A Radio for Employability Skills

<< Background >>Some European areas, including Italy (and in particular the South), have a very high unemployment rate among young people, also due to the lack of skills required by the labor market: technical, digital, but also transversal skills ( which according to Harvard University contribute 85% to success in the job market). ARES intends to provide the identified target groups with the opportunity to acquire or expand their range of skills by leveraging communication, to develop expressiveness, active listening, critical spirit, teamwork, time management, leadership, resilience, public speaking. The tool imagined to develop these skills is the podcast: young adults in Italy, Spain and Germany have used it to explore the themes of work change, innovation and Europe, acquiring a digital mentality (critical understanding and use of technological tools ) and technical skills such as the intelligent use of smartphones, laptops, audio editing software, etc., in order to develop useful skills for their future employability, as employees but also freelancers/entrepreneurs.<< Objectives >>With the ARES project we wanted to develop a model capable of better preparing young adults for the job market, raising their level of employability thanks to skills acquired non-formally through the podcast tool (loved by young people) and the constructive communication methodology: the one that starts from the presentation of the problems, analyzes the context and what is being done to mitigate the critical issues, and always indicates possible solutions, inviting us to have greater confidence in the future.The knowledge and experiments in the field have provided technical and transversal skills which have been accompanied by a change of mindset (from passive toactive participation in one's personal and professional growth) actively influencing the approach to the future.We also trained the trainers, allowing them to innovate teaching through the podcast tool and offering the opportunity to expand the numerical audience of young adults capable of leaping in quality because of the job market<< Implementation >>Per raggiungere i nostri obiettivi abbiamo realizzato un percorso informativo e formativo con giovani adulti che hanno avuto modo di esplorare l'attualità in chiave di opportunità, sia nel contesto locale che nazionale ed europeo. I giovani adulti hanno sviluppato abilità in tema di comunicazione, ampliando le conoscenze e migliorando una serie di competenze - tecniche, linguistiche e trasversali - attraverso l'ideazione e la produzione di podcast in lingua nativa e in inglese; hanno anche avuto modo di consultare e studiare un manuale di preparazione per accedere ad un corso in e-learning, che ha completato la fase teorica. Quella pratica si è svolta in sessioni singole e di gruppo, portando i partecipanti a produrre podcast e a sviluppare abilità di team work, scrittura, lettura, public speaking, il che ha migliorato la loro autostima. Abbiamo anche realizzato una videoguida per i formatori, al fine di trasferire loro una metodologia e uno strumento in grado di innovare la didattica. La piattaforma web è stata il cuore informatico del progetto, di cui abbiamo curato in maniera molto dettagliata la disseminazione, per raggiungere un pubblico più ampio.<< Results >>Over 75 young adults were trained, ready to enter the world of work with a personal and professional background enriched by the skills - technical, linguistic and transversal - acquired and developed during the 12 months of the project. The feedback acquired was very satisfactory, demonstrating that the proposed path was appreciated and considered very useful for the present and for the future in terms of employability. 60 trainers in the three partner countries (Italy, Spain and Germany) have acquired the methodology and have committed to disseminating it to at least 20 students each, while 150 have learned about the project and said they are available to delve deeper and hold further meetings to understand how the podcast can enter schools and training institutions to represent an innovative and engaging teaching tool. Finally, many local stakeholders were invited to use the methodology, understanding how informal and engaging it isa communication and learning project that can produce an increase in skills. An FM radio in Spain hosted the young adults involved and one in Italy signed a collaboration agreement for 2024.