Academic Librarianship and Career Adaptability

The inspiration for this essay is Barbara Fister’s assertion that librarians must embrace functions that have not traditionally been part of the academic librarian’s portfolio. We shall examine the need for career adaptability in librarianship and use a case study to illustrate the four attributes librarians need to develop to ensure career adaptability. The case study involved collaboration between Kansas State University (KSU) Libraries, an agronomy professor, and the Global Research Alliance to develop an open access croplands research database. We will draw upon the field of vocational psychology to discuss career adaptability and ways librarians can develop the traits needed for good career adaptability: career concern, career control, career curiosity and career confidence (4 Cs) (Savickas, 2005)

How career variety promotes the adaptability of managers: a theoretical model

This paper presents a theoretical model showing how managerial adaptability develops from career variety over the span of the person’s career. By building on the literature of career theory, adult learning and development, and career adjustment, we oVer a new conceptualization of managerial adaptability by identifying its behavioral, cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions, discuss how these competencies can develop from the variety of managers’ cumulative career experiences, and propose several individual and career-related factors that moderates the relationship between managerial career variety and adaptability

Research update

In this article we provide a brief update on some of the research papers and reports published in 2014 on career development, examining in particular some issues related to equality and employment, career adaptability and self-efficacy in career decision making. The research findings are presented and discussed with careers practitioners in mind. We also consider the validity of the findings and their relevance to careers practitioners

Perfectionism in students and positive career planning attitudes

In today's uncertain job market, university students who show positive attitudes in their career planning have an advantage. Yet, we know little what personality characteristics are associated with individual differences in career planning attitudes. The present study examined 177 university students to investigate whether perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed) predicted students' positive career planning attitudes (career adaptability, career optimism, and perceived knowledge of the job market). Results from multiple regressions showed that perfectionism explained 8-12% variance in career planning attitudes with (a) self-oriented perfectionism positively predicting career adaptability and career optimism, (b) other-oriented perfectionism positively predicting perceived knowledge, and (c) socially prescribed perfectionism negatively predicting career adaptability. The findings suggest that perfectionism is a personality characteristic that may both underpin and undermine students' positive attitudes towards career planning

Changing conceptions of students' career development needs

Abstract — This paper takes as its starting point a brief review of a range of theoretical assumptions about the nature of career learning and decision-making and plots the emergence of the notion of ‘employability’ as a predominant paradigm for the organisation and delivery of career guidance services in UK higher education. The acquisition of employability skills in students is essentially a deficit paradigm that the provision of work-oriented learning opportunities seeks to address. A key driver for the development of employability as an institutional priority is policy-making by governmental agencies that foregrounds university-business partnerships as a component of economic generation. The development of workbased learning (WBL) and work placements as part of higher education courses is shown to exemplify how responsibility for students’ employability development is increasingly shared between institutions and (prospective) employers. The paper draws upon recent research findings that explore issues of quality assurance in WBL and work placements and poses questions for institutional services aimed to support students’ transition from higher education to the labour market. Access to WBL and work placements appears to be stratified and different types of opportunity are taken up by particular groups of students. A relatively new way of conceptualising career learning as ‘career adaptability’ has been developed out of theories of career ‘constructivism’ and is suggested to provide a return to a more student-centred paradigm which has the potential to be more inclusive. Career adaptability is exemplified by the use of the career adaptability scale to support students’ self assessment of their career learning and development.Tempus Project 517119-TEMPUS-1-2011-RS-TEMPUS-SMG

Career effectiveness and its determinants

Study of careers has become an important aspect in the fast changing organizational context. It has come to be increasingly recognized at present, that career management is the responsibility of both the individual as well as the organization. This empirical study tries to understand the important elements of individual and organizational career practices that affect an employee’s career effectiveness. Most of the previous studies have used the objective terms of career success such as remuneration and position as the criterion variable. But since career outcome expectations vary across individuals and also since the concept of career itself has evolved over time, it was decided to use a more comprehensive concept of career outcome namely career effectiveness as the outcome variable. Career effectiveness as defined by Hall (2002) has both long-term orientation such as identity and adaptability as well as short-term orientation such as career attitudes and performance. Further both behavioral aspects such as performance and adaptability and individual subjective aspects such as identity and attitudes make it a more comprehensive way of assessing career outcome. The results of this research study indicate that individual determinants such as career planning and knowledge of organizational politics and organizational level determinants such as training and development support, quality of performance feedback and supervisory support explain significant variances in the determination of employee career effectiveness.

