Play4Job

Objectives to be achieved: The main objective of the project is:- the acquisition of practical experience by learners and persons entering the labour market (already during their education), - the establishment of cooperation with enterprises.Both the objectives will be achieved with help of Play4Job, an Internet platform created for this purpose. We assume the involvement of at least 50 companies from different member states of the European Union. This will allow people using the platform to participate in international teams and engage in international projects.Users of the platform will thus:- acquire practical knowledge about the work of companies operating in areas in which the users want to work in the future,- acquire skills related to cooperation with various project teams,- acquire experience in working in intercultural teams,- be able to establish cooperation with potential future employers. By utilizing the popularity gaining gamification processes that prove to be effective in other areas, the Play4Job platform will encourage users to participate actively in various case-studies and tasks provided by potential employers. Gamification is the process of designing work and education processes in a way similar to how it is done in video games – and by doing so, increasing engagement, efficiency and positive attitude of participants. In other words, the idea is to implement in work, business, scientific or educational environment game-like incentive mechanisms and systems of work organization that effectively encourage people to long and repeated effort and commitment.Gamification is gaining popularity in the field of education. An example is the “Playmaker School” (a school in which learning takes place primarily through games), a project of the Game Desk Institute founded by Melinda and Bill Gates, or the New York based “Quest to Learn” school, established with the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

Main transnational activities (as provisionally planned, to be confirmed with partners): The main task of the international team will be to create the Play4Job Platform methodology, including:- the determination of the process of task implementation,- the determination of the rewarding system for people carrying out tasks,- the determination of the rewarding system for employers.It should be noted that rewarding is based solely on virtual badges, certificates, etc. There are no real costs incurred. Another task will be to gain business partners from different countries, who will create practical tasks within the platform. At the same time, this will be a specific recruitment process conducted by entrepreneurs. The ability to verify the subsequent stages of work and the final results will allow businesses to obtain specific data about people carrying out a given task.

Planned deliverables & outcomes of TNC: The main outcome of the project is the creation of the Play4Job platform. This platform will be placed in the cloud, allowing broad access via the Internet, also on mobile devices.The application will be made available to students and alumni free of charge and its digital distribution over the Internet, the AppStore or GooglePlay will allow to reach out to millions of users without additional costs.  As they will be stored in a Pan-European database, it will be possible to compare and analyse results of individual users and individual teams. Participants of the project, after work completion, will receive feedback from companies that prepared a given task which the users were required to solve. As a result, players will gain practical experience and will be able to pay attention to individual characteristics on which they should work and develop on their own.  This platform will also allow repeated participation in international projects. Thus, it will offer the opportunity to draw conclusions, learn and improve previously achieved results. This will also allow for cooperation in various teams – teams working in different fields, on different tasks, and having team members with different socio-cultural background.  Thereby, players will earn extensive knowledge of international cooperation and work in a multicultural environment.  People using the Play4Job Platform will acquire practical knowledge about the operation of enterprises and different processes in enterprises – so that it will be much easier for them to get a job and find their place on the market. Individual virtual certificates will confirm acquired skills and qualifications. Employers familiar with the Play4Job platform will treat such certificates as application documents providing the possibility of assessment of the knowledge and skills of a person applying for a specific position. Such an extensive database will be a knowledge repository for future academic studies. At the same time, this tool will allow to verify in a measurable way the current increase in the employment efficiency and the degree of development of skills related to job seeking among users of the platform. It is assumed that within 3 years around 200.000 students and alumni from all member states will actively use the Play4Job Platform. This indicates the huge potential of this tool. In the last couple of years, the virtual reality of computer games has started to increasingly affect the real world. Play4Job is a platform that can contribute to solving of some of the biggest problems of our civilization – poverty and unemployment.