Gill Frigerio, Career Studies Unit,
University of Warwick
Dr Toni Wright, Psychology Dept,
Newman University
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What is career adaptability?
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Is it a useful concept for HE Careers &
Employability Services?
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Research to date
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Our work to develop a UK instrument
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Applications for HE careers services
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Has it’s origins in the vocational psychology of Donald Super
which developed into Career Construction theory (Savickas,
1997)
The focus is on the individual and their psychosocial
resources, as opposed to employability – where employers
and their needs tend to dominate.
The capability of an individual to make a series of successful
transitions where the labour market, organisation of work and
underlying occupational and organisational knowledge bases
may be subject to considerable change’ (Bimrose et al, 2011)
Incorporates both individual readiness & resources and the
concomitant responses & results
Control:
exerting a degree of intra-personal influence on
their situations
Curiosity:
broadening horizons by exploring social
opportunities & possibilities
Commitment: experimenting with new & different activities
Confidence:
believing in yourself & ability to achieve your goal
Concern:
developing a positive optimistic attitude to the
future
Savickas et al. (2009)
Career adaptability - a useful theoretical perspective because…?
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As noted earlier, contrast with employability in its focus on the
client:
“ ..career belongs to the person, not the organisation” (Duarte, 2004)
From adaptability to adapt-abilities (psycho-social competences)
which focus on the person and the resources they have available to
enable them to manage life and work challenges and transitions
Problems with existing psychometric tests – identification of need
and targeted interventions is currently problematic
Potential for a quantitative measure in line with our purpose and
professional values
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Reported change in employability related values, attitudes &
behaviour e.g. reflecting on skills/experiences; applying skills
and attributes to specific situations/contexts;
Increased ability to articulate skills/attributes
Increased confidence leading to higher aspiration
However, no change on psychometric tests
Rather than increasing student’s cognitive skills, the PSA may
be changing their application and the meaning ascribed to their
possession (internal change within person rather than simple
acquisition of skills)
Employability awards may improve an individual’s resources to
negotiate the challenges of leaving university and entering the
world of work
Wright (in prep)
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International life design group met in 2008 and 2010; 13
countries (not inc. UK) involved in study to develop and
validate the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS). (Savickas &
Porfeli, 2012)
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In the UK Bimrose and colleagues developed qualitative
descriptors. (Bimrose et al, 2011)
Evaluation of employability intervention at the University of
Birmingham (2010-13)
Birmingham, Warwick, Newman and HECSU - UK
collaborative project currently ongoing (Glasgow Caledonian
also participated in experimental phase of validation)
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Collaborative project with aim of validating CAAS
for use in UK context
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HEA bid unsuccessful
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Project scaled down and work continued
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US version of CAAS adapted to UK context
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UK version shown to fit four factor model and to
correlate with Trait Emotional Intelligence (Cooper &
Petrides, 2010)
Different people use different strengths to build their careers. No one is
good at everything, each of us emphasises some strengths more than
others. Please rate how strongly you have developed each of the
following abilities using the scale below.
Strongest Very strong Strong Somewhat strong Not strong
(5)
(4)
(3)
(2)
(1)
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Becoming aware of the education and career choices that I must make
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Actively engaging with my career
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Remaining positive
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Taking responsibility for my actions
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Acting in line with my values and principles
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Relying on myself
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Looking for opportunities to grow as a person
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Observing different ways of doing things
Adapted from Savickas & Porfeli (2012)
Birmingham University: 301 students
 Glasgow Caledonian University : 195
 Newman University: 175
 Warwick University: 175
Total = 846
After removal of outliers and those with missing
values = 753 used in the final model analysis
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Questions
Factor
1-6
Concern
7-12
Control
Adapt-ability
13-18
Curiosity
18-24
Confidence
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Target careers guidance interventions
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Allocate resources to greatest effect
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Demonstrating careers guidance impact at
individual and institutional level
Encouraging students’ reflective career
development and effective action planning
Any application to your own context? – group
discussion
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To understand career adaptability as a means of developing
student centred approaches to employability
To consider the value of career adaptability as a way of HE
career services targeting their work and resources
To contribute to current research in exploring possible
applications of the career adaptabilities measure in HE career
services
To consider the value that the concept, and the questionnaire,
could have for your own institutional context
Next step: Pilot projects in UK HE institutions
Contact Gill Or Toni with any ideas or
suggestions for pilot projects in your own
institutions
Gill: G.Frigerio@warwick.ac.uk
Toni: T.Wright@newman.ac.uk
We are here this evening so please do chat to
us about your ideas if you wish.
Bimrose, J., Barnes, S-A., Brown, A. and Hughes, D. (2011) 'The role of career
adaptability in skills supply', Wath-upon-Dearne: UK Commission for
Employment & Skills
Cooper, A. & Petrides, K.V. (2010) A Psychometric Analysis of the Trait
Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) Using Item
Response Theory, Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 5, pp.449-457
Duarte, M.E. (2004) The Individual and the Organisation: Perspective in
development Psychologica (Extra Serie) 549-557
Savickas, M.L. (1997) Career Adaptability: An Integrative construct for LifeSpan, Life-Space Theory, The Career Development Quarterly, 45, 3, pp.247259
Savickas, M.L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.P., Duarte, M.E., Guichard, J.,
Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck R. & van Vianen, A.E.M., (2009). Life designing: A
paradigm for career construction in the 21st Century. Journal of Vocational
Behavior, 75, 3, pp.239-250.
Savickas, M.L. & Porfeli, E.J. (2012) Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction,
reliability and measurement equivalence across 13 countries, Journal of
Vocational Behaviour, 80, pp.661 -673
Wright, T.E. (in prep.) Does it Do What It Says On The Tin? – Evaluation of an
established University Employability Enhancement Award in the UK