Guiding Symbols

"<< Background >>Hormé is an organisation whose ambition and objective is to help local organisations benefit from relevant European initiatives to improve the quality of their work. The aim of the Guiding Symbols project was to bring real added value to the support given to jobseekers, particularly the long-term unemployed, by using a method developed in Austria called ""Symbol Work"", based on visual tools that make it possible to work with all kinds of people. This method has proved its worth in Austria and several other countries, and was a source of inspiration for the French context.Indeed, there is a real need in France to work on the theme of career guidance, with the number of requests for skills assessments having doubled in 2 years, 20% of the 18-25 age group having recourse to a private coach for guidance, etc.With a number of studies pointing to the link between dropping out of school and poor career guidance, we wanted to support professionals in the career guidance sector in adopting new methods and improving quality in this area.<< Objectives >>The main aim of the ""Guiding Symbols"" project was to innovate in the field of supporting adults in their pathway to employment. We are talking here about adults who are furthest from employment and who need support, particularly to define their career plans.More specifically, the specific objectives that we have pursued in implementing the Guiding Symbols project have been :- to strengthen the skills and competences of professionals in the career guidance sector ;- to work more inclusively with more complex populations;- Openness and appropriation of new approaches;- helping unemployed people to find their own way in the labour market.We wanted to be able to bring about a change in the practices of guidance professionals to better meet the needs of their target audiences and improve the impact of their work with them.<< Implementation >>We have set up 2 main activities as part of the project, in addition to the Project Management activity (A1).- A2: FINETUNING AND ADAPTING-> Localisation and adaptation of the contents of the Symbol Work method created in Austria. This activity was carried out by Hormé to adapt it to the French context and audience, with considerable support from Hafelekar given its expertise and knowledge of the method.-> Digitisation of content: the content was digitised using media created on Genial.ly.The choice of content and the way it was presented were jointly validated to ensure that we did not lose the key elements of the method, in terms of both content and form.A3: GUIDING SYMBOLS FOR GUIDES-> Let's guide the guides! Training of 12 advisers in France by Hormé, supported by Hafelekar for the training methodology and evaluation of the sessions, prepared jointly.-> Make the method alive in France with the guides: implementation of activities with indirect target groups (59 participants) by the trained guides.-> Exploiting the results and upscaling: drafting a strategy for exploiting the results for deployment in France.<< Results >>In addition to these results, we can share other concrete achievements and results of the project:- 1 multilingual website containing all the resources related to the method;- 10 case studies illustrating the application of the method;- 3 avenues for future use of the method in France- 83 of the guides trained are incorporating the method into their day-to-day work- 100% satisfaction among the Hormé and Hafelekar teams, not only with the cooperation but also with the results achieved;- a significant increase in the knowledge and skills of the Hormé team about the Symbols method in the context of support for professional integration."