Module 2: My RAY profile

1. Registration with the job search platform

How to become an approved registered user

Depending on in which partner country you are, you will be automatically redirected to your local language version. For instance if you are in Bulgaria, you will automatically open the Bulgarian version.

Unregistered users

As an unregistered user, you can search for job opportunities in your area by using the search options and you can look through the list of the search results received. By clicking on each result you will find details on the particular position, provided by the employer. You can look through as many job offers as you need until you decide to apply for a particular position or for several positions. If so, you have to register.

Only registered and approved users can apply for jobs!

Registered users

2. My user profile

How to create and optimize my own profile

After registration you will be able to create and edit your personal profile at any time. You don’t have to wait for the administrator’s approval in order to create your profile.

Your name and surname will appear automatically.  All mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*). Upload a picture of yourself. This will be your future employer’s first contact with you.

The information provided in your profile will appear in each of your job applications. Remember that you can edit your profile at any time.  You might need to adapt some of the information for certain employers and job positions.

2.1. How to create and optimize my own profile

After registration you will be able to create and edit your personal profile at any time. You don’t have to wait for the administrator’s approval in order to create your profile.

Your name and surname will appear automatically.  All mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*). Upload a picture of yourself. This will be your future employer’s first contact with you.

The information provided in your profile will appear in each of your job applications. Remember that you can edit your profile at any time.  You might need to adapt some of the information for certain employers and job positions.

Qualification, Additional qualification and Foreign Languages fields are not mandatory but we strongly recommend that you fill them in, in order to create a complete profile of yourself.

You will be asked to provide information on the duration of your work experience. Some of you might have very short work experience. In such cases you can write 1 month or 3 months. Those of you who do not have any will put down 0 months.

Helpful tip!

When calculating your work experience make sure you include your apprenticeship periods, your volunteer work, your participation in different projects and other relevant experience in addition to your real job experience.

2.2. My key skills

“Key skills” is a very important field, where you need to describe what your are good at in relation to the position/s you are looking for.  It gives an idea of your soft skills, which make you different than another candidate with the same qualification. The skills listed in this particular filed will help highlight your strong points. Such skills could be: team work, work under stress, resilience, communication skills, good time-management, leadership, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, resilience, approachability, negotiation, etc. Employers value soft skills because they enable people to function and thrive in teams and in organizations as a whole. A productive and healthy work environment depends on soft skills. Bear in mind that this is a mandatory filed!

Helpful! In 2006 the European Union has defined a framework of key competences that all types of education, including non-formal and informal learning, could refer to. In 2018 the definitions have been revised. The framework describes main competence areas that all individuals need for personal and professional fulfilment. The description of the key competences below will help you in formulating your key skills. You can choose from the list below to describe your skills and competences:

• use of different languages for communication

• learn a language in various ways

• time and information management

• working with others in a constructive way

• managing conflicts in a supportive way

• resilience

• ability to cope with uncertainty and complexity  

• ability to show empathy

• responsibility

• taking initiative

• creativity

• critical thinking

• problem solving

• develop and express ideas

• responsible use of digital technologies

• communication and collaboration

• media literacy

• digital content creation

• use information via a range of digital technologies

• question available information

• curiosity and open-minded attitude

• logical thinking

• openness to critical and constructive dialogue

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. You can any other skills you might find appropriate.

Source: Revised key competences in Youthpass Leaflet, https://www.youthpass.eu

2.3. My contacts

Another field of importance is the field of your contacts. Make sure to add your correct and up-to-date contacts. Interested employers will use these to get in touch with you.

Please bear in mind that this is the only way for the employers to get into contact with you!

2.4. Documentation storage

One of the biggest advantages of your RAY Profile is that you can store all your Europass documents, diplomas, certificates, etc. in it. If you are still not aware of the Europass documents and of how you can create your own Europass CV and cover letter, your language passport and skills passport, please refer to Module 1 or to  Europass.

Since you might wish to store as many CVs and cover letters as you need. Please give each CV and cover letter a different name. For instance if you apply for a chef you could have files named “CV_chef” and “cover letter_chef”. When you create/adapt a new CV and cover letter to apply for a bar tender, you will have “CV_bartender” and cover letter “bar-tender”.

You can add to your RAY profile either an existing CV or another document or create a new Europass document using the online Europass tool . Europass will help you create your new CV, cover letter, language passport or skills passport (the skills passport is actually your portfolio). Once ready, save your file/s, export and upload on your RAY profile.

In the “Other documents” field you can store your diplomas and certificates or any other documents you might wish to submit to employers, for instance your Youthpass. All your documents should be either in pdf or in docx format. Please bear in mind the size requirement – each document should be no bigger than 500 KB.

2.5. Helpful tips

1. Be careful with editing your profile while waiting for feedback from employers. Make sure you do not delete the CVs and Cover letters you have already submitted to an employer. If you delete a CV and upload it again the employers will see neither of them, which could be quite confusing for them and you will not get a positive feedback J In case you have already applied for a position and submitted a CV, which you want to change all you have to do is delete this particular application and apply again.

2. Make sure to actively manage your profile so it is up-to-date; include your employment history, education, skills, and examples of projects you've worked on. Employers want to see current information.

3. When you're looking for a new job or positioning yourself for career growth, it's important to have an online presence where you can showcase your skills and experience. You can create a nice LinkedIn page and add a link to it on your RAY profile.

4. Make sure to keep your professional life separate from your personal one.

5. Be careful about the privacy settings so you don't inadvertently share too much information with employers.

3. My applications

After completing all obligatory fields of your profile, you can start applying for the job positions you are interested in. Go to the search menu and look through the job offers in your area. Choose the offer you like and click “Apply”.

If while completing your profile you have expressed your interest in receiving notifications on jobs offers of particular positions, check your email for any availabilities as well. 

3.1. Applying for a job

When you click Apply you will be offered to choose your appropriate CV, the appropriate Cover Letter for the particular job position you are applying for and any of the additional documents you might wish to attach to your application. Your Language Passport and Skills Passport, along with all your profile information will automatically appear in your application.

After submission, the job position you have applied for will appear in My Applications.

3.2. Helpful tips

1. Make sure you have chosen the proper CV and Cover Letter before you submit your job application.

2. Only if you feel that your application is weak and strongly needs improvements you can delete it, carefully modify and improve it and submit again.

4. Five reasons why you should have a profile at jobs.rabotilnik.com

1.  It is a rural area dedicated job search engine! You will find businesses and job offers close by where you live. A territory you know well and you are tightly connected too socially and emotionally, your future doesn’t necessarily have to be miles away from that!

2.  Here you will find CV and personal profile creation support! Troubles writing your CV? Now that will be a thing of the past! On RAY you will access a whole dedicated area featuring tools to write CV, cover letters and portfolios (Europass). These documents will also be stored on the portal, easily accessible to you at any time!

3.  It’ll provide you with some training on job hunt skills! Our cutting-edge online training will provide you with hint and tips on how to write your CV and cover letter, go through a job interview, highlight the skills you have acquired throughout your studies, work experience and other voluntary activities and much more.

4.  The platform features automatic matching with employers! On the portal, once registered you will be able to access all employers profile and see what career opportunities they offer. You will be able to search for the job that aligns best with the skills and experience you already have. All topped up with an automatic notification service, you won’t miss anything.  

5. Database of local businesses is at your disposal! Knowledge is power. The portal will help you discover the business environment in the close surrounding of your hometown. This will help you in understanding the potential of your territory which is useful also if you’re not looking for a job at the moment but might want to start an entrepreneurial project.