1) The document discusses employability from three perspectives: competence-based employability which focuses on skills and attributes, perceived employability which is how individuals view their chances of getting a job, and dispositional employability which captures characteristics like adaptability that lead to positive employment outcomes. 2) It argues that focusing only on skills gaps between what employers want and what graduates have is too narrow, and that broader attributes like networking and career management skills are also important for getting employed. 3) An integrated framework is proposed that sees employability as involving developing adaptive career behaviors through interventions targeting characteristics like self-efficacy, supported by career management in university programs.

1. No more gaps: Getting
from employable to
employed
Jason Brown | CDAA Spring Seminar | 21 October 2017
@onejasonbrown 1

2. Before we get started
 My focus on employability is concerned with university students and
graduates
 This presentation is based partly on my doctoral research and
practice at La Trobe University
@onejasonbrown 2

3. Question / Discussion
What makes an individual
employable?
@onejasonbrown 3

4. Employer expectations
“Employers expect graduates to have the technical
and discipline competences from their degrees but
require graduates to demonstrate a range of broader
skills and attributes that include team-working,
communication, leadership, critical thinking, problem
solving and often managerial abilities or potential”
Lowden, Hall, Elliot & Lewin (2011, p.24).
@onejasonbrown 4

5. Three types of employability
Competence-
based
1
Perceived
2
Dispositional
3
@onejasonbrown 5

6. Competence-based Employability
Definition
•Possession of a set of skills,
knowledge, understanding,
attitudes
Frameworks
•Core Skills for Work (Aust.
Government, 2013)
•USEM (York & Knight, 2006)
•CareerEDGE (Dacre Pool &
Sewell, 2007)
Interventions
•Addressing skills gaps (deficit
model)
Curriculum
•Embedding graduate attributes
@onejasonbrown 6
1

7. Mind the gap
Predominant discourse in employability literature:
 Employability as a set of skills, attributes, knowledge
(e.g., York, 2006; Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007)
 Problem: Gap between skills possessed by graduates (or
employees) and what the employer requires
 Solution: Universities should teach the skills employers seek
@onejasonbrown 7

8. What’s the problem?
@onejasonbrown 8
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

9. Recruitment
methods for
graduate
employment
programs show
focus on
broader range
of attributes
@onejasonbrown 9
Graduate Careers Australia. (2016). Graduate outlook report 2015. The report
of the 2015 Graduate Outlook Survey: Perspectives on graduate recruitment.

10. As does selection criteria
@onejasonbrown 10Graduate Careers Australia. (2016). Graduate outlook report 2015. The report
of the 2015 Graduate Outlook Survey: Perspectives on graduate recruitment.

11. Factors supporting graduates obtaining
a job
Attribute / Factor Increased chance of employment
outcome
Skill development 19%
Graduate identity 10%
G08 university 38%
International student -75%
Disability -12%
Arts degree -73%
Traditional job search methods 283%
Networking job search method 53%
@onejasonbrown 11Jackson, D. (2014). Factors influencing job attainment in recent
Bachelor graduates: Evidence from Australia. Higher Education,
68, 135-153.

12. Perceived Employability
Definition
• How an individual judges their
chances of obtaining employment
based on factors internal and external
to the person
(Rothwell, Herbert, & Rothwell, 2008;
Vanhercke et al., 2014)
Frameworks
• Rothwell’s perceived employability:
• University's brand;
• Status of the student's field of study;
• State of the external labour market;
• Student's self-belief
Interventions
• Increase self-efficacy;
• Labour Market information;
• Institutional interventions to increase
university’s brand, connections to
industry
Curriculum
• Improved quality of teaching
@onejasonbrown 12
2

13. Dispositional Employability
Definition
•“A form of work specific active
adaptability that enables
workers to identify and realize
career opportunities”
(Fugate & Kinicki, 2008)
Frameworks
•Fugate’s 3 dimensions: Career
Identity; Personal adaptability;
Social & Human Capital
Interventions
•Development of career identity;
adaptability; networks, and
KSAOs
Curriculum
•Career development learning,
work-integrated learning,
connectedness learning
@onejasonbrown 13
3

14. Dispositional Employability
The focus is on the personal attributes of an individual that facilitates
proactive behaviour.
Three underlying dimensions
 Career identity
 Personal adaptability
 Social & Human Capital
Fugate, Kinicki & Ashforth (2004)
@onejasonbrown 14

15. Dispositional Employability
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities & Other Attributes (KSAOs)
 Dispositional employability states that it is the responsibility of
employees to develop the KSAOs that employers seek
 The underlying dimensions of dispositional employability
predispose an individual to proactively develop those KSAOs
 KSAOs are outcomes of education
Fugate et al. (2004)
@onejasonbrown 15

16. Employability is a disposition
that captures individual
characteristics that foster
adaptive behaviours and
positive employment
outcomes
Fugate, Kinicki & Ashforth (2004)
@onejasonbrown 16

17. Now for some theory
@onejasonbrown 17

18. @onejasonbrown 18
Figure 1. Integrated framework of personality. From “Convergence of personality frameworks within vocational
psychology” by P.J. Rottinghaus & A.D. Miller. (2013). In W. B. Walsh, M. L. Savickas, & P. Hartung (Eds.),
Handbook of vocational psychology: Theory, research and practice (p. 110).

