Day 5 of LevelUp: Create Your Own Path

May 2 started with slightly tired faces after the intercultural evening from the night before, but somehow everyone still showed up with energy and a good mood. Coffee helped. Probably a lot.

We started the day with the RIASEC test and discussions about career interests, personality types and the kind of jobs or environments that fit different people better. It was interesting to see how seriously some participants analyzed their results and how often people reacted with “ok wow, this is actually accurate”.

Later, we moved into the elevator pitch session, together with SWOT analysis. Participants worked on identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges, and then started building short pitches either for themselves as future employees or for their own business ideas. Some teams presented their pitches in front of the group, which led to a lot of feedback, encouragement and also a few funny moments.

In the afternoon, we had one of the most creative sessions so far: “Career Pathways Maps”. Participants created visual maps of their path toward their dream job or future business, using drawings, symbols, roads, puzzles, obstacles and all kinds of creative ideas. The room slowly turned into a mix between a workshop, an art gallery and group therapy session. Some maps were very realistic, others extremely ambitious, but all of them reflected personal goals, fears and motivation.

The activity also pushed participants to reflect on real-life obstacles, especially those connected to rural communities, and on what concrete steps they could take next in their professional journey. Music was playing in the background during the entire session, which made the atmosphere surprisingly calm and focused after such an active previous day.

We ended Day 5 with a mid term evaluation.

The facilitators used the BLOB method, where voluntarily we shared our feelings linked to the atmosphere of the entire group and learning process by reflecting on our development of our ASK, since our first contact with them ( preparation stage up today).