During the previous three years, the Belgrade Open School, in cooperation with five universities from Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania and an organization from Greece, participated in an initiative to connect knowledge gained through research in the field of career guidance and counseling and knowledge in the field of human resources development.

In order to present the results of the implemented international project and improve the existing knowledge and practice of career practitioners, the Belgrade Open School team organized the event "Career guidance and counseling of employees - incentives for new theories and practice" on july 1. 2022. at the Envoy Conference premises. About 30 representatives of institutions that deal with career guidance and counseling, educational institutions, companies, organizations that work with young people, as well as students of the Faculty of philosophy and the Faculty of media and communications from Belgrade participated in this conference.

At the beginning of the conference, Aleksandra Đurović, representative of the Belgrade Open School, presented the key results of the project. In the course of the project, two international studies were conducted on the topic of connecting career guidance and counseling and human resources development. Based on the obtained data, course materials were developed for students on the topic "Career guidance and employee development" and a Moodle course was prepared through which students and professors can access the developed materials. The materials for the course were applied in work with 114 students, within the course of the psychology study program of the Faculty of media and communications and the andragogy study program of the Faculty of philosophy, University of Belgrade.

Also, a two-day training program "Career guidance and development of employees" was developed and tested, the goal of which is to support people who are already professionally engaged in career counseling in encouraging career development. Based on the experiences of all countries participating in the project, recommendations were prepared for the improvement of educational programs and training programs for career practitioners.

In the following, the other panelists: Dubravka Mihajlović from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Stanika Kostić - HR consultant, Maja Ćurić Dražić from the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade, led by the moderator Marija Milosavljević, representative of the Belgrade Open School, discussed the importance of supporting the career development of employees, the connection and cooperation of career practitioners from different fields, as well as the importance of continuous improvement of career practitioners. Then the students who participated in the piloting of this course shared their impressions, highlighted what was most important to them and offered career practitioners a different perspective on career counseling:

„Of particular importance was the lesson that made us aware of the impact of climate change on the labor market. I have never linked the labor market and climate change, but in this course I highlighted their mutual influence, which I think is very important, especially at a time when climate change is increasing.“

 

At the very end, the participants and panelists agreed that the biggest shortcoming in the system of career guidance and counseling is actually the lack of connection between career practitioners from different fields and that it is necessary to improve their mutual cooperation. It was recognized that the results of the implemented project can contribute to the further development of the career guidance and counseling system and ensuring that career development support is available to all who need it.