Article by Cristina Palermo from L’Albero
It’s in 2024. Amir, Andrej and Cécile are looking for work. Amir feels the need to improve his leadership, Andrej is an insecure person and encounters some difficulties during job interviews, Cécile, on the contrary, is very confident but she is unable to find creative solutions to deal with the problems.
They need to work on their soft skills, even if in a different way. How could they do that?
All three can turn to a Creative Mentor for Employability: a professional able to improve their soft skills applying a methodology that blends theatrical techniques with coaching and mentoring and development/self-reflection tools.
In short, they need someone to teach them “how to master the act”.
This is the vision that we had when, in 2019, we completed the “Fake it till you make it” Project (FITYMI) and we decided to propose a new project named “Master the act” (MACT).
The “Fake it till you make it” Project developed an innovative theatre methodology able to improve the personal and professional life of NEET and unemployed people, enhancing their ability to communicate, manage time, work cooperatively, be flexible and adaptable, and much more.
The great results obtained during the FITYMI pilots in Spain, Italy, the UK and Sweden had led us to desire to improve and spread this method and to help as many unemployed people as possible.
But we thought that we should “take a step back” and not address unemployed people directly but involve their potential trainers. So was born “Master the act”.
MACT aims to create a new professional profile, the Creative Mentor for Employability, upskilling and broadening the working methods of two target groups:
- job facilitators and enablers (HR managers, recruitment specialists, career counsellors, public and private employment agencies),
- theatre managers, trainers and professionals.
How would we do that?
We’ll define the occupational role and key competence of the Creative Mentor of Employability. We’ll develop and test a training methodology adapting the FITYMI method and the Mentoring Circle ™ Methodology and, finally, we’ll develop a web learning platform.
With who?
The project will be carried out by four organisations who carried out FITYMI: L’Albero and Materahub from Italy, Agencia para el empleo de Madrid from Spain and Inova Consultancy from the United Kingdom; and four new organisations: Fundacja ARTeria from Poland, Pôle emploi Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from France and Asociatia European Academy and Ipazia Production from Romania.
When will it happen?
MACT started in November 2020 and will end in April 2023 but keep an eye on these months in particular:
- February – March 2021: You can participate in our research (please contact us to the email address of the project for more information).
- August 2022: You can join our web platform and MACT online course.
- October 2022: You can participate in the training week in Matera (Italy).
- February – April 2023: You can join our multiplier events across Europe.
A lot of information to remember?
Well, follow us on our blog and Facebook profile.
