Guided training is our business

Synergie starts a project with Bestr that gives value to mastering the strategies and instruments required to ensure success in job interviews.
September 29, 2015

When we speak of the Job Market, all too often we think just of the grand concerns: Fiat, a hundred-thousand more or fewer positions, Article 18, the Unions and negotiations with the Government.

But behind each of these grand movements or decrees there is someone looking for the right opportunity to demonstrate their professional capacity, and an employer searching for the perfect collaborator to help their business grow.

This is the work that interests us, that which lies beyond ideology, the real work that touches people and addresses their concrete needs. And this is the work that concerns Synergie, the Placement multinational who for 40 years has provided services in the management of Human Resources. Synergie, with its wealth of experience in administration, selection, outsourcing and relocation, knows that success in business meetings, job interviews and new careers comes from continuous training: lifelong learning. To guide and support this path requires orientation and requalification to help every worker demonstrate their unique competences and express themselves to their full capacity.

"Work is our business" is Synergie’s motto.

Training forms an active part of the search for new employment and it is strategic to give value to this phase; now, with a special collaborative project with Bestr, this can be realised through Open Badges.

Each participant in the “Effective management of interview selection” course organised by Synergie will obtain his or her unique Open Badge demonstrating all skills acquired – communication skills, critical thinking, problem-solving – that can be exhibited and valued in the professional world through the Bestr platform.

We spoke with Adriana Lancella, Head of National Work Policies at Synergie Italy.

 

Dr. Lancella, where did your interest in Open Badges and a collaboration with Bestr come from?

I saw a presentation of the project at the ANVUR headquarters in Rome, a meeting dedicated to the analysis of general skills and the grade achieved in University degrees and its relation to employment outcomes in post-graduates. The results of the study were very revealing and evidently showed the role and effectiveness of transversality in determining the choice of the ideal candidate by the Company, regardless and often in spite of the academic assessment achieved. 

I was struck by the ability of the Open Badges to address this misalignment, as a tool able to enhance and connect formal and informal experience with the specific needs expressed by the labour market

What can participants in “Effective management of interview selection” gain from the ability to certificate and share their competences through Open Badges?

Those who obtain the Synergie Open Badges can directly share their acquired skills and competences with interested companies and entities. The benefits of such skills and the possibility to display and promote them are clearly recognizable and evidenced by Synergie in decades of experience in brokering and the work market. The course employs a methodology of active learning through formative role-playing, a simulation technique that allows learning through direct experience in a guided and ‘protected’ context. The student learns to identify the personal aspects that most greatly influence, positively or in a problematic way, their work or education, learning to improve these aspects and subsequently encourage their presence in real contexts.

What are the main obstacles encountered during a job interview?

An interview forces the candidate to give a presentation of him or herself in a coherent, focussed and motivated way in a relatively short time in a stressful context. I believe that lack of awareness and preparation can compromise the effective expression of competences and the potential of the candidate, both professional and transversal, and lead to failure in the selection process. 

What are the main skills and competences acquired during the course?

Participants learn how to interpret and resolve open issues, how to grasp the relationship between their own personal history and the demands and requirements of the employer. They learn how to organise a concise and poignant summary of work and educational experience as well as techniques to manage one’s emotions to be functional and coherent both verbally and non-verbally. Guided simulation of interviews helps develop a critical evaluation of performance with a view to making improvements.

Does a universal strategy for being successful in job interviews exist or do we each have to adopt our own approach?

There are no ‘right’ answers or a plan that’s valid for everyone. The best strategy is to be yourself with intelligence and determination, which implies a profound knowledge of yourself and the objectives you want to achieve.  

Verbal and non-verbal communication, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, the ability to select relevant information and give a self-assessment of performance are transversal skills that serve not only to successfully pass a job interview but are essential in many other phases of professional life and not…

Transversal skills significantly affect the stability and quality of relationships, ensuring continuity and consistency. Often people have this capacity without realising it, skills deveopled in family and social situations not yet connected and utilised in a work context. To fully express these skills and use them to their maximum it’s neccesary to be able to recognise and verbalise them. Our course, thanks to Open Badges, facilitates the process of mastering and effectively communicating transversal skills.

Political policies in Italy have never been the centre of attention for society and institutions, but now, with the Jobs Act and Combined School & Work we’re becoming more aware that training is the first step towards creating jobs. How should this new challenge be faced?

I do not believe that active policies by themselves, without appropriate policies of economic development, create employment. Nonetheless, we can and must foster in people, in all stages of life, the identification, access to and use of instruments of self-determination consistant with the demands of the market, with and in addition to their professional aspirations.

And how should the young, and less-young, who want to grow professionally or relocate, deal with such challenge?

By adhering to and supporting the development and sharing of guidance projects and continued education capable of understanding and responding in context to the shared and specific demands expressed by all parties, public and private, that make up and influence the labour market. Only pertinent and updated training, not necessarily formally or academically acquired, can really facilitate a personal and professional revitalisation in people.

Do you believe that to form good political policies it’s essential to focus on innovation and technology? How could those involved in this field, including Bestr, really contribute?

The job market is constantly changing, creating new professions and skills. For this reason, I strongly believe it is essential for those involved in employment policies to build and maintain a network of dialogue and collaboration with Innovation and Technology, in all areas of training and formation and at all levels.
TAGS >