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Career Development International

ISSN : 1362-0436

Article publication date: 25 January 2022

Issue publication date: 18 February 2022

The field of careers studies is complex and fragmented. The aim of this paper is to detail why it is important to study careers, what we study and how we study key issues in this evolving field.

Design/methodology/approach

Key theories, concepts and models are briefly reviewed to lay the groundwork for offering an agenda for future research.

The authors recommend ten key directions for future research and offer specific questions for further study.

Research limitations/implications

This paper contributes to the development of the theoretical underpinning of career studies.

Practical implications

The authors hope that the proposed agenda for future research will help advance the field and encourage more research on understudied, but important, topics.

Originality/value

This paper presents a comprehensive view of research on contemporary careers.

• Career studies
• Contemporary careers
• Future research agenda

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers and Editor Jim Jawahar for their insightful comments.

Baruch, Y. and Sullivan, S.E. (2022), "The why, what and how of career research: a review and recommendations for future study", Career Development International , Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 135-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-10-2021-0251

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Career Development From Adolescence Through Emerging Adulthood Insights From Information Technology Occupations

Emily e. messersmith.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jessica L. Garrett

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Pamela E. Davis-Kean

Oksana malanchuk, jacquelynne s. eccles.

Career development theories suggest that social-contextual experiences are influential in individuals' career interests, aspirations, and skill development and may be a source of gender and ethnic differences in certain career fields. In this mixed methods study, we examine the supportive and obstructive career-related experiences of 13 men and 13 women (modal age 25). Interviews focused primarily on the pathway toward or away from an information technology (IT) career. Thematic coding indicated that parents were mostly supportive, while experiences in school and work occasionally made individuals reconsider their career plans. Social influences often changed developmentally as participants entered full-time jobs. Gendered participation in IT was often attributed to women's perception that it is a male-oriented field.

Attracting new employees to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs, as well as increasing the diversity of this workforce, has been of great interest to researchers, policy makers, and employers in recent years ( Meece, 2006 ). Despite efforts to increase the number of women and minorities in STEM careers, they remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce ( National Science Foundation, 1996 ). Career development theories suggest that individuals select career fields based on their self-perceptions, values, and beliefs and that individual differences in these cognitions can explain much of the gender and ethnic gaps in career field participation ( Eccles et al., 1983 ; Gottfredson, 1981 ; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ; Savickas, 2005 ). Although internal cognitions are the most proximal factors to career choice, career development theorists also suggest that these cognitions are developed through experiences in homes, schools, and other contexts and that these experiences may be more distal sources of imbalanced workforces.

In one particular STEM field, information technology (IT), the rapid creation of new jobs has led to a shortage of qualified employees ( U.S. Department of Commerce, 2003 ). As with other STEM careers, the IT field currently attracts substantially more men than women and more European Americans and Asian Americans than members of other ethnic groups ( National Science Foundation, 1996 ; U.S. Department of Commerce, 2003 ; Zarrett, Malanchuk, Davis-Kean, & Eccles, 2006 ). For instance, women hold less than 30% of the jobs in professional IT occupations ( U.S. Department of Labor, 2005 ), and African Americans receive approximately 11% of all bachelor's degrees, 6% of all master's, and 2% of all doctorates in computer science ( U.S. Department of Commerce, 2003 ).

This article examines the career path of emerging adults who enter IT careers and those who could enter these careers but do not in order to highlight socialization influences that may contribute to occupational choices. Examining the IT field in particular has the unique potential to highlight both gender and racial differences in socialization toward (or away from) some occupations.

