Konstantinos Karalariotis, the Events Coordinator of Ecogenia, writes about the 1st Sustainability Skills & Career Fair, the goals that were achieved, and the future goals for an even more meaningful event.
It was early October the last time I used this space to introduce myself, but mainly to introduce you to the then-upcoming 1st Sustainability Skills & Career Fair. It was an attempt to share with you what we were up to as part of Sustainability Skills & Career Month – a month dedicated to climate action, and sustainable development, with youth and skills at the heart of the debate.
So today, we are in the same room, to share with you the experience and results of this project that has become a reality, and to reflect on the “yardstick for measuring this success”.
At the conclusion of the Career Fair, the most immediate and obvious count we could make was of the people who visited us. In the five hours that the event lasted, more than 150 people visited the American College of Greece’s facilities, occupying without stopping the “across” seats to the 16 companies and organizations that participated.
Interviews, discussions and networking opportunities with sustainability professionals from a range of fields from telecoms and banking to renewable energy and anti-austerity.
The common confession of both job seekers and recruiters was the satisfaction they felt due to the opportunity to communicate and have in-depth discussions around the common interest that prompted them both to participate in the 1st Sustainability Skills & Career Fair. In fact, a participating individual reported that:
After all, the main aim of the event was to showcase the range of possibilities and options available to those of us who want to work for a more sustainable world. A pursuit that we seemed to achieve, as a participating individual shared in feedback how:
Our goal through this action was to support our belief that “Every Job Is A Sustainability Job” – trying to enrich the ongoing dialogue on the need for education, empowerment and meaningful employment of young people, a triptych that is horizontally outlined in Ecogenia’s actions, and through the Social Service Programmes of recent years.
Fulfilling this goal still requires significant steps at different levels – institutional, academic, but also in the labour market – but the feedback below made us believe that change comes one step at a time.
And something for the end.
Through this reflection, but also through the very constructive feedback of those who participated in this first effort, we had the opportunity to identify areas for improvement and needs that were not covered this year. Accessibility to the venue, enriching the programme with panel discussions and interactive workshops, more hours for the Career Clinics and the event in general, are some of them.
We also recognise that with the Sustainability Skills & Career Fair we have been more actively involved in the overall effort to clarify what sustainability, sustainable development, ESG, CSR – and whatever other terms may be used – at the same time as trying to clarify the landscape of what skills a person ultimately needs to work in or towards this sector. Our main desire is for this effort to become an annual institution, to serve as a hub for businesses, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and primarily for young people, so that together we can strengthen the foundations for such success.
The good news is that more than 80% of the participants, as well as organizations & companies, would choose to be with us next year!
