Belgrade Open School Career center
Belgrade Open School Career Center was founded back in 2004, as the first center within the NGO and government sector at the time, that focuses on practicing activities and providing career guidance and counseling services. The very term ''karijerno vođenje i savetovanje’’(career guidance and counseling) was introduced into the Serbian language by the CGCC employees and expert associates, in order to translate the concept and practice which has been used in Europe and the rest of the world, for decades.
Today, the Career Center works within the Belgrade Open School’s Improvement of Employability Programme, with the goal of empowering individuals to become good managers of their own careers, to identify possible ways of professional and career development by choosing adequate education, support mechanisms and employment. We want the users of our services to be familiar with the modern concept of career, to recognize their own skills, qualities and professional interests, know how to get information via internet and other media about the possible directions of their career development, to be trained for the transition from the world of education into the world of work and active job search, and to get some form of experience from the world of work (job shadowing, internship).
Career Centre services
Trainings
We have been implementing career guidance and counseling training programs since the foundation of the career center, and so far we have, with great success, trained tens of thousands of participants of various ages and from various sectors.
Teachers and associates. We implement career guidance and counseling trainings of school teams, with the aim that participants: acquire knowledge about the concept of career guidance and counseling and the modern concept of career, to familiarize themselves with the strategic framework of career guidance and counseling in Serbia, acquire career management skills according to the OMOT model, which BOS has adapted and has been successfully using for many years now, to design and implement Career Guidance and Counseling Programs at school. Belgrade Open School conducts trainings for teachers according to a programme accredited by the Institute for the Improvement of Education.
Youth. We train unemployed young people and young people who are at the start of their careers, in various skills necessary for career management: career planning and career development planning,self-assessment and self-evaluation of skills, interests and knowledge, collecting and interpreting information, making decisions, transition and active job seeking. Apart from that, we also train young people to develop teamwork skills, skills of assertive communication, work ethic and all other skills which help them adapt to the world of work and achieve success.
Youth offices. In the 2009-2012 period, the CGCC team worked with around 60 youth offices, on projects which reached around 1000 young people. Some youth offices BOS worked with managed to implement continuous peer career informing services for young people from their local community.
Career informing
We use reliable and relevant sources in order to provide our users with information relevant to career development, in the context of education and specialization, and the employment context. We prepare and publish numerous informative publications intended for young people, practitioners of career guidance and the general public. Within our online system for career planning – BOS Career, we regularly update our education database and occupations database, in order to help young people, parents and cgc practitioners to gather the information they need.
Career counseling
In order to provide support for BOS Career visitors during the analysis and use of presented information, or to direct them towards other information sources they may need, out team works hard on the online career counseling service. Our experienced psychologists and andragogists are here to help, either online or through one-on-one counseling sessions, in cases when users have dilemmas about choosing a vocation, faculty, or difficulties in making decisions about their career and career planning, and other challenges.
Academic counseling
The goal of the Academic Counseling Programme is to inform those who are interested about the possibilities of studying abroad, and to administer scholarship programs, with the goal to, through increasing youth mobility, contribute to human resource development and higher education reform in Serbia. In the field of academic counseling, Belgrade Open School conducts the following activities in order to achieve individual goals: informing, counseling, presenting programs for studying abroad, building the capacities of the alumni network and administering scholarships.
Selections
Starting from 2012, our professional team has been successfully organizing recruitment and selection processes of young interns for challenging positions in public administration, civil society organizations, small and medium enterprises, as well as in renowned domestic and international companies. Going by current standards in the field of human resource development, we are implementing CV screenings, testing and interviewing internship candidates. The fact that 86% of interns hired via our internship programs remained employed after completing their internships is something we are very proud of.