Newsletter 6 – October 2024

Are you ready for an inspiring future…
Join EMoCC final congress on December 12th!

Job Mobility is a key issue in Europe and  a main asset in a professional career

Mobility is a key issue in Europe and a main asset in a professional career. The EMoCC project, led by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC), together with the University of Applied Labour Studies Mannheim (Germany), ESMOVIA (Spain) and iriv (France) is meant to upskill career counsellors and professionals involved in guiding people regarding job mobility choices to be better equipped to support candidates – youngsters or adults in the framework of the many opportunities suggested by the Erasmus + programme, professionals sent by their companies or people who were forced to leave their country (refugees, asylum seekers). The first part of the EMoCC project (R1) was dedicated to a research study. The second part (R2) was meant to design and test a first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) focused on a general orientation counselling. The third part (R3) is dedicated to a second MOOC tackling mobility/expatriation including the many facets of diversity and the barriers/obstacles it may generate. This issue insists on the sustainability of the EMoCC – how to use its many productions (survey, questionnaire, MOOC on orientation & professional counselling; MOOC on mobility/expatriation). This Newsletter issue launches the Final Congress of the EMoCC project: the conclusive event of our 34-month adventure should pave the way for future initiatives!

An innovative project with a future: EMoCC

The EMoCC addresses both a direct public, composed of career counselors; and a final public or indirect public composed of the clients of the career counsellors. The first target group is composed of two types of counsellors. Firstly, Career Counseling Providers (CCPs) are professionals within “dispersed delivery networks” providing career guidance without any formal training. Secondly, Career Counselling Experts (CCEs) have an expertise in mobility willing to improve their knowledge and competence both in mobility and career counselling.

The EMoCC provides both initial and continuous professional development to trainers/mentors in work-based settings.

A questionnaire WoMSA is a practical tool for career counseling to design a personal profile on the motivations, competences and satisfaction domains required to succeed in a professional mobility/ expatriation experience. You can find it here: http://emocc.eu/womsa/

Once you obtain your profile, the EMoCC has designed a MOOC focused on mobility and diversity with six modules tackling all the facets from the perspective of the Career Counselor and candidate for and expatriation. This MOOC is available for free for only two months until the end of November and it gives you a Certification considering the knowledge and skills achieved. You can find the platform for registration and starting learning here: https://app.emocc.eu/european-mobility/

EMoCC project Final Congress

Innovating career counseling for European job mobility

Thursday 12^th December 2024

9.30 am – 5.15 p.m

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

In December 2024, the whole EMoCC team will gather in Milan to present the results of our three-year project. Organized into both plenary and parallel sessions, the EMoCC Final Congress will provide a global overview of the goals and outcomes of the project, as well as an in-depth analysis on three specific topics that raised major attention among its participants.

Morning from 10 am to 1 pm: a plenary session presents the main results of the EMoCC.

After a brief overview of the project’s goals, target and actions, the Scientific Director Diego Boerchi and the Italian team will introduce the WoMSA Scale as main output of the qualitative and quantitative study carried out in the four partners’ countries.

Veronica Dana Sana and Anne Gueller-Frey will present, on behalf of the German Team, the first MOOC Counseling for Labour Market, with a focus on the Skills Assessment.

Kelsie Kerwin for the Spanish Partner ESMOVIA will explain the second MOOC Advising for International Mobility.

All presentations will be enriched by testimonies of selected participants to the EMoCC.

The plenary morning session will close on the project dissemination, with Bénédicte Halba, for the French team, who will present, together with Anne Güller-Frey, the future sustainability strategy of the EMoCC project as catalyst of European Mobility, an asset and opportunity for all citizens.

Afternoon from 2.30 to 5 pm: Participants can take part in separate debates and interactive workshops, led by the project partners, on three different core topics.

Within the session “Selected health related topics in counseling”, Peter Guggemos (HdBA) will address the topic of counselling among clients with a high weight, and also people with invisible health restrictions, while his colleague Gundula Gwenn Hiller will investigate the topic of how counsellors can maintain self-care and health in emotionally challenging situations.

