One Page Summary

CHALLENGE
All over the world, we can observe a mismatch between the needs of the labour market and the profiles and interests of young workforce. Job vacancy is growing: EU Jobs estimates there are 3 million unfilled jobs in Europe. And this already has an impact on our economy: “In a recent poll by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), 56 percent of companies cited the shortage of skilled workers as the biggest risk facing their business, triple the amount in 2011.”
At the same time, the free movement of people in Europe is leaving many regions affected by brain drain. Young people prefer moving abroad or to bigger cities, rather than finding employment locally. These young people, as the municipality of Agueda describes, are direly needed to fill the local industry jobs and to bring innovation to the sector.
Within that bigger framework, we have identified an intergenerational gap: the expectations of Generation Y and X do not match the traditional work settings of most industries. Young people can easily identify that these jobs will not give them the desired flexibility, freedom and possibility to create impact in the world. At the same time, industries have high expectations on innovation and entrepreneurship towards these young people, without actually offering a framework for development within their companies. As as result, both sides are frustrated, leading young people to seek employment in other sectors, and industry jobs to remain unfilled.

SOLUTION
We believe that a solution for this challenge (in Agueda, but also in other regions) must necessarily include both sides: the young people who are about to get into the labour market and the employers trying to fill their vacancies and bring innovation into their industries.
With “Mergulho” (Dive, in Portuguese), we want to create a low-threshold experience for tertiary students and middle managers of the local industries, in which they meet at the eye level and get a better understanding of each other’s perspective by collaborating on a shared project. The program also offers both sides the opportunity to develop key competences needed in the 21st century economy: from new models of leadership to proactivity and creative thinking.
Mergulho is a 4-day immersion for groups of 24 students and 6 middle managers. The program happens partially separated for each group and partially together, when students will form groups of 4, joined by a manager each.
For a preliminary overview of the different program elements and the topics of the immersion, please refer to the attached application document.

ACTORS
For our solution, we have identified the following key actors:
• Universities and vocational schools: The program offers young people orientation in their career choices and an understanding of their expectations towards their future work: What would I want my future job to be like? How realistic are my expectations? How can I contribute to creating my ideal workplace?. Young participants will also identify the competencies needed for a successful career in the 21st century and gain hands-on tools to further develop these competencies.
• Local industries: for the local industries, Mergulho offers a deep dive into the world of modern organizations and leadership styles: What do young people except from a workplace? How can we create space for intrapreneurship and innovation? The participating middle managers take away concrete tools to engage younger generations into co-creation processes at work. Managers also get access to talent through the immersion and the alumni meetings in the follow-up phase.

COMPETITION
• The Unleash Project focuses on helping youth understanding their expectations and ideas for their future work and doesn’t specifically target the link and exchange between youth and the industry.
• Lovell Corporation, Millennial Branding and others offer workshops and talks about how to integrate millennials into the workforce.
• The league of Intrapreneurs supports individuals to create change within their organizations. It’s not focused on intergenerational dialogue or recruitment, but more on social impact.
We could not identify any company offering a solution that targets both the employer and future employee side. It’s in this interaction that we see the unique contribution of Mergulho.

OUR EXPERIENCE
Mergulho has not been tested yet. We would like to use the opportunity of the Social Challenge platform to develop and test a prototype. However, the participating organizations and team members have gathered experience in the different core areas of the program:
• Working on leadership development & intrapreneurship with managers
• Empowering and engaging youth in shaping their future
• Creating learning programs that stimulate 21st century skills
• Rethinking organization structures
• Creating immersive and transformative experiences for adults and young people