In the last few years, many of us have had to rethink not just how and where we work but also why we work. This moment of unprecedented economic and behavioral change has led to a complete reset in the relationship between employers and employees, with higher expectations and aspirations for work, especially for young people. The global youth unemployment rate had already been escalating dramatically when the pandemic shook economies, leaving millions without jobs. In 1991 when the ILO started making records, the global youth unemployment rate was 9.5%, whilst before the pandemic, in 2019, it had reached 13.5%. A year later, in 2020, millions of young workers were feeling the impact of the crisis. Many of them lost their jobs because of nationwide lockdowns. The global unemployment rate amongst young people then jumped to an unprecedented level of 15.2%. However, the situation among some EU countries became even more alarming. The most recent Eurostat statistical data shows that, in 2021, the estimated youth unemployment rate in Romania was at 20.57%, Serbia was at 30.41%, Greece was at 36.87%, while Spain was at a concerning 36.93% unemployment rate for YP under the age of 25. Therefore, we embarked on a mission to find out what were the factors that make finding a job among young people so difficult in the present days and how can Youth organisations help. In recent years, there has been a growing movement for both formal and non-formal education institutions to help YP develop “21st-century skills” alongside academic competencies, driven in large part by frequent reports of employers unsatisfied with the skills of recent school graduates. Recent Linkedin data shows that the skills sets for jobs have changed by around 25% since 2015 and by 2027 that number is expected to double. Furthermore, the WEF estimates that we will need to reskill more than 1 billion people by 2030 worldwide. That means your job is changing, even if you aren’t changing jobs. Business leaders point out that they do not only need employees who are smart and competent in math and reading and writing, but they also need people who can lead teams, communicate effectively to partners, come up with new ways to solve problems and effectively navigate an increasingly digital world. In addition to digital skills, specialized interpersonal skills are in high demand in the new hybrid workplace. As jobs evolve and demand new skills, hiring managers focus less on degrees, and more on finding talent whose current skills match the role. Looking at the bigger picture, these issues have as roots the skills mismatching - the gap between an individual’s job skills and the demands of the job market. This has become a European challenge, affecting all layers of society. Therefore, youth NGOs can offer assistance to young people to upgrade their approach towards learning so that current and future workers have the skills employers need and the cultural competencies required to thrive. After becoming aware of this situation, we wondered which are the skills young people need to acquire for a better chance to find their perfect job. Linkedin surfaced data from over 660+ million professionals and 20+ million jobs to reveal the skills that companies need most, that could guide the youth NGOs and young people in planning their learning, follow upskill training and development programmes and some of these are: creativity, critical thinking, complex problem solving, emotional intelligence, leadership and coordinating with others. The project “Skilled Youth” represented the initiative of 6 youth NGOs and its aim was to design 1 multicultural learning experience for 36 youngsters, during which they can explored and became familiar with 6 future essential skills, and analysing how skills development can become a viable solution to tackle NEETs situation across Europe and improve their access to the labour market. The specific objectives of the Skilled Youth project were: O1: To improve the employability capacity of 36 young people from 6 NGOs by guiding them in their personal and professional growth during a 9 day mobility implemented between 15th-25th of May 2023 in Calarasi, Romania, where they have discovered 6 future skills necessary for the job market and tested non-formal methods, instruments for peer learning and self-assessment. O2: To raise awareness on the importance of developing future skills and discovering opportunities provided by Erasmus+ Programme among 180 YP by sharing the knowledge, tools and experiences acquired by the participants during the youth mobility through 6 local workshops organized in the local communities of the partner organisations. O3: To support young people in answering the needs of the fast-changing labour market by designing the digital “Future skills: pocket guide" (a set of 60 cards with individual and group activities design to improve young people’s skills) and by launching an Instagram campaign “#SkilledYouth”.