Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-29T15:09:56.069Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Where to from here? Evaluating employability during career transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Marilyn Clarke*
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of South Australia – City West Campus, Adelaide SA, Australia

Abstract

This study explores attitudes towards employability among a small group of individuals who were in career transition as a result of taking voluntary redundancy. Contemporary models of career suggest that much of the responsibility for career and employability has been transferred from the organisation to the individual. This study indicated that, in general, mid-career individuals were yet to recognise this transfer and to take ownership of their employability. When moving from a stable career within a paternalistic organisation to an uncertain job market they were unsure what they had to offer an employer, how to approach job search or how to market their skills and experience. The majority did make a successful career transition but more in the absence of, rather than because of, individual career management strategies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ACCIRT (1999) Australia at work. Just Managing? Sydney NSW, Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Arthur, M and Rousseau, D (Eds) (1996) The Boundaryless Career. New York, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arthur, MB, Khapova, SN and Wilderom, CPM (2005) Career success in a boundaryless career world. Journal of Organizational Behavior 26: 177202.Google Scholar
Ashley, R (1998) Enhancing your employability. Oxford UK, How To Books.Google Scholar
Atkinson, C (2002) Career management and the changing psychological contract. Career Development International 7(1): 1423Google Scholar
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) (2002) Employability Skills- An Employer Perspective. Getting what employers want out of the too hard basket. Kingston ACT.Google Scholar
Bagshaw, M (1997) Employability-creating a contract of mutual investment. Industrial and Commercial Training 29(6): 187189.Google Scholar
Baruch, Y (2003) Career systems in transition. A normative model for organizational career practices. Personnel Review 32(2): 231251.Google Scholar
Baruch, Y (2004a) Managing Careers. Harlow UK, Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Baruch, Y (2004b) The desert generation. Lessons and implications for the new era of people management. Personnel Review 33(2): 241256.Google Scholar
Baruch, Y (2004c) Transforming careers: from linear to multidirectional career paths. Organizational and individual perspectives. Career Development International 9(1): 5873.Google Scholar
Baruch, Y and Hind, P (1999) Perpetual Motion in Organizations: Effective Management and the Impact of the New Psychological Contracts on ‘Survivor Syndrome’. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 8(2): 295306.Google Scholar
Capelli, P (1999) Career Jobs Are Dead. California Management Review 42(1): 146167.Google Scholar
Cascio, WF (2002) Responsible Restructuring: Creative and Profitable Alternatives to Layoffs. San Francisco, Berrett Koehler.Google Scholar
Civelli, F (1998) Personal competencies, organizational competencies, and employability. Industrial and Commercial Training 30(2): 4852.Google Scholar
Clarke, MA (2005) The Voluntary Redundancy Option: Carrot or Stick? British Journal of Management 16(3): 245251.Google Scholar
Cohen, L and Mallon, M (1999) The transition from organisational employment to portfolio working: perceptions of ‘boundarylessness’. Work, Employment and Society 13(2): 329352.Google Scholar
Collis, J and Hussey, R (2003) Business Research: a practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. New York, Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Curtis, D and McKenzie, P (2001) Employability Skills for Australian Industry: Literature Review and Framework Development, Australian Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
Dawkins, P and Littler, CR (2001) Downsizing: Is it Working for Australia? University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.Google Scholar
de Grip, A, van Loo, J and Sanders, J (2004) The Industry Employability Index: Taking account of supply and demand characteristics. International Labour Review 143(3): 211233.Google Scholar
Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) (2002) Employability Skills for the Future, Commonwealth Government, Australia.Google Scholar
Eby, LT, Butts, M and Lockwood, A (2003) Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless career. Journal of Organizational Behavior 24: 689708.Google Scholar
Fugate, M and Ashforth, BE (2003) ‘Employability: The construct, its dimensions, and its applications’. Academy of Management Conference, 08 1-6, Seattle, Washington.Google Scholar
Fugate, M, Kinicki, AJ and Ashforth, BE (2004) Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational Behavior 65: 1438.Google Scholar
