International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance

Sociocultural and contextual determinants of science career goal at a community college and baccalaureate-granting institution
Guan SA, Ashcroft J, Horowitz B, Ie E, Vasquez-Salgado Y and Saetermoe C
Guided by social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent et al. in J Vocat Behav 45(1):79-122, 1994), we assessed sociocultural (e.g., home-school cultural value mismatch) and contextual barriers (e.g., institutional climate) in science education and career development at both a baccalaureate-granting institution (BGI) and community college (CC) among 263 students (72.4% female; = 22.96, = 5.70) in the USA. For BGI students, path analyses suggest proximal factors such as in-class prejudice negatively predicted science self-efficacy and prejudice from faculty and staff predicted lower career outcome expectations. For CC students, home-school cultural value mismatch directly predicted science career goals. Implications for future research, intervention and policy are discussed.
The role of proactive personality and general self-efficacy in proactive career behavior: a mediation model
Doğanülkü HA and Korkmaz O
The current study examined the mediating role of general self-efficacy in the relationship between university students' proactive career behavior and their proactive personality. The participants of the study consisted of 457 university students in Turkey. The Proactive Personality Scale-Short Form, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Career Engagement Scale were used as data collection tools. Analysis results of the study showed that general self-efficacy had a mediating role in the relationship between proactive career behavior and proactive personality. In addition, proactive career behavior was found to have significant and positive relationships with proactive personality and general self-efficacy.
Understanding group leader affect as a factor for career education programming
Johnson MC, Gibbons MM, Sexton K, Hardin E and Bagwell L
The purpose of this study was to explore how group leader affect impacted facilitation of a career education program. Through a case study design, data were gathered via focus groups and blog posts from 16 program staff members. Five major themes were derived, highlighting group leader affect and experience: Emotions During Intervention, Flexibility, Student Engagement and Connections, Support from Program Staff, and School Culture. The findings encouraged career educators to remain flexible when delivering programming, to consider regular evaluations of affect throughout career programming, and to acknowledge the reciprocity of engagement, affect, and programmatic buy-in between facilitators and participants.
The underlying career values of young adults' protean and traditional career orientations
Kim S, Hood M, Creed PA and Bath D
Although young people espouse a range of career values, the extent to which traditional career values inter-mix with protean values is unclear. We interviewed a group of young university students in Australia ( = 24, 19.4 years; 50% young men) and examined the full range of traditional and protean values held. Employing applied thematic analysis, we found that freedom/autonomy and fit to self were dominant in protean career themes, while they strongly expressed a desire for job security in a traditional career. The results inform theory development in the career development area and can assist university career counselors.
A narrative inquiry into the meaning of career identity of Indian emerging adults amid Covid-19
Singhal S and Prakash N
This paper studied the career experiences of emerging adults amid the pandemic and how they make sense of their career identities during this time. Twenty Indian Emerging adults (18-25 years) wrote narratives about their career stories during the pandemic. Using thematic analysis, three key themes of (1) Perceived Impact of Pandemic Crisis on Career Identity, (2) Positive Meaning-Making of Career Identity amid the Crises, and (3) Negative Meaning-Making of Career Identity amid the Crises were identified. The study concluded that despite the negative impact of Covid-19 on career experiences, most emerging adults cognitively reframed negative experiences as positive.
Beyond job placement: careers for refugees
Arthur N, McMahon M, Abkhezr P and Woodend J
In this article, we highlight the Australian country context to advocate for career support that extends beyond initial job placement in a segmented labor market to strengthen refugees' skills and knowledge and future career development. We address systemic barriers while advocating for access to skilled career development practitioners, whose important expertise as members of multidisciplinary teams could enhance resettlement assistance. Strengthening the preparation of career development practitioners is essential for providing career support to refugees and for building capacity in the provision of resettlement services. We encourage debate within and between country contexts about ways to enhance refugees' career development.
