Importance and Key Contribution
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of career modules introduced at three different universities in three different countries in terms of their influence on the proactive job search behaviour of graduating students. It adds to the body of literature on the job search behaviour of university graduates (e.g. De Vos, De Clippeleer, & Dewilde, 2009) by specifically examining the effectiveness of job search interventions for overcoming low proactive personality.
Regardless of whether careers are as boundaryless as commentators had once predicted (Arthur, 1994; Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), there is agreement in the literature that individuals need to take responsibility for the management of their own careers (Arthur, 1994; Hall, 1996; Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005). It is recognised, however, that institutional resources are needed to help prevent a gap between those who are more versus less inclined to actively manage their own careers (Zeitz, Blau, & Fertig, 2009). Institutional support is particularly important for graduating students as they make the transition from college to work since research has shown that unsuccessful job search activity can lead to anxiety, stress, depression and feelings of stigmatisation (Kulik, 2000; Wanberg, Kanfer, & Rotundo, 1999) and early career experiences have a lasting effect on career success (Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005; Rosenbaum, 1984). One could argue that universities have an ethical responsibility in this regard.
Given that the unemployment rates for young people are as high as 50% in some parts of the world (Eurostat, 2014; OECD, 2013; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012), it is not surprising that young people report having difficulty finding employment (e.g. US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2006; Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, 2002) and they perceive numerous barriers to achieving their career goals (Swanson & Tokar, 1991). For these reasons, it is timely that both practitioners and researchers are paying increasing attention to career and job search interventions (e.g. Saks, 2005; Wanberg, 2012).
Commentators have argued that because of the normalisation of unemployment in recent years (Wanberg, 2012) job search interventions have increased dramatically (Liu, Huang, & Wang, 2014). Interventions to improve career outcomes take many forms including training programmes, computer-aided and e-guidance, one-to-one sessions, mentoring, career coaching and one stop counselling centres (Amundson, 2006; Janeiro, Mota, & Ribas, 2014). Career modules offered by universities have been increasing in popularity and are likely to continue to do so (Reese & Miller, 2006). University career modules, like many of the other forms of intervention, are designed to increase participants’ skills and motivation in job search which should effect how frequently they engage in job search (Yanar, Budworth, & Latham, 2009) and how much time they spend looking for jobs (e.g. van Hooft & Noordzij, 2009). A recent meta-analysis found that individuals who participated in job search interventions were 2.67 times more likely to find employment than those who did not (Liu et al., 2014). The meta-analysis found that the interventions that were most effective included specific element such as the encouragement of proactivity and goal setting as well as skill development in self-presentation and job search skills.
Theoretical Base
Proactive personality is “the relatively stable tendency to effect environmental change” (Bateman & Crant, 1993, p. 103). Proactive individuals attempt to have an impact on the world around them by looking for opportunities, taking action, showing initiative, finding solutions to problems, persevering, and overcoming obstacles (Bateman & Crant, 1993; Crant, 2000). While several studies have examined the role that personality plays in job search effort and behaviour (see meta-analysis by Kanfer, Wanberg, & Kantrowitz, 2001), very few studies have looked at the effects of proactive personality on employment search (Brown, Cober, Kane, Levy, & Shalhoop, 2006; Claes & De Witte, 2002). This is surprising given the growing literature that demonstrates its importance in terms of career success. As job search is an independent and autonomous activity, and there is substantial freedom in what actions, if any, job seekers take, proactivity is particularly important for understanding how the process unfolds (Brown et al., 2006).
Research Questions and Method
There are three key research questions in this study:
1. Do careers modules offered by universities increase the proactive job search behaviour of graduating students?
2. Is proactive personality related to proactive job search behaviours?
3. Do careers modules offered by universities moderate the relationship between proactive personality and proactive job search behaviours such that students with low proactive personality “catch up” with their more proactive classmates in terms of their job search behaviour after taking a careers module?
This study is part of a large scale project undertaken by an international team of career researchers (known as ICAR) who have joined together to conduct longitudinal research on the careers of students graduating from business programmes. At present the team include academics from Belgium, France, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The current study includes data from three universities (in the US, UK and Ireland). These universities have all introduced for-credit career modules for their students. As not all students have been offered these modules, or in some cases, have not been required to enrol in these modules, a naturally occurring quasi-experiment has allowed us to test our research questions.
To date, approximately 225 graduating students having completed the intervention in the three universities and there are approximately 200 in the control group. Additional data are being collected from students graduating at the end of the 2015-16 academic year. The career modules consisted of self-assessments (e.g. skills, interests, personality, and values); CV/résumé preparation, goal setting and monitoring, developing networks, interview preparation, and/or assessment centres. An online survey was sent to students towards the end of their course of study in the three universities. It included a wide range of measures such as career anchors, the big five personality measures, relative work centrality and protean career attitudes. The key variables for this particular study were proactive personality, which was measured using a 10-item scale (Seibert, Crant, & Krainer, 1999) and job search effort (4 items) and behaviour (9 items) (Blau, 1993, 1994) which were updated to reflect online methods of job search that are in current use. Additional measures included job search self-efficacy (Ellis & Taylor, 1983) and relevant subscales from the career competencies indicator (Francis-Smythe, Haase, Thomas, & Steele, 2013) that were adapted for student populations.
Findings
Initial results seem to indicate that the two main effects are support. The careers modules do lead to increases in job search effort and job search behaviour of the graduating students. Furthermore, students who are naturally more proactive (high proactive personality) demonstrate more proactive job search behaviour than those who are low on this construct. The interaction also seems to be significant, however not in the manner that had been anticipated. It was expected that the careers modules would help students who were naturally low on proactivity to become more proactive in their job search behaviour. While it did do this, the slope indicates that the career modules help students who are naturally proactive to become even more proactive in their job search behaviour.
Implications
This study has implications for research on the relationship between proactive personality and proactive behaviour more generally and also for the specific area of proactive job search behaviour. It also has implications for research and practice on job search interventions. One could argue that universities have an ethical responsibility to build career modules into the core part of their programmes to help ensure that students develop the skills and motivation necessary for managing their own careers. This would not only help graduates to secure appropriate employment upon graduation but would also help them to take responsibility for their long term employability.
(full references available upon request - word limit would not allow their inclusion)
