The GiLE4Youth Conference ‘22
Did you attend our fabulous online conference? If so, we hope you left feeling motivated and inspired. If not – but you would like to know what happened – read on.
GiLE’s mission is to support young people’s pursuit of a successful and meaningful life by developing their competencies and through research and advocacy. The second “GiLE4Youth” conference brought together young people, presenters, roundtable panellists, and skills trainers for a day of intensive awareness-raising and upskilling.
Credible international research indicates that young people lack job-search abilities and employability skills. Moreover, they are not always aware of the immediate need to develop their transferable skills or that employers will recognise these skills regardless of where they are learnt.
Photo taken at the GiLE4Youth ’22 online conference, 2022
Why the GiLE4Youth Conference?
Employers’ expectations of young employees have always evolved and will continue to do so. Organisations increasingly want to hire young people who bring much more than their ‘hard skills’ to the workplace. They must be able to work with others, be efficient and solve problems both independently and collaboratively.
At the “GiLE4Youth” conference, we wanted to explore soft skills more deeply, and at the same time, we wanted to focus attention on the attributes, mindset and competencies that employers say they need to have.
Another aim was to raise awareness that soft skills development is an ongoing process rather than a “one-off” activity. It is crucial to acknowledge this, as the world of work will never stop evolving, regardless of where you are in your career. We also wanted to reassure young people that despite the challenges, self-development is possible with the right support frameworks and personal motivation.
At our conference, we aimed to connect young people preparing for entry into the labour market with experts who understand the importance, the necessity, and the urgency of developing transferable skills. It was our intention to deliver value by sharing the benefit of such experts’ experience with the event’s audience.
How did young people benefit from the GiLE4Youth Conference?
There was a good audience on the day. Overall, 66 people participated, many of whom were Hungarian or international students. They benefited from an impressively rich conference programme, which featured 27 speakers from 17 countries, and dealt with such varied topics as:
• Youth leadership and sustainable careers (keynote speeches);
• Employers’ expectations of young recruits and what to expect from the transition to work (round table panel discussion);
• A range of thought-provoking topics (17 presentations from students, researchers and Learning & Development professionals);
• How to respond to feedback and achieve one’s full potential (2 coaching sessions).
The participants benefited from the experts’ insights, practical advice and in the coaches’ case, skills training. Their awareness of both the importance of transferable skills and employers’ expectations towards them was successfully raised by the event.
Are you like-minded?
It is a real privilege to be a part of the GiLE community and I hope that over the coming months and years, that we as GiLE contributors can accomplish even more.
Let’s meet again next time to further discuss how young people can be supported and prepared to meet the challenges of today and of tomorrow.
On behalf of the organising team and the Board of Trustees, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to everybody who made this global event happen.
See you again in 2023.
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Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed in this article/publication are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of GiLE or its members.
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