Corporate social responsibility and performance in the workplace: a meta-analysis
Kim JY and Keane A
Despite stakeholders' desire for organizations to participate in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, some organizations do not invest in CSR due to uncertainty around the value it provides to performance. This research investigates the effect size of the relationship between CSR and performance via a meta-analysis of 17 articles. A series of performance-indicating groups emerged and effect sizes were calculated using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. These groups include in-role performance, extra-role performance, employees' affective attitudes towards organizations, and organizational-level outputs. Results suggest that CSR has a large effect on performance across a range of contexts. Implications for career counseling are discussed.
Predicting effects of career adaptability and educational identity on the career decision-making of Chinese higher vocational students
Wang Z, Fan C and Niu J
The present study aimed to explore factors affecting Chinese higher vocational students' career decision-making. A sample (N = 983) was surveyed with a questionnaire. The results showed that somewhat more than half of the students (57.4%) decided to apply for a bachelor's degree whereas the rest decided to work (22.4%) or undecided (20.2%). Academic performance, grade, gender, study major, and career adaptability were shown to predict decision-making. By contrast, educational identity did not predict participants' career decision-making. These findings imply that career education should be based on students' choices for future development.
Work and the future as represented by French adolescents: the role of secondary school type and anticipated duration of post-secondary education
Soidet I, Bonnefoy L and Olry-Louis I
This study, conducted in France, sought to describe the organization of the content of the social representations that high school students in transition construct of work and their own future, taking into account two variables: their type of secondary school and the anticipated length of their post-secondary education. For this purpose, 669 adolescents enrolled at three types of secondary schools (middle school, general high school, and vocational high school) were given two free-association tasks (with the inducers "work" and "your future"). Prototypical analyses for each of the variables considered were carried out on the corpus of words collected. The results highlight the place occupied by money and post-secondary education in the set of representations and the advantage of taking into account the subjective variable "anticipated length of post-secondary education" to better understand the role that contemporary uncertainties play. Thus, students who do not plan to pursue higher studies seem more worried about their future than others. On the theoretical level, the article notably highlights the benefit of integrating certain concepts developed in social psychology along with studies developed in the field of career guidance. In terms of practice, finally, it argues for a better integration of anticipations in the support aimed at helping students plan their transitions.
Evaluating the quality of the list of occupations recommended for further exploration
Gutentag T, Gati I and Shimoni A
Access to online career information increases the complexity of career decisions (choosing a major or job). When the number of alternatives is large, the first step is to compile a list of promising career alternatives for further exploration, often by using interest inventories (e.g., the Self-Directed Search). But what makes such a list useful? The judgments of 20 career counselors and 103 graduate students supported the hypothesis that higher list quality is associated with a greater similarity between the occupations on the list, fewer occupational fields represented by the occupations on the list, and a list length approximating seven occupations.
"Employability in context": graduate employability attributes expected by employers in regional Vietnam and implications for career guidance
Tran LT, Ngo NTH, Nguyen HTM, Le TTT and Ho TTH
This article examines how graduate employability is viewed by employers in six economically disadvantaged mountainous provinces in Vietnam. The study reported in this article identified continuous self-learning, resilience, adaptability, devotion and empathy for the local people and local community to be among the main employability attributes expected of graduates in regional Vietnam. The findings of the study raise the importance of context situatedness in looking at employability and show how employability is characterised by the local structural conditions, demographic features and socio-cultural norms. The study provides significant implications for career guidance and graduate employability development, especially in relation to regional areas.
Four 'dirty words' in career guidance: from common sense to good sense
Sultana RG
This paper focuses on commonly used terms in career guidance in order to examine the impact they can have on the way problems are conceptualised and consequently on the solutions that are envisaged. Four such terms are considered, namely 'vulnerability', 'resilience', 'employability', and 'activation'. Drawing on critical social theory, this paper explores the relationship between language, thought, and action. It demonstrates the intimate relationship of the four terms to the neoliberal agenda in general and to responsibilisation in particular. The paper concludes by arguing that the career development field has a role to play in the struggle over the meaning of concepts in the public sphere, as the outcome has a bearing on the opportunities for people to flourish.