Bénédicte Halba (iriv) will tackle the issue of “Diversity to prepare and succeed in a mobility and expatriation project”, by focusing, together with French colleagues in Britanny (World Trade Center and CMI in Rennes), on clichés and stereotypes that may hinder mobility and existing networks to support career counselling (in France and Europe).

The third parallel session will give the floor to Kelsie Kerwin (ESMOVIA), leading an interactive session on “Intercultural Capacities Across Borders – Going Deeper” by means of four key questions addressing the public’s soft skills capacity regarding other cultures. It should definitely be powerful!

The outcomes of the parallel sessions will be shared among the various groups within a final Plenary Closure session, aiming at relaunching the EMoCC project in future initiatives together with the participants of the Final Congress.

Practical information

When: Thursday 12^th December 2024, from 10 am to 5 pm

Where: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan (Italy)

How: the Final Congress is a face-to-face event: participation in person is highly recommended to make up the most of it! However, online participation will be possible for international guests.

Registration: registrations will open soon on the official EMoCC website: keep an eye on it as well as on the EMoCC LinkedIn official page.

Contributions from the Partners

We have been asking the team the following QUESTIONS:

• Would you use the WoMSA Scale to have an idea of your motivations, required skills & competences, expected satisfaction?
• Would you use the MOOC 1 – Counseling for Labour Market and how far – you are following a Master in Media management, would it be the field of activity you would chose and how will you consider your previous professional experience ?
• Would you be more focused on MOOC 2 – Advising for International Job Mobility that is tackling more specifically mobility

Silvia FAVAGROSSA (UCSC)

The experience of working within the EMoCC (European Mobility Career Counselling) project was intense and fruitful, allowing the acquisition of technical, didactic, organizational and relational skills with reference to the two MOOCs set up.

• When structuring a mobility/expatriation project, I consider the survey/questionnaire a key tool to collect data on participants’ personal motivations, skills and expectations. This makes it possible to understand users’ needs and to adapt to the training experience. In the EMoCC project, the use of questionnaires provided useful feedback to monitor and improve MOOCs.
• I would use MOOC 1 on career guidance to consolidate my career counselling skills and support young professionals. Despite my Master’s degree in Media Management, the soft skills I acquired also apply to career guidance. The experience in EMoCC, with the creation of assessment tools and learning content, was very formative and useful for my Media Management path as well.
• I would focus on MOOC 2, which deals with mobility and diversity, crucial issues in today’s world. My experience in the EMoCC project made me aware of the barriers, such as uneven access to digital resources, lack of language support and difficulties in cultural integration, which can be overcome with inclusive teaching tools and innovative solutions.

I do believe that assessment plays a key role in ensuring learning success and teaching quality in MOOCs. This activity cannot be reduced to mere measurement but must be oriented towards the identification of clear and shared criteria useful for the development of the individual’s competences. In fact, the more one learns to evaluate well, the more space is given for personal enrichment and growth. This applies to the evaluation of training projects, whether they are implemented in presence or remotely. A well-designed and implemented assessment system not only measures student learning success, but also provides meaningful feedback, promotes student engagement, drives teaching improvement and ensures the overall quality of the course.

Peter GUGGEMOS (HdBA)

The EMoCC project creates added value in several respects:

