The new experimental version of Profpedia is now online. Profpedia is the Encyclopaedia of Jobs that was created on June 12th 2008 thanks to Osservatorio Mercato del Lavoro (Observatory on Labour Market) of Comune di Milano (Municipality of Milan).

IThis web portal is a guidance tool both for young people who have to choose their vocational education, and for people who want to change their jobs or want to gain the skills required to work their way up.

Profpedia also aims at companies which need increasingly specialised professionals and at educational institutions. The project, which started with the chapter on Communication, has expanded thanks to the contribution of institutional partners that wrote about the professional profiles related to Handicraft, Food Industry, Cultural Heritage and Digital Media.

Thanks to the contributions of the network members, who can write in the Contribute section, Profpedia will be enriched with new courses, new job descriptions and new chapters dealing with the various sectors of the world of work.

The goal of Profpedia is to create a virtual encyclopaedia which is fast and easy to browse, in Italian and in English, and constantly evolving, just like the labour market.

The promoters of the initiative would like all educational institutions to cooperate by working in synergy and by enhancing resources dedicated to education.

The scientific project manager for the year 2009 is Vincenzo Russo, associated professor of organization and work psychology at IULM University in Milan. At an organizational level, he is supported by Patrizia Galeazzo, manager of Fondazione Università IULM (IULM University Foundation) and Ornella De Carli, director of Osservatorio Mercato del lavoro (Observatory of Labour Market).

Profpedia is divided into chapters which allow selecting a field of work and browsing the different jobs. Jobs and Courses are sections which allow consulting the professional profiles and the educational offer related to the jobs by alphabetical search.

Profpedia is also a blog. It is a space where to share experiences, suggestions and stories: Profpedia's blog.