The intersections of migration, app-based gig work, and career development: implications for career practice and research
Abkhezr P and McMahon M
The incidence of app-based gig work is expanding rapidly in developed global north countries. Many app-based gig workers are migrants from developing global south countries searching for a better life in their resettlement countries. App-based gig work, however, is insecure, irregular and potentially precarious. Access to decent work is vital for migrants' integration after resettlement and also their career development. In the context of the decent work agenda, this article explores the intersections of migration, app-based gig work, and southern migrants' career development in the global north and considers the implications for career practice and research.
Perceived procedural justice and psychological flourishing among mental health professionals in Macao: a moderated mediation model
Yang HM, He M, Cheung F, Chau CTJ, Cheong IS and Wu AMS
This study aimed to examine whether and how organizational factors (i.e., procedural justice) are associated with psychological flourishing, an optimal mental state. Path analysis was conducted among 195 Chinese mental health professionals (females = 69%; Mean age = 30 years) in Macao, and results showed that emotional exhaustion partially mediated the positive association between procedural justice and psychological flourishing, whereas emotion regulation significantly diminished the effects of procedural injustice on emotional exhaustion. Our findings highlight the emotional mechanisms underlying the influence of organizational procedures on employees' wellbeing, and wellness programs for enhancing employees' emotional regulation skills are recommended.
The influence of employment program components upon job attainment during a time of identity and career transition
Perkins DF, Davenport KE, Morgan NR, Aronson KR, Bleser JA, McCarthy KJ, Vogt D, Finley EP, Copeland LA and Gilman CL
This study assessed the effectiveness of employment programs components, which resulted in the identification of content and process components that increase employability. Employment program use was studied among 1172 United States of America military veterans to determine which content (i.e., interviewing skills) and process (i.e., working with a mentor/coach) components influence job attainment during a time of career and identity transition. Components were distilled utilizing a common components analysis approach (Morgan et al., 2018). Associations with finding employment up to 15 months after the military-to-civilian transition were explored. Veterans who engaged with employment programs were primarily accessing the following components: career planning, resume writing, and interviewing skills. However, only a few content components were significantly related to obtaining employment: interviewing (with mentor/coach), resume writing (online tools), translating military to civilian work (with mentor/coach), entrepreneurship (with mentor/coach), and virtual career fairs. Furthermore, not all processes or modes of instruction for content components were associated with success in the job market. Having a mentor/coach was one of the most effective delivery strategies. For example, veterans using programs delivered by a mentor/coach that translated military skills to civilian work were more likely to find a job at 6-9-months (84%) and 12-15-months (91%) post military separation. In addition, risks that predicted lower use of employment program components by veterans were identified such as junior enlisted rank, combat exposure, combat arms occupation, and physical health problems. With these findings, program developers, implementers, and funders can channel efforts towards the utilization of employment programs with effective components.
Investigating career-related teacher support for Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong
Wong LPW, Chen G and Yuen M
Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the career and life planning of secondary school students. This paper describes the development of the Career-Related Teacher Support Scale (Hong Kong Secondary Students Form). Based on data obtained from 493 students in Hong Kong, five types of career-related teacher support were identified with the most important form of support being teachers' knowledge about the world of work and study path requirements. A correlation model yielded the best fit to the data. No variance in response pattern appeared across genders, and the new scale was found to have good validity and reliability.
Career/lifelong guidance systems and services: continuous transformations in a transition region: The case of three Central and Eastern European Countries
Borbély-Pecze TB, Hloušková L and Šprlák T
This comparative study traces the foundation and development of vocational and career guidance services in three Central and Eastern European countries in the light of the contextually bound factors of this region. Since the beginning of the 20th century, political transitions and changes in the ruling structures in these countries were so frequent that the same generation was often confronted with multiple forms of governance: the rule of 'König und Kaiser', the monarchy, the communist regime, neoliberal economic policies with mass privatisation, membership of the European Union.
The route to employability: a longitudinal study on a sample of Italian job seekers
Lo Presti A, De Rosa A and Zaharie M
This study aimed to examine the main predictors of employability, building on a recent conceptual model on employability developed by Lo Presti and Pluviano (Organ Psychol Rev 6(2): 192-211, 2016). Survey based data were collected from a sample of 263 Italian job-seekers through a longitudinal study. The results revealed that employability was more strongly determined by personal dispositions than by external factors, such as life circumstances and that the variables with the most impact were proactive personality, core self-evaluations, and educational level, rather than employability culture, family employability support, and previous work experience. The paper reveals an understanding of the relative importance of antecedents that determine employability.
