"CONTEXTThe Cedefop European Skills and Jobs Survey (ESJS) indicates that a fifth of EU adult employees (including young adults) have lower skills than needed when starting their jobs, indicative of skill gaps at recruitment. Based on results of this survey, young adults preparing to enter the workforce are significantly lacking in transversal skills or soft skills - such as teamwork, decision-making, and communication - that will help them become effective employees.OBJECTIVESSEE FIRST will develop methods and tools to foster employability through upskilling the soft skills of young individuals (i.e. communication, creative thinking, work ethic, teamwork, decision making, creative thinking, work ethic, time management, critical thinking, conflict resolution). PARTICIPANTSThree training organisations with focus on young adults, two companies active in ICT-enabled E&T and knowledge dissemination and an EU wide network focused on digital learning. ACTIVITIES- Address three main educational fields which are of particular importance to the countries of the partnership (health, socio-economic, sciences)- Identify the key soft skills per sector by directly interacting with companies from the targeted sectors and capturing their views - Classify soft skills in terms of impact on employability of entry level applicants - Design questionnaires capable of revealing the true knowledge gap - Determine the current level of knowledge of the target group in relation to each skill (""AS-IS"" situation)- Group the different levels of the knowledge gap determined - Elaborate personalised strategies to progress from the current to the desired situation.- Break down the elaborated strategies to distinct goals to be attained- Develop bit sized units to support the attainment of each goal by the learners seeking to materialise their strategy.- Design a skills achievement and recognition framework.- Conceptualise the different types of interactions between the Genie and learners- Map the identified knowledge gaps to personalized enhancement strategies for the Genie to classify the user to one of the categories of learners based on its profiling outcome- Develop the Genie iteratively, in 3 iterations: First iteration will serve as an internal test release of the Genie in English. Based on the outcome, the 2nd iteration will be a the pilot release in all languages. Following the execution of the pilot exercises, the third release will be the final project release covering key findings from the pilots - Organise pilot activities in the form of hands on exercises during which participants will have the opportunity to develop their own strategies guided by the Skills Genie- Set up the SEE FIRST Academy virtual space to support the growth of the SEE FIRST network of adopters and practitioners- Promote the Academy and the projects outcomes through dedicated multiplier eventsMETHODOLOGYAn iterative methodology: three versions of the Skills Genie tool are produced, one in each iteration. After each iteration the results are tested/validated and based on the conclusions the next iteration is planned. The iterative methodology applied is also facilitating the sustainability of the outputs through the incorporation of sustainability requirements at the design phase of the project outputs. RESULTS- Transversal competencies framework comprising gap evaluation methods and tools and a skills and achievements recognition framework- Transversal (soft skills) enhancement strategies and actions- Skills Genie online tool- SEE FIRST Academy virtual space with supporting infrastructure TARGET GROUP- Recent High School graduates,- Recent or undergraduates of post-secondary education, or HE- Vulnerable young individuals (i.e. unemployed, disadvantaged, migrants)- Recent young employees, who want to upskill their soft skills within existing professional context, in order to be competitive for an upgrade ora new job offer.- Trainers and teachers who may find useful to incorporate the methodological and technology tools of the project into already established curricula; - Employers, Training Centers (VET), Career guidance counselors, Recruiters, HR departmentsLONG TERM BENEFITS- Better employment opportunities in their fields of interest for young adults as first time job seekers- Increased productivity for European SMEs through faster on-boarding of new employees and quicker and more efficient contribution to the production process- Improved professional capacity of youth trainers to help their audience enter the job market [A minimum of 5 youth organisations and 20 youth workers/trainers per partner country will be involved in project activities from the start of the project]- Enhanced understanding of the importance of transversal skills at the work place"