Last updated on Wednesday, 30/09/2020

24-year-old Marta De Bonis from Lecce in Italy has just embarked upon an exciting new professional adventure with the help of the European Solidarity Corps.

This initiative provides volunteer and work opportunities for young people which benefit local communities in other EU Member States.

Marta obtained a master’s degree in International Economics and Politics of Eastern European Countries in 2016, but on completion she found herself in an extremely competitive job market. Having concentrated so hard on her studies, she had little professional experience to give her the edge she needed to get her first break.

Thankfully, she knew just where to go to get advice, and she got in contact with her local EURES office. Soon, Marta’s personal EURES Adviser had helped her secure a six-month internship at the European Parliament.

Several months down the line, as she approached the end of her internship, Marta knew she had to start preparing for her next step. She spent hours upon hours perfecting her CV and writing cover letters, tailoring them to the specifics of each vacancy.

Meanwhile, Marta’s adviser was providing details of all the existing opportunities within EURES, including targeted mobility schemes such as Your First EURES Job and the European Solidarity Corps, as well as other EU-funded opportunities like EU Aid Volunteers, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and the Erasmus+ scheme.

Through her research, Marta found the professional path she wished to follow: development and cooperation. In this case, the European Solidarity Corps was the perfect tool for Marta to gain experience.

The next steps were to find paid training opportunities in the field for Marta to apply to, and then for her adviser to get in touch with the employers and explain the project and the benefits for both them and the applicant.

Soon her adviser had convinced an interested employer to sign up to the Corps and Marta went through the interview process. Marta’s application proved successful and she is now undertaking a six-month internship as an Advocacy Assistant for the Fair Trade Advocacy Office.

Speaking about her personal experience, Marta explained, “Without the support of EURES Lecce I wouldn’t have achieved my goal. They supported me, on almost a daily basis, with advice, info, suggestions, and encouraged me even in the darkest moments!”

No matter what field you are interested in, EURES is on hand to advise you on the wide range of opportunities and initiatives such as the European Solidarity Corps. If you are up for a challenge, and willing to dedicate yourself to helping other people, then join the Corps today!

Article written in partnership with EURES, the European Job Mobility Portal

Last updated on Monday, 24/03/2025

Showcasing your strengths and being smart about what to highlight are key to an eye-catching LinkedIn profile. Here are ten tips to help you stand out:

1. Add a profile picture. Your LinkedIn profile image should show you at your professional best. Keep your outfit relatively formal, include only your head and shoulders, and don’t forget to smile!
    
2. Make your headline descriptive. Replace the default LinkedIn headline (which shows your current job title) with a more descriptive and aspirational one. For example, instead of “Marketing Manager,” try “Experienced marketing and communications professional”.
    
3. Update your profile link. Give your profile a professional sheen by updating the URL for your personal LinkedIn profile – which normally includes a string of numbers and letters – to linkedin.com/in/yourname. You can find this option by clicking on the small picture of yourself in the menu bar at the top of page and going to View profile > Edit public profile and URL.
    
4. Write a snappy summary. The next thing employers will read is your profile summary. Make sure that it includes the most important information you want to share, most likely your unique qualifications, key work experience, and a way to get in touch.
    
5. Highlight your relevant skills. LinkedIn allows you to list up to 50 skills. Take a look at listings for the kind of job you’re interested in to see which skills they highlight, and then ensure you list those skills on your profile.
    
6. Showcase career successes. When adding a description for each of your jobs, don’t just list your responsibilities. Focus instead on your accomplishments and successes in those jobs – did you get promoted? Did you run a successful campaign?
    
7. Connect and network. Start building your professional network by adding your existing contacts and colleagues, then grow it by seeking out people who work in your industry. When you send someone a connection request, add a personal note.
    
8. Gather recommendations. If you can, request one recommendation from a colleague or supervisor at each of your employers. If you have worked only at one or two companies, ask several colleagues to write a recommendation on your behalf.
    
9. Engage with your professional networks. LinkedIn allows you to join groups that focus on just about any professional field. Engage with those groups by posting, commenting, and sharing their content. Groups are  also the perfect places to connect with more people and add them to your professional network.
    
10. Add links and other media. If you were involved in a video campaign or are a published author, link to it from your profile. If you have a website or portfolio that shows your work online, link to that too, ideally within your headline or summary.
     

Looking for other ways to stand out from the crowd and boost your employment chances? Check out our top tips for writing a killer cover letter, streamlining your CV and acing your interview! 

Article written in partnership with EURES, the European Job Mobility Portal

Last updated on Wednesday, 30/09/2020

The practice of hiring unpaid interns has come under increased scrutiny in the last few years, with movements to ban a system which harms Europe’s youth gaining widespread support.

When she started her internship, Zuzana Vaněčková was expecting a meaningful learning experience that would be useful for her career. Instead, this Czech student of adult education was relegated to making coffee for her employers. She felt that she was being exploited as cheap labour and describes it as a ‘depressing’ experience. At 23, Zuzana made a passionate speech before the European Parliament. This was the launch of the Campaign for Fair Internships, in which she plays an active part.

The Campaign is calling for basic employment rights for interns and demanding paid internships that provide a meaningful learning experience. In their manifesto, immediately signed by 9 members of the European Parliament, they call on Parliament to:

• pay interns
• limit the maximum duration of an internship to 12 months, and
• draw up a learning agreement.

Terry Reintke, Co-Chair of the Youth Intergroup in the European Parliament, describes this #fairinternships campaign as an opportunity to send a strong message against the normalisation of unpaid internships. As she points out, some interns have to work under intolerable conditions, and only a few can afford to take up a long unpaid internship. The existence of such internships exacerbates inequality of access to paid positions.

Improvements have been made throughout the institutions, with the European Parliament ensuring that all interns of MEPs will receive a decent remuneration. This comes on the back of the European External Action Service’s decision to start paying all interns in its Delegations.

‘Institutions set the tone for the broader labour market,’ says Bryan Watkins of the Global Intern Coalition, a movement aiming to bring together intern movements from around the world, which has previously organised a Global Intern Strike. 

How can I avoid such internships?

There are many helpful sites which look to protect young people from being exploited in the workplace, and strive to punish those who do not treat their interns in a fair manner.

Two prominent websites, Transparency at Work, and InternsGoPro allow former interns to provide reviews of their employer, and allow prospective applicants to gain an insight into the working environment. Both are supported by the European Institutions, with Transparency at Work co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme.

In addition, the Just Pay! campaign looks to pressurise organisations to only engage in paid internships through a variety of methods.

With the job market in Europe moving to a position whereby internships are a requirement for many to bridge the gap between education and the labour market, the pressure on institutions and organisations to abandon unpaid internships will almost certainly increase.