young people, enabling employability and sustainability in the labour market,Publishing the findings in an academic and peer-reviewed journal to provide policy recommendations and a policy tool for the youth employment problem,Thus strengthening the link between policy, research and practice.<< Implementation >>1st work package: Project management,2nd work package: Discussions with industries on fine skills,3rd work package: Implementing and analysing questionnaires for students, receiving applications, random selection of graduates4th work package: Design and implementation of fine skills trainings, design of digital content for fine skills trainings5. work package: Monitoring of recruitment rates and publication of findings.<< Results >>Awareness of young graduates on soft skills has been increased.Graduates have become more competitive in the labour market with their fine skills competencies.An increase in employment rates was achieved.A policy proposal was presented that the development of fine skills would have a positive impact on employment rates.This policy instrument was disseminated.Digital training contents have been made accessible.The link between policy, research and practice has been strengthened.And finally, the importance of fine skills for employability was tested in a social experiment.