Current activities promoting employment in many EU countries are insufficient. ALMP expenses in eastern Europe are low compared with other countries. In many countries, programmes do not increase the employability of participants. Disadvantage in the labour market is persistent. It is notable that disadvantaged groups do worse than others during recession, and remain unemployed more at any time. Current approaches are ineffective at the level of individuals in need of help. Council Resolution November 2008 noted that ‘Member States should [...] consider:- including activities which foster the development of career management skills - preparing teachers and trainers to conduct such activities- facilitating access to information about skills needs - developing career management skills- making guidance one of the objectives of schools, VET providers and higher education- integration into working life.’There is a large and growing body of scientific evidence from around the world concerning the methods of guidance which are most effective in helping people choose and succeed in suitable careers. Many people in schools, colleges, organisations and NGOs for disadvantaged groups have responsibility or contribute to the transition to work, and have little or no training in career guidance.The aim of the project has been therefore to: - review the evidence of what works in career and employment advice- apply scientifically validated methods to support the findings and test the effective methods in employment advice for disadvantaged people - work with all those providing careers advice to school- and college-leavers as well as adult job seekers (schools, colleges, PES, NGOs, welfare-to-work service providers services, career centres) to establish effective usable ways to improve services- create, test, apply & disseminate training that will enhance the performance of careers advisors, VET staff with employment objectives- make training available online, in workplaces, in modular accessible form- develop a guide to help organisations adopt evidence-based methods, including guidance on training, installation, self-assessment and use of skills & activities that work in organisations - publish a Handbook of Career Advice Skills based on the project findings- make resources available as Open Educational Resources.The six partners from 5 countries – TREXIMA Bratislava (SK), VRC Ltd (UK), M.M.C Management Center (CY), Human Profess Közhasznú (HU), Institute for Sustainable Technologies – National Research Institute (PL) and Spoluprácou pre lepšiu budúcnosť Veľký Meder (SK) – reviewed scientific evidence from around the world about the most effective methods of guidance for helping people choose and succeed in suitable careers. Based on research results, we have created a curriculum to train counsellors, employment advisors and others working with disadvantaged groups, enabling them to apply the methods that research has shown to be effective. The curriculum has undergone controlled comparative testing in four countries, and has led to the publication of Handbook of Career Advice Skills based on the project findings.Partners have tested their products in two phases with about 120 learners/users working in the field of career advice. 24 persons took part in the first trial (in person training) and 85 persons took part in the second trial (in person training combined with distance and e-learning). Additional users took part in an e-platform testing and we are continuously receiving further feedback. Their experiences have been used to ensure usable and accessible products that develop skills for use at work and that complement existing practices and qualifications.The impact of the project has been mainly improvement of services to disadvantaged people looking for work and/or being in transition from school to work: - better empowerment in the labour market through more effective guidance support and advice skills- development of skills that support employability. The deployed evaluation questionnaires to measure quality and success of the developed training programme showed increase in confidence scores in all countries for advisors/learners, their managers and trainers (from project partners staff).In the long term, guidance services should benefit from project results by:- use of better skills for counsellors- access to guidance on implementation to help organisations modernise careers advice services- development of a definitive ‘text’ and toolkit for advisors, VET trainers on the evidence base, practice and ethics that underpin and energise vocational guidance and employment support- availability of extensive distance learning materials that may be translated and applied in different settings and through different media- application of behavioural assessment criteria for the learning of skills and for the award to advisors- provision of the products as ODL.