What is it about?
A randomized control trial, the 3 wave study used the pretest-posttest-posttest one control group (n = 49) and one experimental group (n = 49) design. The study aimed at developing university students’ proactive personality and career adaptability resources (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) through a training course on proactive personality with the assumption that six months later they would demonstrate appropriate adapting responses (career planning, career decision-making self-efficacy, career exploration, and occupational self-efficacy).
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Why is it important?
Primarily developed for Pakistan’s university students, the Staying Relevant training course may be equally suitable for university students in other countries. Findings of the study are generalizable to bachelor’s students in Pakistan between 22 and 26 years of age. However, the study may also be replicated to train university students abroad, as the content is current and relevant to today’s labor market. It may be taught to university students in other countries based on examples and scenarios from their respective job markets. Additionally, the experiential learning activities used to impart the content are interesting promoting active engagement and participation. In addition, results of the present study have implications for student affairs practitioners, instructional design specialists, education administrators, and faculty. Moreover, the intervention best practices integrated into the course have a universal application. Career interventions have yet to focus on developing proactivity and career adaptability resources together through a training course on proactive personality. This study is an attempt in this regard. Further, this is one of the few studies to have focused on the development of all four career adaptability resources. Finally yet importantly, the training designed for this study is an intelligent mix of intervention best practices suitable for addressing the career challenges of today’s labor market.
Perspectives
1. A four-week career intervention geared towards developing both proactivity and career adaptability resources may enable participants to demonstrate career adapting responses based on the lessons learnt from it and therefore facilitate their transition from university to workplace. 2. The success of the training simultaneously indicates that a subtle combination of intervention best practices is effective at enhancing students’ proactivity and career adaptability resources. As such, the efficacy of the Staying Relevant course may be attributed to the use of behavioral outcomes to promote observable behavior change (Thomas, 2004), application of the adult teaching and learning assumptions to sustain learners’ motivation (Knowles, 1990), use of a facilitator’s manual to address training integrity (Whiston et al., 2003), intervention guidelines by Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009), intervention activities recommended by Savickas (2005), and intervention components proposed by Brown et al. (2003).
Zane Asher Green
Preston University Pakistan
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Furthering Proactivity and Career Adaptability Among University Students: Test of Intervention, Journal of Career Assessment, August 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1069072719870739.
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