19. Characteristic adaptations are
“specific motivational, social-
cognitive, and developmental
variables that are
contextualized in time,
situations, and social roles”.
McAdams & Pals (2006, p. 212)
@onejasonbrown 19

20. Characteristic Adaptations
Characteristic Adaptations
 Make people who they are as an individual
(compared to dispositions which are broad individual differences,
like Big 5 personality traits)
 Easier to change via interventions than dispositions
 Include goals, values, coping strategies, self-efficacy, career
adaptability, intercultural sensitivity
@onejasonbrown 20

21. Social Cognitive Career Theory
@onejasonbrown 21Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (2013). Social cognitive model of career self-management:
Toward a unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span. Journal of
Counseling Psychology, 60(4), 557 - 568.

22. Career Adaptive Behaviours
Career adaptive behaviours are those that people use to develop their educational and career
goals and include:
 Exploring career paths
 Developing employability skills
 Making and implementing career decisions
 Developing networks
 Acquiring work experiences
Adaptive behaviours are important because they:
 increase the chance of outcomes, like skill development, job interviews, employment
 can be influenced by factors addressable through career interventions. For example,
environmental supports, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, learning experiences.
(Lent & Brown, 2013)
@onejasonbrown 22

23. An example to show how
it all (should) work
@onejasonbrown 23

24. New ‘Career Ready’ space in central location on
campus
Employer events on campus
Unitemps La Trobe
Career Ready Advantage
Career Ready
24

25.  Build your skills
Develop skills and personal attributes by learning,
doing and reflecting.
 Manage your career
Students who take control of their career management
really stand out.
 Track and assess your progress
Assess where you are through your personal
dashboard
 Unlock rewards
Be rewarded by your progress with opportunities
 Tell your story
Build your story through the Career Ready Portfolio
Career Ready Advantage
supports you to develop the
skills and attributes that
employers want
My
purpose
Understanding business
and how it operates
including the impact of
new media and
technology
Working effectively with
others in any cultural or
organisational context to
take advantage of diverse
knowledge and skills
Using personal presence,
listening and questioning to
engage others effectively in
conversation, presentation
and written communication
Proactively taking
ownership and
accountability for
individual and
shared outcomes
Personal judgement
Communicating &
influencing
Results
orientation
Big picture
awareness
Business &
digital acumen
Cultural
intelligence
Innovative
thinking
My
Purpose
Collaboration

26. latrobe.edu.au
Find Learn activities to
develop your skills
Career Ready Advantage:
What students can do in the app ?
Record your completed
Do activities
Develop your Career
Management skills

27. latrobe.edu.au
Check your progress on
the Dashboard
Career Ready Advantage:
What students can do in the app ?
Search for a job on the
Marketplace

28. Getting from
employable
to employed
Employability is a disposition that
enables proactive behaviours
Career adaptive behaviours lead to
outcomes (SCCT; goals, actions,
outcomes)
Career interventions need to target
characteristic adaptations and
support career adaptive behaviours

29. Thank you
Jason Brown
@onejasonbrown
linkedin.com/in/brownjasonl/
jason.brown@latrobe.edu.au
@onejasonbrown 29

30. References
Australian Government. (2013). Core skills for work developmental framework. Canberra, Australia.
Dacre Pool, L., & Sewell, P. (2007). The key to employability: Developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education + Training, 49(4), 277-289.
Fugate, M., & Kinicki, A. J. (2008). A dispositional approach to employability: Development of a measure and test of implications for employee reactions to
organizational change. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81(3), 503-527.
Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B. E. (2004). Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1),
14-38.
Graduate Careers Australia. (2016). Graduate outlook report 2015. The report of the 2015 Graduate Outlook Survey: Perspectives on graduate recruitment.
Retrieved from http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Graduate-Outlook-Report-2015-FINAL1.pdf
Jackson, D. (2014). Factors influencing job attainment in recent Bachelor graduates: evidence from Australia. Higher Education, 68(1), 135-153.
Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (2013). Social cognitive model of career self-management: Toward a unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span.
Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(4), 557 – 568
Lowden, K., Hall, S., Elliot, D., & Lewin, J. (2011). Employers’ perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates. London, UK: The Edge Foundation.
McAdams, D. P., & Pals, J. L. (2006). A new big five: Fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality. American Psychologist, 61(3), 204-217.
Rothwell, A., Herbert, I., & Rothwell, F. (2008). Self-perceived employability: Construction and initial validation of a scale for university students. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 73(1), 1-12
Rottinghaus, P. J., & Miller, A. D. (2013). Convergence of personality frameworks within vocational psychology. In W. B. Walsh, M. L. Savickas, & P. Hartung (Eds.),
Handbook of vocational psychology: Theory, research and practice (pp. 105-132).
Yorke, M., & Knight, P. (2007). Evidence-informed pedagogy and the enhancement of student employability. Teaching in Higher Education, 12(2), 157-170.
@onejasonbrown 30