Excelsiorienta, developed by Unioncamere (the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce) is an online career portal aimed at providing career guidance to students in lower- and upper-secondary schools. The platform caters to students, parents and teachers who support students in their future plans for education and employment. Excelsiorienta offers tools including a self-assessment quiz (OrientaGame), information about professions and career paths (Career Guide) and advice for those that want to start their own business (Entrepreneurship Guide). Excelsiorienta is linked to the dataset of the Sistema Informativo Excelsior Survey and updated annually to provide the latest labour market data, which can help students in decision-making about their educational and professional futures.
Excelsiorienta: enhancing career decision-making
Abstract
Resource overview
Website: https://excelsiorienta.unioncamere.it
Excelsiorienta is an online career resource designed to assist young people in navigating the complexities of the working world. The platform caters to two main user groups: students in lower- and upper-secondary schools and the key influencers in their lives—parents and teachers. The goal is to guide young people towards a better understanding of both the educational and professional landscapes that lie ahead.
There are a variety of tools that help students to become more prepared for the working world including:
OrientaGame – a self-assessment quiz designed to help students understand themselves better by answering a series of questions based on values, aptitudes and skills. Students receive an ‘identikit’ of their working personality.
Career Guide – a structured, searchable database of professions and the career paths that are associated with them. Students are encouraged to discover different career options to help them make more informed decisions.
Entrepreneurship Guide - which provides advice, guidance, and practical tips on entrepreneurial skills and the process of starting a business.
Excelsiorienta also offers the latest annual data on the labour market. This feature keeps students informed about current trends and assists them in making well-informed choices regarding their educational and professional paths.
Additionally, the site aims to involve parents and teachers. Therefore, it includes a dedicated "news" section. This commitment is reinforced through a network across every Italian province and a series of initiatives including events in schools, local Chambers of Commerce, educational sector fairs, workshops, and webinars, ensuring a support system for students' decision-making processes.
Description of technology
Excelsiorienta uses a technological framework to deliver its services, with a key feature being interoperability with labour market data from Sistema Informativo Excelsior (https://excelsior.unioncamere.net).
The main technologies behind Excelsiorienta include Linux, NGINX, PHP 8 and PostgreSQL. In combination they allow information from databases to be managed and the user to experience the game and other features smoothly. HTML, JavaScript and CSS are used for the presentation layer with the frontend application being developed with Next.js.
How the resource makes career guidance more effective, efficient and/or equitable for students
Excelsiorienta aims to enhance career guidance for students by offering a personalized and data-driven approach. By tapping into the data from Sistema Informativo Excelsior, the platform provides students with a solid understanding of the labour market. This real-time and detailed insight helps to equip young people with strategic information, fostering a more informed decision-making process. This aims to increase the efficiency of the career guidance service by delivering targeted and relevant information. Moreover, the platform contributes to equity by offering every student access free of charge.
Challenges or potential barriers to use
Excelsiorienta is specifically tailored to young people in Italy, making it less applicable in an international context. Additionally, it is exclusively in Italian language, which limits its accessibility for non-Italian speakers.
The resource is free of charge
Free for state school users. Free for partner employers for a basic service but additional packages available at a cost.
Additional details
This resource has been endorsed by I.T.E.S. "Roberto Valturio", in Rimini, in Italy.
Disclaimer: This content is provided by the submitting organisation.
