ESCO : improving career guidance services.
Date: 2019-06-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: classification, data processing, database, information analysis, information network, information technology applications, labour market, new technology, professional career, professional qualifications, school-working life relations, working life

ESCO: improving career  
guidance services

European Skills,  
Competences,  
Qualifications  
and Occupations

ESCO is the multilingual classification of European Skills, 
Competences, Qualifications and Occupations. 

It identifies and categorises skills, competences, qualifications and 
occupations relevant for the EU labour market and education and 
training, in 26 European languages.

A job market 4.0

In an increasingly digital world, labour markets have become more dynamic, requiring new 
skills and competences. Accordingly, people need to guide their careers more actively  
(either independently or with the help of guidance services) to successfully manage their 
learning, their transition from education to work life and their continuous skills development.

Skills development and career guidance 4.0, fueled by ESCO

People and companies are using more and more digital tools to:

•  assess skills;

• 

identify and understand the skills that will be needed in the future;

•  find and design tailored training;

•  find the right jobs;

•  find the right information about the labour market.

ESCO can be the common language that makes these digital tools communicate more 
effectively with one another and support innovative and improved guidance services  
across Europe.

How does ESCO benefit career guidance  
service providers?
If you are a career guidance service provider, there are five main reasons why you should use ESCO:

To build  
extensive skills  
assessment tools

ESCO uses a very rich skills terminology, covering 
all economic sectors. It can help you to create more 
powerful assessment tools for your clients, including 
self-help methods.

To match skills gaps with 
learning opportunities

Based on your clients’ skills profiles, ESCO will help 
you to more effectively match their skills needs with 
tailored training opportunities that allow them to 
advance in their career.

To access updated 
information about labour 
market terminology

As ESCO can be used to collect labour market 
intelligence, you can stay up-to-date with the latest 
emerging skills and occupations on the market, and 
advise your clients accordingly.

Adequate career guidance based on current 
terminology will benefit individuals, employers and 
society at large, enhancing the development of a 
knowledge-based economy.

…..and all of this is completely FREE of CHARGE!

To communicate in  
the same language  
as recruiters

Career guidance and HR professionals often use 
different terminology to refer to occupations, 
skills, competences and qualifications. By using 
ESCO, career guidance providers, recruiters and 
employers will have a common understanding 
of these concepts and can communicate more 
effectively. Moreover, this can be achieved 
across languages and countries due to ESCO’s 
multilingual aspect.

To identify and  
understand skills

ESCO’s focus on skills and competences not 
only makes it easier to describe existing 
capabilities, but is also valuable for identifying 
the missing and transferable skills and 
competences of individuals.

Learn more about ESCO:

https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/home

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1042&langId=en

A Europe 2020 initiative

#ESCO_EU

EMPL-ESCO-SECRETARIAT@ec.europa.eu

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017
© European Union, 2017
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Luxembourg

Print
ISBN 978-92-79-72144-1
doi:10.2767/653953
KE-02-17-983-EN-C

PDF
ISBN 978-92-79-72145-8
doi:10.2767/230204
KE-02-17-983-EN-N