Working adults' future occupational plans: the contribution of role characteristics, social support, and occupational self-efficacy
Alon R, Cinamon RG and Aram D
School counselors' occupational plans were investigated in terms of the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy including three antecedents (role clarity, role autonomy, social support) on three outcomes (life satisfaction, job satisfaction, occupational plans) among 483 female Israeli school counselors, aged 26-69. High levels of the three antecedents were associated with high levels of occupational self-efficacy, which in turn was associated with high levels of life and job satisfaction and with counselors' plans to remain in their profession. The antecedents also demonstrated direct effects with job satisfaction. This emphasizes the importance of occupational self-efficacy in counselor retention and its antecedents.
Supporting (or not) the career development of culturally and linguistically diverse migrants and refugees in universities: insights from Australia
Dunwoodie K, Due C, Baker S, Newman A and Tran C
The present study used a mixed-methods approach to understand the challenges faced by Australian higher education institutions in supporting the career development of students from culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee backgrounds. Specifically, this project included a desktop audit of all Australian universities, data from a survey ( = 32) and interviews with staff in various functions ( = 10). Four main challenges were identified: (1) difficulties in identifying and engaging with students; (2) a lack of targeted resources and programs; (3) difficulties faced by students in engaging with employers; and (4) a lack of work-readiness and unfamiliarity of Australian work culture.
Strengthening career adaptation among school teachers in Pakistan: Test of strengths-based career intervention imparted through emotionalized learning experiences
Green ZA
This study demonstrated that the intervention offered to Pakistan's school teachers through the emotionalized learning experiences (ELE) format fared better than that offered through the teacher-centered methodology as regards the development of career adaptability, teaching self-efficacy, and work engagement from Time 1 to Time 2. Analyses to explore the development of career variables from Time 2 to Time 4 revealed that only the teachers who were offered the ELE intervention effectively engaged in step-by-step career construction over the academic year. Theoretical contributions of the results and implications for offering future career interventions amid COVID-19 are also discussed.
Pavers of the way: Enablers to a lived calling in an Australian context
Duperouzel LC
The aim of this paper is to identify and explore 'enablers' to a lived calling: those people, things or events that pave the way for individuals to live their calling. These enablers emerged from a study of sixty-five Australian respondents across a range of industries. The results of the research, which utilised the grounded theory research methodology and collected data using semi-structured interviews, showed that the most prominent enablers to a lived calling were: (1) embracing opportunities and making the most of them; (2) support from others; (3) self-confidence/belief; (4) education and financial resources; (5) luck and (6) experience.
In the same boat? An online group career counseling with a group of young adults in the time of COVID-19
Santilli S, Ginevra MC, Di Maggio I, Soresi S and Nota L
An online group of career counseling for unemployed young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic was developed. Twelve participants were involved in online group career counseling intervention, based on the Life Design for an inclusive and sustainable future. Results indicated at post-test on increased scores on career adaptability, resilience, future orientation, and propensity to identify inclusive and sustainable actions for the future than pre-test. Overall, the online group career counseling intervention effectively promoted particular aspects of young adults' life design for an inclusive e-sustainable future.
Career experts' conceptions of innovation in career development
Kettunen J
This article reports the findings from a phenomenographic investigation into career experts' conceptions of innovation in career development. The results show that conceptions of innovation in career development varied from (1) initiating service, (2) developing demographic-based programmes, (3) professionalising the sector to (4) exploiting cross-sectoral synergies. The findings give us a more profound understanding of critical aspects that may have an important role in improving innovation in career development.
