Career Adaptability and Self‘Efficacy in School‘Work Transition: The Role of the Perceived Employability “ a Study with Higher Education Students

Abstract

The growing complexity of the labor market posits new challenges to the processes of employability of higher education graduates, especially in a period where we can observe a sharp decline in the available job vacancies. Concerning the individual factors, career adaptability emerges as a process capable of facilitating the work transition, particularly with respect to the levels of confidence with which students perceive the resolution of job search and employability tasks. In turn, higher education institutions are increasingly called to promote the employability of its students. However it is still not sufficiently known the relationship between perceived employability and investment in work transition activities.

Therefore, this study's main objective was to analyze the impact of career adaptability on the self‘efficacy to work transition, considering the effect of perceived employability. Participants were 261 university students (80.5% women), with an average age of 22.37 years old (SD = 6.77 years). The results suggest that adaptability predicts self‘efficacy in the transition to work, especially through the dimensions of confidence and curiosity, and that the relationship between adaptability and self‘efficacy is partially mediated by perceived employability. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results for career intervention regarding the process of work transition amongst higher education students.