It's not always easy to make the most of your civic experience, such as volunteering or Erasmus, particularly when you're looking for a job. Yet they can be a real asset. Global STEPS is a new tool for measuring and demonstrating the added value of this type of experience. It's a great idea that Louvain Coopération is taking part in, and one that should be disseminated widely!
I taught for 3 months in Benin’. ‘I do voluntary work every weekend for a food bank’. ‘I learnt English during an Erasmus course in Dublin’. There are so many of us who have had wonderful human and civic experiences. Experiences that have forged us and given us many assets to bring to bear in a future job. The problem is that it's complicated to ‘sell’ these experiences to a potential future employer, because their contribution is so subjective and unquantifiable. But what if that were to change? What if, just as we can put a C1 level in English on our CVs, we were able to quantify our cross-disciplinary and civic skills? The Global STEPS tool offers just that!
Funded by ERASMUS +, the European student and teacher exchange programme, this project is the result of a partnership between organisations from five different countries, including Louvain Coopération. Specifically,’ explains Fiona Nziza, Northern Projects Manager for Louvain Coopération, ’it's an online tool that allows you to self-assess 7 cross-cutting citizenship skills. At the end of the test, you get detailed results expressed in professional language, as well as a certificate. But that's not all: Global STEPS also provides practical advice on how to improve your skills, as well as the opportunity to self-assess your progress by taking the test a second time."
While the tool is now well developed, the next challenge is to make it sufficiently widespread so that it is recognised in the professional world. ‘The more people who use it, the more Global STEPS, and therefore our civic experience, will become a must for employers!