Socialization and Career Choices

The occupational choices made by emerging adults have their roots in earlier interactions and experiences ( Eccles et al., 1983 ; Gottfredson, 1981 ; Lent et al., 1994 ; Savickas, 2005 ; Whiston & Keller, 2004 ). For instance, children begin to learn about possible future jobs through seeing adults in their communities and parents' social networks ( Schultheiss, Palma, & Manzi, 2005 ; Super, 1990 ). Self-perceptions develop through experiences in school ( Lent et al., 1994 ) and feedback from one's social network ( Jacobs, Davis-Kean, Bleeker, Eccles, & Malanchuk, 2005 ). During adolescence, individuals often engage in and value the same activities as their friends in order to fulfill a need for relatedness ( Fredricks et al., 2002 ); such activity participation may lead them toward particular career paths. Part-time work during adolescence is also a key source of information about work and one's place in the workforce ( Levine & Hoffner, 2006 ). Jacobs and Eccles (2000) suggested that parents influence their children's values in four main ways: developing a socioemotional climate, acting as role models, providing key experiences, and transmitting their perceptions and expectations. Thus, the proximal, internal influences on emerging adults' career have their roots in earlier experiences.

Given gender differences in the composition of some career fields (e.g., IT), researchers have theorized that career choices partially arise from gender role socialization throughout life ( Eccles et al., 1993 ; Martin & Ruble, 2004 ). Children's awareness of their gender and social class influence their perceptions of appropriate career aspirations ( Eccles, 1994 ; Gottfredson 1981 , 2005 ). There is also evidence that parents' beliefs about gender differences in children's abilities are transmitted to and internalized by their children ( Eccles Parsons, Adler, & Kaczala, 1982 ; Frome & Eccles, 1998 ) and that there are ethnic differences in the messages that children internalize from their parents ( Whiston & Keller, 2004 ). Opportunities for skill development vary considerably and may contribute to differences in career-related self-efficacies ( Lent et al., 1994 ; Turner et al., 2004 ). Despite different socialization, the same career development and occupational choice processes seem to occur for men and women as well as European Americans and minorities ( Lent et al., 2005 ).

Emerging adulthood is a particularly meaningful age period in which to study career development because of the unique experiences that emerging adults have regarding the world of work ( Arnett, 2004 ; Hamilton & Hamilton, 2006 ). This is an age during which previous socialization combines with current experiences to shape career choices and long-term goals. Emerging adults are more independent than children and adolescents, but their parents and other important people still actively influence their career opportunities ( Arnett, 2004 ; Whiston & Keller, 2004 ).

In addition, emerging adults are still engaged in identity exploration, of which one of the most salient aspects is occupational identity ( Arnett, 2004 ; Hamilton & Hamilton, 2006 ). Many individuals also continue to explore potential paths and identities during postsecondary educational pursuits and workplace experiences. However, not all emerging adults are able to construct their own careers to the same degree ( Blustein, 2004 ). Thus, not only is the study of emerging adults useful for examining distal factors in career development, it is also useful for examining active occupational identity formation and contextual influences.

In this article, we examine the socialization processes and experiences that have influenced emerging adults' career development. Although previous research has examined many aspects of career development, we still do not fully understand the contextual and social influences on emerging adults' choices to reject one career path in favor of another. To examine potential causes for differential gender and ethnic representation in some careers, as well as to apply general career development theories to a single career field, we address three research questions. First, how might families influence emerging adults' career paths, specifically into IT careers? Second, how do educational experiences influence children's, adolescents', and emerging adults' progression toward or regression away from an IT career? Third, what other formative experiences do emerging adults mention when they recall their career paths? While addressing these questions we pay particular attention to instances in which the experiences of boys and girls, or women and men, appear to differ substantially. This study has the advantage of examining statements from in-depth interviews as well as comparing the common experiences described in these interviews to survey data collected from a larger sample.

Data used in this study come from a subsample of a longitudinal project that began in 1991. The lead investigators of the project chose to collect data from a particular county near Washington, D.C., because of the unique demographic composition of this area during the early 1990s. The diversity of actual towns and neighborhoods in the region varied, but throughout the county both European American and African American families were well represented. In addition, income was normally distributed for both African Americans and European Americans, and the income discrepancy between these groups was much less than the discrepancy found in national samples. The original sample consisted of 61% African Americans, 35% European Americans, and 4% youth of other ethnicities. Mean age at the first data collection was 12 years old. More information about the sample is provided by Sameroff, Peck, and Eccles (2004) .

