Contactline

Inspiration for launching their careers: Educational and employment biographies show pupils a variety of career paths

Contactline is an innovative project to promote career and study guidance for school students, especially at vocational high schools (Berufliche Gymnasien). On behalf of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK), videos are produced that provide school students with fascinating insights into the professional biographies of career role models. The aim is to inspire and motivate young people in their own career choices.

In addition, a matching platform has been developed. Teachers can use this to find role models with different educational and career paths for their classes, and invite these figures to a discussion event. The role models talk openly about their experiences, decisions, and challenges on their career paths. The commitment is voluntary and flexible; interested parties register via the platform and can be requested by teachers for school visits or online interviews.

The state-wide project exists as a sub-project within the BOoSTline parent project as part of the nationwide Educational Chains Initiative. Besides the University of Hohenheim, other full universities and universities of applied sciences in Baden-Württemberg are active in other sub-projects.

Become a role model at Contactline

Would you like to give students an insight into your career? Whether you had a classic career entry or took a detour, different experiences are welcome at Contactline.

Project objectives

The focus of the project is to inspire and motivate by presenting relatable educational and career biographies. We want to encourage upcoming high school graduates to find out about very different career opportunities, and to understand that shaping a career is a process and a journey. We place particular emphasis on the following aspects:

Accessibility (relatability): The project aims to use role models to inspire and motivate. For role models to be inspirational, it is important that the educational and career biographies are relatable and comprehensible. That is why we attach great importance to telling stories in an accessible way in the videos and providing a wide range of profile design options on the matching platform so that role models can present their path in an understandable and true-to-life way.
Career choice strategies: How do you actually navigate choosing a career? To give students insights, the role models share their strategies during the career selection and application process. They also offer personal advice and tips. Through the matching platform, role models can be invited directly into school classes so that these strategies can be deepened in a personal talk.
Diversity: The target group of school students in Baden-Württemberg is diverse in every respect. We therefore consider it essential to consider diversity not only in the various professional biographies, but also in the selection of role models. Issues around migration, learning challenges, and advancing to higher education are also addressed in the videos. With the matching platform, we also attach great importance to recruiting role models with different personal backgrounds and perspectives so that as many students as possible can see themselves reflected in the paths presented.
Emotions in the process: Choosing a career can often be an emotional process. So emotions play a central role in the videos, too. The role models discuss their feelings and experiences as they were choosing their careers, creating a special insight for the viewers.
Dealing with challenges and opportunities: Career paths are rarely straightforward. This is reflected in the videos by talking about how the role models dealt with challenges and seized opportunities to achieve their goals.
Networks: The videos highlight the importance and positive influence that networks can have. They show how personal and other relationships can be linked to career opportunities. This is not only about family contacts, as other kinds of networks and publicly available resources also form an important part of one’s network. During school visits or online conversations that take place via the matching platform, role models can also report on their own networks and thus provide concrete examples of supportive contacts and structures.