#4 NEWSLETTER - RAY: Rural Active Youth Job Portal 

The project is co-financed by Erasmus+ lasted for 2 years, from October 2018 to the 30th November 2020. The partners of RAY consortium are: lead partner Vyara Foundation from Bulgaria, CESIE from Italy, Agrupamento de Escolas de Silves from Portugal and Društvo AIA – Mladinski center Mengeš from Slovenia. During the project's lifetime we created a local employment network portal, free of charge for both job seekers and employers, and an e-learning platform included in the portal offering 4 educational modules – My RAY Profile, MY Future Career plan, My Job Interview and My Europass documents, to assist young people in their job search and future career development.

Since september 2020 when our job search platform has been ready to use, all RAY partners started promoting it in their regions. Although the Covid-19 Pandemic we are all facing created some difficulties and economical unstability in all 4 partner countries, our results have been met. We decided to spread the word about our platform with an online campaign and each partner engaged locally with direct contact making with potential employers and users. So far our portal has been trusted by 94 employers and 201 young users. We hope our tool gets used even more in the future and the current stagnation many territories are facing due to the pandemic effect on the economy will chease to see even more job offers on our portal and engagement by users. 

The platform is available at jobs.rabotilnik.com each country language version includes a dedicated area for both entrepreneurs and young people. Employers will be able to sign up, create their business profile, access the e-learning material and assess its quality as well as posting job offers. Young people as Users will be able to create their profile, upload their CVs and cover letter, upload other relevant documents such as certificates, diplomas and other relevant items and access the available job offers in their area. Moreover, employers will be able to post their job offers as well as have a look on the profiles of young people looking for a job in their area.

 

The e-learning platform is also ready to use for all young people who signed up as users. The platform features 4 modules based on the following 4 topics:

My Europass documents: portraying the world of Europass and why is it useful as a great starting point to write a good CV and cover letter, make sure learning experiences are valued from employers and show what a person has to offer on the job market. 

My Ray Profile: providing information and guidance on the use of RAY job search platform and how to build up a profile that shines bright

My job interview: proper communication, preparedness and self-valorization are not so straight forward when it comes down to job interviews, this module will provide young users with HR based hints and tips on how to give their best during a job interview.

My Career plan:  will guide users on the several methods to set up goals and plan a career while discovering their own skills and competences in the process, dream big, plan SMART!

The modules are available in English, Bulgarian, Italian, Portuguese and Slovenian.

As a conclusive moment of our projects each partner held multiplier events to further spread the word about our products and the work we have done for the past 2 years. Also these events have been affected by the pandemic. Each partner in fact had to adapt its event format, location and modalities to safety and security concerns and national regulations on the matter.

 

Slovenia

 

Drustvo AIA in Slovenia organized several small closed round table events, according to NIJZ regulations. During these events, the project, portal and career training to young people, decision-makers and employers has been introduced. Afterward a discussion of the current situation, guiding participants to find solutions followed. Among participants,  Deputy Mayor Bogo Ropotar. Young people and employers had the opportunity to network and get to know employment opportunities in Mengeš and its vicinity. Form these discussions, one main take away came out: time of the epidemic should be used to adapt to a given situation and to look for opportunities in activities and businesses that prosper and increase their profits and hire new workers even during this crisis. Another important uptake has been to use the time for personal and career development, with the help of online tools and education. Event attendees were enthusiastic about our product and commented that they hope the portal succeeds and continues to grow and evolve.

Bulgaria

 

Vyara Foundation, in Bulgaria adapted its strategy to make sure all targets and stakeholders are reached, in spite of Covid-19: several events were arranged in September and October in the towns of Tryavna and Gabrovo with a total of 75 employers, job seekers and representatives of public bodies and decision makers. The biggest event was an open-air job fair with some of our youth volunteers presenting the project benefits.

In addition to all this, the project results were presented during a local event, funded by a LAG project, in which Vyara Foundation is involved - the participants included representatives of local educational institutions, the municipality of Tryavna, the Town Council, The Local Action Group under the LEADER Program, the local and regional labour offices, local youth NGO, etc.

As a result, the number of job posts and the registered with the RAY portal employers and job seekers has considerably exceeded our initially targeted numbers. The portal is now offering job positions all around the region and is often shared in local social media group.

Italy

 

On the 20th of November CESIE held an online multiplier event on zoom, due to the national and regional regulations to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The event has been organized as an online infoday to spread the word about the project and its outputs as well as reaching out as many people as possible. During the event, the importance of rural areas and the strategic part these play in the value chain of many sectors of the economy has been highlighted. Also, the cultural, natural and artistic heritage in danger of disappearing due to population ageing and the internal movement of workers from rural communities to cities has been discussed and identified as a great loss if not prevented. Then, RAY – Rural Active Youth job porta has been presented, showing its functionalities and objectives as well as its potential of putting together talented young people and employers in the same area not only generating a mutual benefit but also unlocking potential for additional local level growth and vitality for many rural communities.

In line with this idea, Mrs Cristina Idone presented the concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to show the benefit of a tighter connection in between the entrepreneurial world and the local communities as once again mutually beneficial. The second part of the event focused on our e-learning platform as an online training opportunities for young people to refine their job hunt abilities and reflect on their professional life and future career with a proactive and goal oriented attitude. The event has been closed by the intervention of Roberta Lo Proto, one of our blended mobility event participant, who spoke about her experience with the project, her learning outcomes from the Blended mobility event in Slovenia and the many advantages using our project products can provide to young people like her.

Portugal

 

Agrupamento de Escolas de Slives, throughout the months of October and November, made contacts with several people with the aim of making known and promoting the RAY Project in the community, namely in Silves and in the nearest municipalities. Due to the context and respective restrictions to the pandemic caused by COVID 19, events had to be more restricted and with a smaller number of people. In this sense, we contacted local entities by phone, Associação Lilás, Silves City Council, Parish Councils and local companies. In addition, the project has been carried out within the Qualifica Center.

 

Agrupamento de Escolas de Silves managed to meet with several people within the Municipality of Silves, namely in the Culture and Youth sector. Thus, on November 17, at Fissul, in Silves, some sessions were held with unemployed young people from the region, where the portal was shown, as well as the possibility of supporting the preparation of the CV and registration. Some local entrepreneurs participated as well to raise awareness of the use of the RAY platform for future job offers.

We wish you to spend happy holidays this year and thank you for following our project work and results so far, we sincerely hope you will help us spread the work about our results and outputs. The more people use them, the more effective they are!

 

If interested in using our platform and would you like to have additional information on how to use it, please visit our portal and get in touch!