Career progression and employability

Employability skills are required not just to secure work, but to secure career progression.

Cedefop state that Career Development at Work is an effective way to build a knowledge economy that benefits individuals, employers and society at large.  But they warn that in most organisations there is no clear process of career development and what there is, focuses mainly on managers and graduates. The career development of lower skilled workers is highlighted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies who report that low and unskilled workers are doubly disadvantaged in times of economic downturn; they are most vulnerable to labour market changes and are least likely to have experienced any previous investment in their careers.

Careers work helps to build employability and career management skills whilst people are in education and supports these skills throughout people’s working lives.  iCeGS’ work in this area includes:

2021

Dodd, V., Hanson, J., & Hooley, T. (2021). 'Increasing students’ career readiness through career guidance: measuring the impact with a validated measure' British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, pp. 1-14

2020

Foster, R., Svanaes, S., Howell, S., Neary, S., Everitt, J. and Dodd, V. (2020). 'Hours spent building skills and employability'. London: Department for Education.

Hanson, J. and Burke, C. (2020). 'Addressing unrealistic optimism with counterfactual reasoning in an employability module in higher education'. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, pp. 1-35.

2018

Neary, S. (2018) Schools and employers must work together. Business Network. (June 2018): 44-46

Neary, S. (2018) Flexible Professional Development (June 2018)

2017

Moore, N. (2017) 'Preparing the next generation of career development practitioners'. Career Matters 5(4)

2013

Borbély-Pecze, T.B. and Hutchinson, J. (2013). The Youth Guarantee and Lifelong Guidance: ELGPN Concept Note No. 4. Jyväskylä: The European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network (ELGPN) 

Hooley, T., Watts, A. G., Sultana, R. G. and Neary, S. (2013). The 'blueprint' framework for career management skills: a critical exploration. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 41(2): 117-131