Enhancing the sense of self of a mid-career woman through career construction counselling
Maree JG and Nortjé M
This article reports on career construction counselling with a purposefully selected, mid-career, midlife woman. A single-case study research design was implemented. Data were gathered using an integrative qualitative and quantitative approach. After the intervention, the participant exhibited an enhanced sense of self-awareness. Career construction counselling can be used to help a mid-career, midlife woman become more aware of the meaning she assigned to life and her view of herself. Future research with diverse mid-career, midlife women (individually or in group-based settings) is needed to establish the effectiveness and long-term effects of the kind of intervention espoused here.
Enhancing the career capabilities of NEET youth in Hong Kong: an experience-driven framework
Su X and Wong V
Inspired by Amartya Sen's conceptualization of capability, this article examined how the introduction of an experience-driven (ED) framework into the capability approach helps inform the delivery of a career support service project targeted at youth aged 15-21, who are not in education, employment or training (NEET youth) with difficulties to develop their career capabilities. Based on a thematic analysis of ten individual interview transcripts collected from five career practitioners and five ex-users, the study discussed four interlocking domains of experiences and experience-driven career interventions for enhancing youth's capabilities to aspire and realize aspirations with a transition from the zone of proximal development to the zone of aspired development, namely, recognition, exposures, self-growth and transferability. We recommended further research studies on evaluating the effectiveness of using the ED framework for applying the capability approach to strengthening the career capabilities of service users characterized by diversity and vulnerability in different service settings.
The labour market integration of migrants and refugees: career guidance and the newly arrived
Sultana RG
This scoping paper sets out to consider various aspects of the phenomenon of people on the move, and to examine some of the ways in which career guidance has responded to the challenge of integrating the newly arrived. The paper is informed by a recognition of the dignity of individuals above any classificatory system that places persons in a hierarchy, with some having access to rights that others are denied. This stance requires career practitioners to confront the prevalent vocabulary, discourses and attitudes circulating in the mainstream in order to become aware of-and to overcome-personal prejudice, thus opening up possibilities for more socially just forms of service. A synthesis of relevant literature concerning the integration of migrants and refugees in the labour market is provided in order to signpost emancipatory forms of career guidance, ones that move beyond an emphasis on individual resilience to take seriously the impact of exclusionary social practices and structures. The paper concludes by highlighting a number of initiatives that suggest that career guidance is rising to the challenge of catering for a diverse group of newly arrived by mobilising theoretical frameworks that are fit for purpose, by developing bespoke training programmes for practitioners, and by sharing the lessons learnt from the field.
From career guidance to designing lives acting for fair and sustainable development
Guichard J
How could interventions for life- and career-construction contribute to a development that would be ecologically sustainable, socially just and based on decent work activities? Most career interventions today generally only aim to include individuals into the current systems of work and economic exchange without questioning the role that these forms of organization play in the terrible Anthropocene crisis. In fact, these interventions only consider one of the aspects of active life distinguished by Hanna Arendt: work. They ignore labor and action. Dealing with this crisis therefore implies an in-depth renewal of interventions for life- and career-construction so that they become sources of action towards equitable and sustainable development by means of decent working activities. Transforming these interventions in this way supposes to base them on the principle of responsibility defined by Hans Jonas and to take into account certain political, legal and ecological requirements. Renewed intervention methodologies have already been outlined. However, an actual development of such action-interventions implies an in-depth review of the conceptual field on which support to life- and career-construction is based and the setting up of public or community services delivering them to the population.
How do supported employment programs work? Answers from a systematic literature review
Sundermann LM, Haunberger S, Gisler F and Kita Z
Many studies have found that supported employment (SE) has effectively helped people with severe mental illness obtain and maintain competitive employment. However, most SE studies have asked "What works?" rather than discerning what works for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects and how. It is important to understand the outcomes of SE and identify the impact factors (contexts and mechanisms) that can trigger them. Four literature databases were searched for studies that analyzed counseling settings. Overall, 104 publications met the inclusion criteria. The review showed that most of the research on SE programs were one-dimensional, looking at either the effects of SE programs, the client or the professional, or the relationship between clients and professionals. The model reveals that impact factors are interconnected and can have a cumulative impact on the client, professionals, and the environment.
Introduction to the special section: life design interventions (counseling, guidance, education) for decent work and sustainable development
Chhabra M, Ribeiro MA and Rossier J