Australian Journal of Career Development

Future work self is a promising concept to understand how young people view and plan their careers in the contemporary workplace. In this study, we attempt to investigate its impacts on two career-related outcomes, namely, perceived employability and career distress. Informed by social cognitive career theory, we also explore the mediating role of career decision self-efficacy in the above relationships. Several hypotheses were developed and tested with a sample of 208 final-year undergraduate students (with a mean age of 21.5 and 145 of them are female) in China. The results of structural equation modeling and bootstrapping indicated that future work self has a positive relationship with perceived employability and a negative relationship with career distress, while these relationships are found to be mediated by career decision self-efficacy. Our study has advanced our understanding about how future work self contributes to career-related well-being among Chinese students.

In the uncertain and flexible labour market, some people experience indecision in dealing with career choices, despite having career readiness. The present research explored the relationship between career readiness, strategies for coping with career indecision, and well-being. Participants were 529 people aged between 18 and 60 (M = 26.57; SD = 6.83). The survey included: Readiness scale of the Career Transition Inventory, Productive scale and Support Seeking scale of Strategies for coping with career indecision, Flourishing Scale and Satisfaction with life scale. Results show that both productive and support-seeking strategies mediate the association between career readiness and flourishing and between career readiness and life satisfaction. As implications for career guidance, in addition to favouring career readiness, counsellors could promote productive strategies for coping with career indecision– and in some cases, support-seeking strategies–, to help people transform the experience of career indecision from insurmountable obstacles into an opportunity to act towards well-being.

This study investigated concern, control, curiosity, and confidence serially mediated the associations between psychological flexibility (PF) at work and career commitment, based on the career construction model of adaptation and gender, age, education level, and tenure differences in career commitment. The white-collar employees (N  =  353, 55% female) completed the Career Commitment Scale, Work-Related Acceptance and Action Questionnaire and Career Adaptabilities Scale-Short Form, and a Demographic Information Form. A multiple serial mediation model indicated that PF at work was related to concern, control, curiosity, and confidence, which in turn, contributed to career commitment, serially. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that career commitment differs according to education level, only. These findings suggested implications for theory, research, and practice, responding to the cultural context.

The purpose of the present study was to extend the results of previous research exploring the paths between variables of the theory of planned behaviour and job attainment. The theory of planned behaviour assumes that attitude, subjective norm and self-efficacy contribute to intention, which in turn determines behaviour and, finally, an outcome. Regarding job attainment, several moderators and several antecedents were identified, but the possible role of self-efficacy was neglected. In addition to examining its role, we also consider one of its possible antecedent (i.e. core self-evaluations) and whether private self-consciousness moderates the path between job search self-efficacy and job search intention. Scales measuring these variables were administered to a sample of 141 jobseekers, including 57 men and 84 women, most of them being between 45 and 54 years (n = 42) or between 35 and 44 years (n = 34). Results corroborate that core self-evaluations are related to job search self-efficacy and that private self-consciousness moderates the path between job search self-efficacy and job search intention, but in an unexpected way. Core self-evaluations are also directly related to job attainment. Results are discussed with reference to the literature and their practical implications.

Although robust evidence has been accumulating over the last decades supporting the effectiveness of career counseling in various populations, yet there are scarce conceptual or empirical studies investigating the impact of distinct approaches, such as traditional-“psychometric,” narrative, or a mixed (integrative) one. The primary aim of this paper is to make a contribution in the field, providing a synthetic overview of contemporary research findings regarding the effectiveness of narrative and mixed career counseling approaches with a special focus on university students. The recent trend of utilizing mixed approaches in career assessment and intervention is also emphasized in the article, suggesting they may have a great potential in helping young adults advance meaning-making about career and life design. Finally, a discussion of both benefits and challenges relating to narrative and mixed interventions along with recommendations for extending research in the area of assessing career interventions’ effectiveness for university students is provided.

The present article proposes to broaden the understanding of the life courses of women executives to include an experiential perspective of meaning built around their different life projects. Our study is based on a qualitative approach employing narrative research methodology to analyze interviews with a sample of 51 women executives. Our findings reveal key experiences and events and a diversity of transitions between hierarchical levels that characterize their career development. They also show a number of possible configurations of rapprochement, integration, distancing, or separation between the different spheres of life and their influence on executive careers through ascending, lateral, or descending career paths. These findings contribute to a deeper insight into the complex career paths of women executives and underscore the value of including these different dimensions when considering guidance support strategies for this clientele.

This study examines former hi-tech workers who have pursued a second career in teaching. Narratives of 15 novice teachers: 8 men and 7 women from scientific fields are examined based on Positioning Theory. Two facets of their transition are examined: (a) Reasons for career change and image of both professions and (b) task perception, motivation, and commitment to teaching. Through the narratives, common themes are exposed: feelings of appeal versus rejection; financial sacrifice; work overload in hi-tech; and the need for meaningful emotional connections. Emphasis is placed on the importance of appropriate training for such teachers and the optimal conditions for their placement and acclimation in the education system.