What is the 'Competence Passport' and how does it help in business life

By recognizing our own skills and knowledge, our self-confidence grows and we become much more ready to successfully present ourselves to employers

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Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

You know more than you think.

This is not a motivational message from social media influencers, but the catchphrase of the "Competence Passport" program, designed in Germany in the 2000s.

The program, which has since been implemented in several European countries, including Serbia, is "career counseling during which people discover what they know and can do by going back to their own past, all the way back to elementary school."

"Perhaps someone spent his childhood in the workshop next to his grandfather's carpenter and thus learned what the basic tools are, how to handle them, how to work with what wood.

"Later, that knowledge was suppressed under a layer of other information and formal education. Our task is to bring him to the surface, so that the man himself becomes aware of what he can do," says Miroslav Jović from the National Employment Service (NSS) to the BBC in Serbian.

At the end of the program, which lasts about a month, you will receive a certificate, in which, among other things, the knowledge and skills observed during counseling are listed.

Jović believes that employers looking for deficit occupations are ready to take into account such a document and knowledge that was not obtained through education and work experience.

"Everything you have acquired in life has a price on the labor market," he says.

From September, the program will be available in nine cities in Serbia within the migration centers of the National Health Service.

So far, this counseling has been conducted by non-governmental organizations, gathered in the Network of Activists for the Competence Passport in Serbia (MAPS).

"We worked with more than 1.000 people, at least one third of whom made a serious change after counseling - they continued their education, changed or found a job," says Ivana Stefanović from MAPS.

This project manager summarizes the goal of the program in two words - "awareness and empowerment".

By recognizing our own skills and knowledge, our self-confidence grows and we become much more ready to successfully present ourselves to employers, he adds.

How does it look like 'Competence passport'?

During three to five meetings, which last at least 90 minutes, the participant goes through his whole life together with the counselor.

They discuss formal, school and college education, but also hobbies, volunteer work, and family life.

Višnja Nežić, who went through the program in the 50s, says that she remembered many forgotten skills.

"I am at an age when I have a lot of experience behind me.

"I discovered what I was capable of and what skills I had when I volunteered in my 20s. It remained in some corner of my brain, and it's about things I enjoyed," says Višnja, a master's youth worker.

Ivana Stefanović explains that in addition to the skills acquired through education, soft skills are also discovered (soft skills) like the ability to work in a team, which can often be sought in job advertisements.

"Talking to a counselor, someone will discover that they enjoy working with other people.

"He can tell you, for example: 'For every child's birthday, I organize with other parents to make a present together.'"

There are people who prefer to do everything themselves, and the goal of counseling is for people to discover what kind of jobs suit them.

This program, although it involves talking about different fields of life, is not "psychotherapy, nor life coaching".

"Counselors don't tell people what to do. They come to it themselves," says Stefanović.

Who is it for?

In previous years, the program included, first of all, people who find it difficult to find work because they are from marginalized communities, such as Roma, people with disabilities, or those in middle age.

"Sometimes someone does not manage on the labor market, and sometimes someone has knowledge and skills, but fails to present himself well at a job interview.

"That's why this kind of counseling can be very useful," says Ivana Stefanović.

The program is not only intended for the unemployed, but also for those who are thinking about changing careers.

In order to become a counselor, Ivana went through the program herself, which she says steered her in a different direction.

"After a certain time the work you do becomes monotonous and you need to find other things to fulfill you," she says.

What is the use of the 'Passport of Competence'?

Since when the ProfilPass applied in Germany, it passed through counseling more than 200.000 people, half of whom are young people.

The program was extended to other EU countries, as well as neighboring countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Višnja says that thanks to counseling, she became aware of the skills she has, but it also gave her the opportunity to make a plan for how she would like her career to proceed.

"In times when everything is changing, career changes are inevitable. Now I'm at an age where I need a less stressful job, with more free time," she says.

During counseling, she also discovered desires that were not only related to work.

"I wrote that I would like my own garden.

"I can say that today I made lunch from zucchini that I grew myself," ends the conversation with a smile.


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