Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., & Blonk, R.W.B. Career competencies and employability: A successful team? Paper presented at the bi-annual conference of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), May 2011, in Maastricht, Netherlands

1. CAREER COMPETENCIES AND
PERCEIVED EMPLOYABILITY: A
SUCCESFULL TEAM…?
EAWOP Conference 2011
J. Akkermans
V. Brenninkmeijer
R.W.B. Blonk

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
 Introduction
 Conceptualization of Career Competencies and Perceived Employability
 The relationship between Career Competencies and Perceived
Employability
 Implications for research on Employability and Job Insecurity

3. CAREER COMPETENCIES & EMPLOYABILITY
Traditional careers: linear paths; vertical development in one organization
Contemporary careers: dynamic & flexible; vertical development through
horizontal shifts in organizations
 Career self-manament becomes increasingly important  employees need
to develop career competencies to:
- become and remain employable on the labor market
- reduce job insecurity
1: Arthur (1994); Eby et al. (2003)
2: Arthur et al. (1999); Arnold & Cohen (2008)

4. STUDY 1: REVIEW & VALIDATION
Review of Career Competencies & Validation of Framework
 Literature review
 Validation of career competencies framework:
** N=219; student population intermediate vocational education (with
internship)
** CFA of career competencies framework
** Exploration of relationship with perceived employability

5. CAREER COMPETENCIES
Boundaryless Career Perspective (e.g., Defillippi & Arthur, 1994)
Protean Career Perspective (e.g., Mirvis & Hall, 1994)
Career Self-Management (e.g., King, 2004; De Vos & Soens, 2008)
Kuijpers Perspective (e.g., Kuijpers, 2003; Kuijpers & Scheerens, 2006)

6. CAREER COMPETENCIES
Three dimensions distilled from literature:
 Reflective Career Competencies
Reflection on Motivation; Reflection on Qualities
 Communicative Career Competencies
Networking; Self-profiling
 Behavioral Career Competencies
Work exploration; Career Control

7. PERCEIVED EMPLOYABILITY
Recent studies increasingly focused on perceived employability on individual
level
Common denominator in different definitions: ability to gain (equal or better)
work in the present and in the future.
De Cuyper et al. (2008): “Employability is the individual’s perception regarding
his or her possibilities to acquire a new job. Employability can both be internal
and external and it can both be qualitative and quantitative.”
1: Forrier & Sels (2003); De Cuyper et al. (2008)
2: Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden (2006)

8. CAREER COMPETENCIES VS EMPLOYABILITY
2nd Order CFA Fit Indices: CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.94;
GFI = 0.90; RMSEA = 0.048

9. CAREER COMPETENCIES VS EMPLOYABILITY
Discriminant Validity: model with Career Competencies & Employability as
seperate constructs significantly better than collapsed model (p<0.01)
Incremental Validity: career competencies  employability (ß = 0.27, p<0.01)
Conclusion
Career competencies and employability are related, but seperate constructs.
Research Question: how exactly are they related…?

10. STUDY 2: CAREER COMPETENCIES 
EMPLOYABILITY
Further exploration of relationship between career competencies and
perceived employability
Current N=212 (data still being gathered; T2 and T3 data will be collected)
 Do career competencies lead to an increased employability?
 Are work engagement and career motivation predictors of career
competenties and employability?
Only preliminary findings based on cross-sectional T1 data: longitudinal
analyses will be performed when possible!

11. CAREER COMPETENCIES  EMPLOYABILITY
CarMot
Engagement
CareerComp Employability
Vit Ded Abs
Profi
RoM RoQ Netw
ContrExpl
EmplP1 EmplP2
CMP1 CMP2

12. CAREER COMPETENCIES  EMPLOYABILITY
Standardized Regression Weights
Standardized Indirect Effects (Career Competencies as Mediator)
Fit Indices
GFI = .910; TLI = .920; CFI = .937; RMSEA = .079
Work Engagement  Career Competencies .435 (p<.01)
Career Motivation  Career Competencies .406 (p<.01)
Career Competencies  Employability .280 (p<.01)
Work Engagement  Employability .122 (p<.01)
Career Motivation  Employability .114 (p<.01)

13. CONCLUSIONS
 Career competencies & Perceived Employability are related, but
conceptually different constructs
 Career competencies seem to act as a mediator for employability
 BUT…… a more in depth search is necessary and will be performed when
data is collected/available

14. CONCLUSIONS
 Importance of career competencies in studies on (perceived) employability
and job insecurity
 Career competencies ↑; perceived employability ↑
Career competencies ↑; job insecurity ↓ ……?
 CareerSKILLS training course based on career competencies to increase
employability and decrease (future) job insecurity
→ based on SKILLS methodology (e.g., Vinokur et al., 2000; Blonk &
Brenninkmeijer, 2005)

15. QUESTIONS?
E-mail: t.j.akkermans@uu.nl