EBA Career Guidance Platform

Since 2018, the Association has been organizing offline events focused on career guidance for teenagers. We aimed to provide useful and free content for young people together with our partner companies, who joined us in hosting these events. Among them were: UIA, Kochut Jewelry, DSV Logistics, KPMG, and others. In 2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and later the full-scale war, we had to suspend offline events for teenagers for obvious reasons. Instead, we focused on online formats, which were resumed in 2023.

Since the end of 2023, the Association and the Optima Online School have been organizing online lectures for the children of employees from EBA member companies and Optima School students. During these sessions, professionals share the benefits of their careers, provide insights, explain pathways to gain knowledge, and answer questions that young people may have about the profession.

As part of this project, we have already explored the following professions: 3D/Motion Designer, IT Engineer, Lawyer, Logistician, Sales Manager, Brand Marketer, Financial Specialist, Aviation Engineer, and Cell Biologist.

Speakers have joined us from companies such as Sigma Software, EPAM, VKP, DSV Logistics, OLX, Dragon Capital, Progresstech Ukraine, as well as an individual speaker – Olga Maslova.

Frequency – 1 lecture every 1–2 months
Duration – 1.5 hours per lecture
Participation – free of charge for everyone

Since 2017, the EBA, together with certified PPC ICF coaches Liliya Luts and Svitlana Bochkovska, has been running coaching programs for teenagers twice a year.

Program 1 – Coaching Teens: “My Future Profession”
The program consists of 4 modules, each lasting 2 hours.

Program Goals:

• Help teenagers approach the choice of their future profession consciously
• Learn more about professions of the future and what skills to focus on today
• Understand their strengths, talents, and areas for growth
• Create a personal development plan for skills, abilities, and competencies

Expected Outcomes for Participants:

• Understand which professions will be in demand in the future
• Learn how to turn dreams into concrete goals
• Identify personal talents (strengths and areas for improvement)
• Develop the skill of making conscious choices
• Learn to set effective goals leading to success
• Gain self-awareness (Who am I? What are my skills? What do I want? What are my talents?)
• Discover which profession will unlock their individual potential
• Experience a chosen profession in a playful, practical way
• Develop motivation to pursue personal goals

Program 2 – Coaching Teens Project: “Emotional Intelligence”
The program consists of 4 modules, each lasting 2 hours.

Program Goals:

• Introduce teenagers to the concept of emotional intelligence and its role in their lives
• Learn to recognize their own emotions, the emotions of others, and the needs behind those emotions
• Understand how to build healthy relationships by taking emotions and needs into account (both their own and others’)

Expected Outcomes for Participants:

• Recognize their own emotions and understand the needs behind them
• Learn the connection between emotions and brain function and its impact on daily life
• Understand how to manage emotions and express the needs behind them
• Gain a deeper understanding of others’ inner world for harmonious and productive communication
• Learn how empathy contributes to building trustful relationships

Until 2020, the programs were held offline. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and later the full-scale war, the programs transitioned to an online format.

Frequency: Every autumn and spring
Duration: 4 modules of 2 hours each
Participation Fee: Paid, with fees announced for each program. The cost has never exceeded 4000 UAH per child.

The Successful Start program is an educational initiative by the European Business Association for university students in their 3rd–5th years. It was first launched in September 2014 and is held every autumn.

The program consists of 10 modules covering various business topics. In 2024, the topics included:

• Sales and Negotiation

• Legal Aspects of Employment

• Resume Writing and Job Interviews

• Brainhacking in the Era of Neural Networks

• Self-Expression and Self-Presentation

• Critical Thinking as Part of Resilience and Mental Health Support

• Recovery, Resourcefulness, and Resilience during the War

• Marketing

• PR and Crisis Communication

• Financial Literacy

Program Goals: to provide students with the opportunity to attend lectures for free with top Ukrainian speakers, improve their soft skills, and learn from engaging real-life cases.

Participants also have the chance to receive a certificate of completion and to publish their resumes on the EBA website.

Frequency: Every autumn
Participation Fee: Free of charge
Audience: Exclusively university students

The program is announced via EBA’s mailing list and posted on EBA’s Facebook pages. Partner universities are informed first, giving them the opportunity to share the program with their students.

• Psychological Lectures for Parents
• Meetings on University Admission Campaigns

These meetings are a dedicated area focused on developing partnerships between academia and business. During these meetings, opportunities for collaboration are discussed, and educational programs for students that align with current market needs are presented.