Digital Opportunity Traineeships – an EU-funded training initiative – aims to help companies fill vacancies with digitally competent candidates. Despite high levels of unemployment in Europe, 40% of enterprises looking to fill ICT specialist jobs say they have difficulties finding the right people.
European Commission
Digital Opportunity Traineeship initiative
Digital skills are not only required in the ICT sector, but increasingly across all sectors. Knowledge of cybersecurity, data analytics and machine learning for example are needed in fields as diverse as banking and manufacturing, farming and health. A computer-literate workforce is also vital to maintain Europe’s global competitiveness in a fast-changing world.
The Digital Opportunity Traineeship initiative will provide cross-border traineeships for up to 6,000 students and recent graduates between 2018 and 2020.
Companies who are members of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and businesses active in Horizon 2020, are at the core of the initiative, but all companies are welcome to offer digital traineeships.
Companies willing to host trainees should publish their offers on ErasmusIntern and Drop'pin, or advertise them through direct contacts with universities career offices.
The initiative provides businesses with easier access to enthusiastic, young and highly educated workers eager to learn and to leverage their valuable fresh insights. The initiative is being implemented via the European Commission's Erasmus+ initiative, which is already connected to a large network of universities around Europe and their students. Businesses participating in the programme will not have to worry about the extra organisational workload of implementing a traineeship programme.