The impact of self-efficacy and cognitive appraisal on coping adaptability in military recruits : a test of a model and its impact on organisational outcomes : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The present research aimed to test a model of adaptation in RNZAF recruits which was similar in structure to transactional models of stress such as Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) model. Using a longitudinal design and dispositional measures the study assessed the impact of general self-efficacy and cognitive appraisal at the start of recruit training on coping adaptability at the end of training. These variables were also assessed as to their impact on organisationally relevant variables including organisational commitment, perceived performance improvement and readiness for next career phase. Overall the study had two broad aims. The first was to confirm the relationships between appraisal, coping adaptability and outcomes as previously shown in transactional models of stress and coping. The second aim was to discover how self-efficacy impacted on the model, more specifically, whether it acted as a moderator, mediator or antecedent to the appraisal – coping relationship. The results confirmed that challenge appraisal was associated with better organisational outcomes, this relationship was fully mediated by coping adaptability. Self-efficacy was strongly correlated with challenge appraisal however did not moderate the appraisal – coping relationship nor did it mediate the appraisal – coping adaptability relationship. The direct relationship between self-efficacy and coping adaptability was however, fully mediated by challenge appraisal. Threat appraisal did not demonstrate strong relationships with the remaining variables in this sample. Additionally, general self-efficacy, challenge appraisal and coping adaptability were associated with organisational commitment and readiness but not with performance improvement

Preocupações de carreira e adaptabilidade : um estudo exploratório numa amostra de candidatos à função de operador de empilhador

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Psicologia dos Recursos Humanos, do Trabalho e das Organizações), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2010Os anexos podem ser consultados em cd anexo à tese.Tendo como pano de fundo o modelo de desenvolvimento da carreira de Donald Super e o modelo de adaptabilidade da carreira de Mark Savickas, utilizaram-se no presente estudo o Inventário das Preocupações de Carreira e o Inventário sobre Adaptabilidade. Tem-se como objectivo estudar as preocupações de carreira e as dimensões de adaptabilidade numa amostra de 88 candidatos à função de Operador de empilhador, bem como explorar a relação entre os dois conceitos. Tem-se ainda como objectivo reunir dados e informação relevante que permita contribuir para o desenvolvimento do Inventário sobre Adaptabilidade cuja investigação se encontra em curso no âmbito do Projecto Internacional Career Adaptability. Os resultados obtidos destacam as preocupações com as tarefas de desenvolvimento da fase Estabelecimento e as dimensões de adaptabilidade que traduzem a capacidade dos indivíduos para resolver um problema com sucesso e estabelecer relações com pessoas em diversos contextos, nos quais se procura a realização dos objectivos de carreira. Os resultados revelam ainda uma relação entre as preocupações de carreira e as dimensões da adaptabilidade, destacando-se as correlações entre as dimensões Curiosidade e Cooperação e todas as fases e subfases da carreira. Por último são apresentadas as conclusões e as limitações do presente estudo, assim como sugestões para investigações futuras.Having as background the Donald Super´s career development model and the Mark Savickas’ career adaptability model, were used in this study the Career Concerns and the Career Adapt-Abilities Inventories. The research aims to study the career concerns and the career adaptability dimensions with a sample of 88 applicants for the post of forklift operator, and to explore the relation between the two concepts. It is also designed to gather data and relevant information in order to contribute to the development of the Career Adapt-Abilities Inventory which research is ongoing within the Career Adaptability International Project. The results highlight the concerns about the developmental tasks of the Establishment phase and the dimensions of adaptability that reflect the ability of individuals to solve a problem successfully and to establish relations with people in various contexts in which one seeks the achievement of the career goals. Further, the results reveal a relation between career concerns and the dimensions of adaptability, emphasizing the correlations between Cooperation and Curiosity dimensions and all career phases and sub phases. Finally, conclusions and limitations of this study are drawn, as well as suggestions for future researches

PENGARUH CALLING TERHADAP WORK ENGAGEMENT DAN CAREER SATISFACTION DENGAN CAREER ADAPTABILITY SEBAGAI PEMEDIASI PADA PERAWAT RUMAH SAKIT UMUM DAERAH MEURAXA KOTA BANDA ACEH

ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh calling terhadap workengagement dan career satisfaction dengan career adaptability sebagai variabel mediasi. Studi empiris yang dilakukan pada perawat Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah Meuraxa Kota Banda Aceh, yang mana sampel pada penelitian di dalam penelitian ini sebesar 150 perawat. Probability sampling digunakan sebagai teknik pengambilan sampel dengan metode simple random sampling. Metode analisis data dengan menggunakan software IBM SPSS 21 serta Causal Steps untuk menganalisis pengaruh tidak lansung dari calling terhadap work engagement dan career satisfaction. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa calling berpengaruh positif signifikan terhadap work engagement dan career satisfaction, serta diperoleh hasil bahwa career adaptability memediasi secara parsial pengaruh calling terhadap work engagement dan memediasi secara penuh pengaruh callingterhadap career satisfaction. Kata Kunci : Calling, Work Engagement, Career Satisfaction, dan Career Satisfaction