This sample provides an excellent resource to examine the early computer experiences of children who are now young adult workers. Since the majority of the sample was born in 1979, they were among the first generation to grow up with home computers and computers in their classrooms. However, their exposure to computers was quite variable; some had these resources in early childhood or elementary school, while others first had consistent access to computers in high school or later.

During the first wave of data collection, participants were 7th-grade students in a public school district. Data were collected again when the majority of these participants were going into the 9th grade and in 11th grade, as well as at ages 19 and 21. For the first three waves of data collection participants completed a survey and a face-to-face interview at home. In the two waves collected after high school, participants completed and returned mailed surveys.

Qualitative data specific to career development were collected in a separate wave of data collection, when the participants were approximately 25 years old. At that time, we used data from the longitudinal sample to select a smaller sample of participants. Specifically, 74 individuals were targeted based on their potential to enter an IT career. IT careers were identified by 1990 U.S. census occupation codes for both aspirations and actual jobs at age 25 and included jobs such as computer programmer and network administrator. Participants were deemed as having the potential to enter an IT career if they met at least two of the following criteria: (a) having an IT career aspiration in at least two of the last three surveys, (b) frequently playing video or computer games, (c) having taken at least one IT course, or (d) reporting a high self-concept in mathematics in at least two surveys. Each of these criteria has been related to occupational choice in general or choice of an IT career in particular ( Eccles et al., 1983 ; Kiesler, Sproull, & Eccles, 1985 ; Lent et al., 1994 ). Further information about the targeted sub-sample may be obtained from the authors.

Two interviewers attempted to contact all of the participants by phone and with letters; 59 were successfully contacted and completed a screening interview. From the information in these interviews, 10 individuals who were employed in the IT field and 18 individuals who were in a variety of non–IT fields were asked to complete longer interviews about their careers. Non–IT fields included both “soft” computer jobs (i.e., administrative support) and jobs that, according to the participants, did not require extensive computer use (i.e., teachers). Two interview tapes were corrupted and not included in the current analyses, leaving transcripts of only 16 individuals of the original 18 who were not in IT fields. Table 1 shows the pseudonym of each participant who was contacted and completed the career development interview. Of the 26 final participants whose interviews we report in this study, 1 was a student in a professional degree program, 12 were graduates of 4-year colleges, 1 was a graduate of a 2-year college, 2 were still enrolled in college, and 10 had no degree higher than a high school diploma.

Semistructured career development interviews were conducted with the 28 selected individuals by phone; these lasted between 45 and 150 minutes. Each participant received a $100 honorarium after they completed the interview. The interviews followed a standard protocol, but additional clarifying questions were asked when necessary. Typically, interview topics progressed as follows: an overview of their career path, early educational experiences (especially in math, English, and computers/technology), early socialization experiences, current job experiences, constraints and barriers in their lives and careers, career barriers that might impact others, and future goals. Participants who were students were also asked about their current courses in detail as well as their part-time jobs and their expectations for their future careers. To protect the identity of the participants, the authors assigned names to each individual who completed a final career development interview.

Data Analysis

We analyzed transcripts of the interviews with interpretative phenomenological analysis ( IPA; Smith & Osborn, 2003 ). This approach acknowledges that participants' experiences are personal and subjective. Thus, although the research team held theoretically based assumptions, we sought to ground our codes in participants' own words to ensure an appropriate interpretation. Consistent with IPA, members of our research team began the coding process by independently reading each transcript while taking notes about the important issues that emerged in the interviews. The authors then held several meetings, during which we came to a consensus and created a coding scheme for the entirety of the interview protocol. The coding scheme was based loosely on several theoretical viewpoints (see Jacobs & Eccles, 2000 ; Lent et al., 1994 ), but we also included themes that emerged from the content of the interviews. Once the coding scheme was agreed upon by everyone, three members of the research team read and coded the same three interviews line by line. After they reached agreement (Cohen's kappa > 0.90) on these interviews, they continued coding interviews independently and met periodically to reach consensus regarding difficult portions of a few interviews.

