OCCAY project: digital skills for Europe’s career counselors

The OCCAY Hybrid Flexi Course prepares career counselors to provide professional online career consulting. The course is an innovative further education opportunity that offers flexibility with a modular learning system. It is tailor-made for counselors who give career guidance. Topics include digital methods in counselling, effective online counselling and empowerment in the digital world. In addition, OCCAY offers institutions working in this field a guide on how to systematically and structurally implement digital counseling in their organisation. 

The project was implemented by a European project consortium consisting of five organisations from Austria, Italy, Germany and Bulgaria. It is coordinated by KARBON Consulting GmbH. Since its launch, the course has attracted over 550 learners from over ten EU countries, which far exceeds the founders’ expectations.  

Galina’s story 

One of these students is Galina Boncheva, a career counsellor and Montessori teacher from Bulgaria who is 62 years old. 

The COVID-19 lockdowns pushed Galina to change her way of working. Unable to hold career counselling sessions face-to-face, she had to move her practice into a digital setting almost overnight. This was a complicated process, as she, like many career counselors, lacked digital skills. Faced with this challenge, Galina searched for upskilling opportunities. The online training course on digital skills for career counsellors under the OCCAY project turned out to be the opportunity she needed. “The training stands out for its clarity, practical orientation and comprehensive presentation of the lectures”, she explained. Galina encourages other career counsellors to make the most of OCCAY and test their knowledge and skills, as well as receive additional knowledge that they can directly apply in their work.  

Background 

OCCAY is a 2-year funded KA2 project in the Vocational Education and Training sector, funded by Erasmus+.  

It is implemented by five organisations: 

• KARBON Consulting GmbH, Austria (coordinating organisation) 

• bFlow, Austria (project partner) 

• CSC Danilo Dolci, Italy (project partner) 

• Business Foundation for Education, Bulgaria (project partner) 

• VHS Cham e.V., Germany (project partner)