How WorldSkills Lyon 2024 is skilling up the next generation

Krisjanis Jurans from Latvia whose experience of EuroSkills led to a job in Finland.

With just over three months until the 47th WorldSkills Competition, young people are busy training for their moment on the international stage. From 10 to 15 September, 1,400 Competitors will be striving to make their countries and regions proud. Their sights may be set on Lyon, but what opportunities does a WorldSkills Competition unlock for them in the future?

Employability

In a challenging job market, young people are looking for every opportunity to stand out from their peers. Being a WorldSkills Champion is not just a title, it’s a career booster. As Patrick Aiple shares, “The Competition was a great experience and a real game-changer in my life. I met a lot of good people and a lot of people met me. The resulting network helped me in my subsequent career. Companies approached me to see if I would like to work for them. I haven’t written a single job application since the competitions.”

For many young people, taking part in a WorldSkills Competition can help to open doors or accelerate careers. The WorldSkills Digital Badge launched last year is a trusted way to showcase these achievements online. Following the Competition, Champions can activate their credentials online, so that employers, educators, and peers can quickly and easily recognize their WorldSkills accomplishments.

Ambition

Each time a Competitor advances to the next level of competition, their ambition naturally intensifies. They are driven to surpass their previous achievements and set their sights on the next goal. This ambition, nurtured within the competition, becomes a driving force in their careers. Many of our Champions speak of the Competitions igniting a hunger for success and a commitment to excel in their chosen profession.

Champions like Euphrasia Mulenga. She competed at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, an experience which was nerve-wracking but inspiring. She says, “WorldSkills challenged me to see myself as a mountain climber. If you get to the peak, you don’t then go and climb a lower mountain. You’d want to go and climb a much higher mountain.” As well as channelling this ambition to improve her own career, Euphrasia is a voice for skills in Zambia and now encourages other young people to dream bigger.

Euphrasia Mulenga competed at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 and has become a voice for skills in Zambia and now encourages other young people to dream bigger

New paths

Skills are the foundation of our world and the building blocks of industry. But for many of our Champions, excellence in their skill opens up many paths across a variety of different sectors. WorldSkills Competitions are often a springboard into something new and unexpected, when a new connection or opportunity presents itself.

That was the case for Krisjanis Jurans from Latvia whose experience of EuroSkills led to a job in Finland. He is now working for an international Forest Machine Manufacturing company, travelling the world upskilling other colleagues. He says, “My role involves training teams across a number of regions and countries on how to use our specialist equipment well and safely. It is a busy job with much responsibility. Even today I find myself using techniques that EuroSkills taught me.”

Life skills

While Competitions tend to focus on technical skills, they also hone important life skills. And for Champions, these life skills – such as resilience, confidence, timekeeping, attention to detail, communications, and working under pressure – can make all the difference. Employers value these qualities in the workplace. As our industries become more challenging and faster paced, it is vital to have a workforce who can respond to challenges in positive and productive ways.

That has certainly been the case for Cloé Lemaréchal. As the first and only person to win medals at both WorldSkills and the Abilympics, she says the experiences of competing gave her confidence in herself and her abilities. She now works at a leading Parisian fashion house. During the high-stress environment of Paris Fashion Week 2024, the value of her training and competitions shone through. She says, “Fashion Week is all about timing and precision, and it was the same in my competitions. I can now see that WorldSkills has provided me with a strong foundation for my professional future. I know that I can turn my ideas into clothes while remaining calm and working with precision under very tight deadlines.”

Inspiring others

While Champions often aren’t motivated by fame, their WorldSkills success does make them inspirational role models for the next generation. By encouraging more young people to consider Technical and Vocational Education and Training, they are helping to close the skills gap that many industries are facing.

New findings from SwissSkills confirm the success of this approach. Working with academics from the University of Bern, SwissSkills has proven that national success at an international WorldSkills Competition is enough to inspire other students to consider a career in that skill for themselves. The Positive Reputation Shock Report, published in November 2023, found that when a SwissSkills Competitor wins a medal at a WorldSkills Competition national searches for apprenticeship vacancies in that occupation increase. Importantly, this increase led to around 2.5% more contracts being signed, with indications that these apprenticeships lead to a better match between employers and employees.

For now, our young Competitors are probably only thinking about WorldSkills Lyon 2024 in September. However, they go into the Competition knowing that whatever the outcome, the next step of their professional journey will be all the more successful thanks to their WorldSkills experience.

More information about WorldSkills Lyon 2024 can be found on the Competition website and more stories of impact from our Competitors and Members are on our website.