Youth unemployment figures in the EU member states have risen dramatically in recent years. In Spain and Greece, one in two of the 15-24-year-olds is jobless. In France, Poland and Hungary, the rates are between 20-25%. In contrast, Norway and Germany have rather low rates of around 7%. Due to these alarming and strongly varying numbers, youth unemployment is not only a problem of individual nations, but of the entire EU. Therefore, we want to further prepare students for the demands of the job market and to initiate occupational orientation across national boundaries as early as possible. This project employs a new approach concerning career opportunities of European youths, shifting from a mostly national to a European orientation. Students who want to stay in their home country also benefit from dealing with this topic as on the national labour markets, more and more European standards are introduced. Cross-cutting competences and soft skills play a big role in the vocational world. However, especially the soft skills differ from country to country. This is why we want to examine and compare the soft skills that are important in the individual countries in order to create a European soft skill catalogue. Finally, we plan to create a network between the participating schools to enable our students to do work experiences in a foreign European country. Thus, they get to know different occupational perspectives and can further develop their personalities. Students are encouraged to consider working abroad or gaining first work experiences there. There are seven secondary schools participating in the project: Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium (Germany), Szent László Gimnázium (Hungary), Lycée Salvador Allende (France), I.E.S. JulioCaro Baroja (Spain), Zespół Szkół Technicznych i Ogólnokształcących (Poland), 2nd General Lyceum of Pylea (Greece) and Olsvikåsen videregående skole (Norway). The schools from Germany and France have been project partners for more than20 years. Spain, Poland and Hungary joined them more than 10 years ago. Greece and Norway got involved 2 years ago. The above mentioned numbers of youth unemployment provide for interesting research opportunities concerning economic reasons as well as differences in the educational and vocational systems in the first year of the project. Students will experience these systems practically when visiting different institutions, enterprises and vocational schools. They deal with the requirements for and the course of the vocational training for selected professions to get an overview of the vocational world. In the second project year, the focus is on fighting youth unemployment. Therefore, it is important to work out personal and social consequences of unemployment and carry out research on measures the different communities, countries and the EU take to prevent and fight unemployment. For that, we will visit institutions that deal with unemployment prevention and enterprises that train young people. In doing so, the students tackle and acquire important soft skills that enable them to successfully enter the job market. To plan the project in detail, the teachers hold one transnational project meeting per year. Throughout the project, the students conduct interviews with peers about their hopes and fears concerning future job prospects. Research on the various topics of the project is carried out in group work, both national and multinational. The latter is executed by electronic means (eTwinning platform, email etc.) and direct personal contact. All work results are constantly shared on eTwinning and presented during the learning/ teaching/ training activities and in classes. These presentations are carried out by various creative means (Prezi, gallery walk, drama performance etc.) Questionnaires and interviews are used for research, help to deepen and revise the knowledge of the presented content and serve as a means of evaluation. The results of each project year are compiled in a brochure. To guarantee sustainability, the brochure is distributed on eTwinning, the school homepages and in a printed version in schools and the communities of the participating schools. Furthermore, the project results are presented and exhibited in the partner schools, town halls, libraries and other public institutions. During the whole project, the local press is involved and reports regularly. Our aspirated benefits are an intensive discussion about the topic and the students’ vocational future prospects. The students should realise the importance of soft skills and should be flexible concerning their career path. We plan to use the network of our schools to enable students to do a placement in the community of one of the partner schools. Should many students be interested in this opportunity, we plan to create a foundation to cover the travel costs. We want to contribute to the costs. We want to contribute to the aim of reducing youth unemployment.