• EMoCC raises awareness of the fact that stays abroad by privileged middle and upper-class citizens in the form of studies, study trips, or visits at the invitation of partner organizations are a special case in that the guests are usually provided with high-quality support and many hurdles are taken off their shoulders. The situation is different for refugees or guest workers with fewer resources – in terms of language and legal hurdles, problems with recognition of their qualifications, finding accommodation or a job.
• Even if someone has supposedly received hardly any help abroad, resources such as language skills, a sense of coherence or monetary opportunities often have an effect, which is why it should not be concluded that immigrants in our countries have to manage without outside help.
• When we spend time abroad, we learn that other countries often modernize faster than we do, and this applies not only to digitalization processes. Consequently, the often unconscious postcolonial assumption of one’s own superiority is just as inappropriate as the generalization of one’s own privileged view of the world into categories such as “developed”, “civilized” or “emancipated”. As Rafia Zakaria writes in “Against White Feminism” (2021, W. W. Norton & Company, New York), the content of these categories differs depending on the individual’s life situation and group affiliation. These intersectional aspects must therefore be taken into account in order to recognize how relative categories such as “nationals” versus “foreigners” are and how necessary it is to support people in their journeys abroad and locally.

Anne GUELLER-FREY (TaT)

EMoCC raises awareness and increases understanding of what benefits can be gained by working in a new country or changing a job. It highlights also how career councelors can support people who want to go abroad to work. The issue recognition of qualifications and recognising the value of what people know and are able to do, whether acquired in formal or non-formal settings, is fundamental and an important step for mobility and social integration of employees moving from one country to another. Qualifications affect the ability to get a job and to practise a profession, for employers they signalise what can be expected from a potential employee. In an increasingly dynamic Europe, the need for transparent qualifications is thus becoming more and more important – it makes it possible to understand a qualification from one country in another. This translates into the need for the transparency of systems and qualifications to compare and recognise qualifications and to enhance work mobility. EMoCC adresses the assessment and the recognition of qualifications as an important step to improve individual mobility.

Kelsie Ann KERWIN (ESMOVIA)

The most valuable tool for someone before moving to another country is the WoMSA questionnaire. It allows for the person to take notice of where they are in their life and make conscious decisions about the next step. Knowing beforehand your motivations for going to another country can help you to then focus those and make them even stronger. Knowing your level of competency can help you to see your points of strength which will be the areas you can truly shine, and then your points of improvement, which are the skills that might lead you to having issues or frustrations in the new country. Definitely a helpful and powerful tool for qualifying an international job mobility experience beforehand!

Bénédicte HALBA (IRIV)

The EMoCC is a main source of inspiration if you are preparing an expatriation after many years dedicated to European projects- from the Council of Europe to the European Union.

• The qualitative and quantitative research was meaningful to exchange with young professionals who had experienced a mobility (mainly thanks to Erasmus). They succeeded when they didn’t expect too much from an experience abroad while being open to any surprising or disturbing opportunity. The mindset is a key point. The main idea is to be focused on a pragmatic goal – experiencing diversity with people with various profiles in an unknown context with the aim to achieve and enrich a professional experience.
• MOOC 1 is very useful to update a resume and be aware that the new experience must be different but equivalent to the level of your qualifications or former background and with colleagues with inspiring profiles or at least with whom you can exchange directly, share your different experiences in a friendly spirit with a common goal.

• The MOOC 2 is precious to work on the barriers and obstacles you will have to overcome to be prepared to take advantage of potential disturbing experiences. You must also be aware that this new start abroad may be just a transition to another expatriation – you begin with a territory overseas where the administrative process is easy (administrative process) before an experience in a foreign country less familiar such as a third country (not a member of the European Union)

In the previous issues

Issue #1- January 2023– general presentation with some feedback on the survey (PR1), edited by  UCSC

Issue #2 – May 2023 edited by UCSC combining presentation of the survey and testimonies of the partners

Issue #3 – October 2023 edited by iriv reminding the 3 results with a focus on the R1- survey and R2- MOOC1

Issue #4 – March 2024 edited by iriv reminding the 3 results with a focus on the study (and a mobility profile) and the testing of the MOOC1 with an achievement, the certificate the testers may gain

Issue #5 – May 2024 edited by iriv reminding the 3 results with a focus on the MOOC2 to be tested among another audience specialising in mobility / expatriation

© This sixth issue was edited by Dr Bénédicte Halba, iriv (France) with the contributions of all the team UCSC (Italy), HdBA (Germany), and ESMOVIA (Spain)