Garavan, T (1999) Employability, the emerging new deal? Journal of European Industrial Training 23(1): 15Google Scholar
Garavan, T, Morley, M, Gunnigle, P and Collins, E (2001) Human capital accumulation: the role of human resource development. Journal of European Industrial Training 25(2/3/4): 4868.Google Scholar
Greller, MM and Stroh, LK (1995) Careers in Midlife and Beyond: A Fallow Field in Need of Sustenance. Journal of Vocational Behavior 47: 232247.Google Scholar
Gunz, H, Evans, M and Jalland, M (2000) Career Boundaries in a ‘Boundaryless’ World. in Peiperl, M, Arthur, M, Goffee, R and Morris, T (Eds) (2000) Career Frontiers: New Conceptions of Working Lives. Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, DT (1996a) The Career is Dead – Long Live the Career. San Francisco CA, Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hall, DT (1996b) Protean careers in the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive 10(4): 816.Google Scholar
Hall, DT (2002) Careers in and out of organizations. Thousand Oaks, California, Sage.Google Scholar
Hall, DT and Mirvis, PH (1995) The new career contract: Developing the whole person at midlife and beyond. Journal of Vocational Behavior 47: 269289.Google Scholar
Handy, CB (1989) The Age of Unreason, London, Business Books.Google Scholar
Hillage, J and Pollard, E (1998) Employability: developing a framework for policy analysis. Department for Education and Employment, London.Google Scholar
Hiltrop, JM (1996) Managing the changing psychological contract. Employee Relations 18(1): 3649.Google Scholar
Hind, P (2005) Making room for career change. Career Development International 10(4): 268274.Google Scholar
Hirsch, W and Jackson, C (1996) Ticket to ride or no place to go? People Management 27: 2025.Google Scholar
Iles, P, Forster, A and Tinline, G (1996) The changing relationships between work commitment, personal flexibility and employability. Journal of Managerial Psychology 11(8): 1834.Google Scholar
Inkson, K and Arthur, M (2001) ‘How to Be a Successful Career Capitalist. Organizational Dynamics 30(1): 4861.Google Scholar
Keen, S (2005) It takes two. HR Monthly. 10: 2025.Google Scholar
King, Z (2004) Career self management: Its nature, causes and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior 65: 112133.Google Scholar
Kippenberger, T (2000) The scouring effect of change. The Antidote 5: 1820.Google Scholar
McLeish, A (2002) ‘Employability Skills for Australian Small and Medium Sized Enterprises’. Canberra, Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.Google Scholar
Mirvis, PH and Hall, DT (1996) New Organizational Forms and the New Career in Hall, DT, The Career is Dead - Long Live the Career. San Francisco CA, Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Nicholson, N (Ed.) (1995) Blackwell Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Organizational Behaviour. Cambridge, Mass, Blackwell Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
Ogier, J (2004) Skeleton Staff. HR Monthly. 03: 2226.Google Scholar
Ornstein, S and Isabella, LA (1993) Making Sense of Careers: A Review 1989 - 1992. Journal of Management 19(2): 243267.Google Scholar
Parker, P, Arthur, MB and Inkson, K (2004) Career communities: a preliminary exploration of member-defined career support structures. Journal of Organizational Behavior 25: 489514.Google Scholar
Patton, MQ (1990) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Newbury Park, Sage.Google Scholar
Peiperl, M, Arthur, M, Goffee, R and Morris, T (Eds) (2000) Career Frontiers: New Conceptions of Working Lives. Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Qualitative Software and Research (QSR) (1997) NVivo (Application Software Package) Melbourne.Google Scholar
Rousseau, DM (1995) Psychological Contracts in Organizations: Understanding Written and Unwritten Agreements. California, Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D (2004) Psychological Contracts in the Workplace: Understanding the Ties That Motivate. Academy of Management Executive 18(1): 120127.Google Scholar
Sanders, J and de Grip, A (2004) Training, task flexibility and the employability of low-skilled workers. International Journal of Manpower 25(1): 7389Google Scholar
Sturges, J, Conway, N, Liefooghe, A and Guest, D (2003) ‘The Psychological Contract as a Framework for Understanding Career Management and Commitment’. Academy of Management Conference, 08 1-6, Seattle, Washington.Google Scholar
Tamkin, P (1997) Lifelong Learning: a question of privilege? Industrial and Commercial Training 29(6): 184186.Google Scholar
Thite, M (2001) Help us but help yourself: the paradox of contemporary career management. Career Development International 6(6): 312317.Google Scholar
Van Buren, HJ III (2003) Boundaryless Careers and Employability Obligations. Business Ethics Quarterly 13(2): 131149.Google Scholar
Waterman, RH, Waterman, JA and Collard, BA (1994) Towards a Career-Resilient Workforce. Harvard Business Review 07-August: 87-95.Google Scholar