Europass: The free online platform is designed to support your career and learning across the EU

Free movement is one of the cornerstones of the European Union, furthering careers, creating new experiences, forging friendships and facilitating personal growth. The ability to translate your credentials can make all the difference when seeking cross-border opportunities.

That’s where Europass comes in. The free online platform is designed to support your career and learning across the EU. In 2024, it had 16.4 million unique visitors and 1.7 million new profiles were created, reflecting its growing importance.

The current platform was revamped five years ago. Europass enables users to build profiles and access various career planning tools. Features include digital skills assessments, evaluations of language abilities and a recently-launched interview preparation tool.

“It’s a tool for your career management,” explains Alice Long, Senior Executive Officer at Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), Ireland’s National Europass Centre. “People can start using it in school, college or other learning environments, and start uploading documents and files related to their studies and work, and use it as a way to manage their career and learning throughout life.”

The Europass Team.

When it comes to finding opportunities, Europass has a database of courses and jobs, including internships along with full-time student and employment roles. The Europass CV is essential for those looking to work across the EU, with the CV Builder making it easy to put together a polished resumé and cover letter with just a few clicks.

At its core, Europass is about empowering people to seek opportunities abroad.

“I did a year abroad when I was at university, and I’ve lived in a few different countries in Europe since,” says Naomi Oldenburg, Senior Manager at QQI.

“Mobility is such a great experience for people to explore, learn more about themselves and other cultures. It helps give a bit of perspective in relation to what you want to do, what’s important to you and the kind of life you want.

“So mobility is really, really important and I think Europass is such a great thing to have - a free tool that gives you all the information you need.”

Tools like the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) help compare your Irish qualification to its equivalent elsewhere. The Europass Certificate Supplement, meanwhile, helps employers and educational institutions understand your qualifications, outlining their purpose, level, learning outcomes and relevance to the country in question.

The Diploma Supplement provides information on your personal achievements, including course credits, grades and what you have learned; while the Europass Mobility Document records skills gained during short-term experiences like Erasmus placements or internships.

Europass is not just for those moving abroad either. It can be used by jobseekers, career changers and students looking to explore roles in their home country.

Whether you’re fresh out of secondary school, a professional applying for jobs or someone re-entering the workforce later in life, Europass offers a secure place to store and organise your important documents such as CVs, certificates, course transcripts and cover letters, all in one place. Your data is safe too, thanks to secure, expiring links.

“It can be difficult, later in life, when you then need those documents to go back and try to source or find them,” says Long. “There are a lot of tools that identify your skills and your interests too. It can be hard sometimes to understand what skills you have, but putting your information into the profile helps highlight what you already know and suggest ways for you to gain relevant skills.

“It’s a backpack for all your things, as well as a place for self-reflection and growth.”