After coding was complete, the authors began weekly meetings to discuss relevant previous research and the emergent themes found in the interviews. We took this approach in an attempt to increase the validity of our interpretations. These meetings involved both (a) seeking confirming and disconfirming evidence for various career theories and (b) discussing the meaning of emergent, unexpected themes in the interviews.

To support our findings from the qualitative interviews, we also conducted descriptive analyses on the entire sample from which the interviewed participants were selected. These analyses used data from the most recent wave of survey data collection ( N = 574), obtained when participants were approximately 21 years old. To capitalize on the diversity in this sample, we divided the majority of the sample into four categories based on their gender and ethnicity (African American females, African American males, European American females, and European American males). We used ANOVAs and cross-tabulations with chi-square statistics to compare differences in participants' experiences with computers. We separate participants into subgroups not to assume racial or gender differences in IT experiences but as a way to identify potential reasons for the unequal demographic composition of the IT workforce.

For the purposes of clarity and brevity, we edited the quotes that are included in the following. Specifically, we deleted words unrelated to content, such as um or like . Occasionally, we deleted larger sections of the text in which participants changed their focus; these are identified by “…”. Additionally, we added information in brackets to clarify terms that are ambiguous in the quotes but are clearer in the context of the larger interview. Readers who would like to read full, unedited transcripts may request them from the authors.

Question 1: How Might Families Influence Emerging Adults' Career Paths, Specifically the Path Into IT Careers?

Given the importance of parental support, expectations, and involvement in their children's lives for their children's educational success and career development, we identified themes outlined by Jacobs and Eccles (2000) . During the interviews, participants were asked specifically about their parents' expectations for them and the messages they received from their parents about the IT field. In addition to these solicited accounts, participants often mentioned their parents when they spoke of experiences in their childhood or social supports that helped them to be successful. Names of participants who were coded into each thematic category are listed in Table 2 .

When describing some of their earliest memories involving computers and technology, 4 participants who entered an IT career and 1 who did not recalled their parents acting as role models. These memories included parents working or playing on computers, parents who worked in the IT field, and parents giving them guidance about how to use computers. For example, when recalling his father using computers, Eric said,

My dad is very big into computer technology and I always enjoyed the respect everyone showed him and he always liked showing me everything he did. He was very happy with what he did. I realized … not just the computer side of it, but just the fact that he loved what he did. I knew I had to find something that I loved to work [in/with] or I wouldn't enjoy working and I'd be miserable overall in life.

Having role models who use computers and convey interest or utility in doing so likely served as a message for these youth that they could and should do well with computers too. Furthermore, role models stimulate observational learning ( Bandura, 1986 ) that may spark similar behavior as the participants tried to imitate and repeat the actions they saw.

In addition, 7 individuals who eventually entered IT careers and 4 individuals who did not reported that their parents provided either resources or key opportunities that encouraged them to explore a potential IT career. Most of these resources involved having family-owned or personal computers during elementary school or “when I was young.” In fact, 1 woman who did not enter the IT field was enrolled in a basic computer course before she began kindergarten. Tangible resources continued to play a role later in their career development. Namely, 2 individuals who eventually entered an IT job mentioned that their parents helped them pay for college tuition, and Dan reported that his mother helped him get a scholarship to study computers in college. Also, 2 individuals who did not enter IT mentioned parental financial assistance as key to being able to attend college.

Jacobs and Eccles (2000) suggested that parents transmit their perceptions and expectations about careers to their children. In the interviews, this form of influence appeared to be related to activities during childhood and later consisted of receiving messages about a particular job or career field. Amy recalled that when she was young, her father tried to communicate this message:

My dad … loves computers. He loves to try, he loves to play with it, and he breaks it all the time. But he likes it anyway and he's not scared of breaking it. And I was always pleased with that attitude. He would say, “It's a computer. You can't break it. The worst you can do is make it not work, and then somebody will reboot it or we'll restart it or we'll wipe out the hard drive or something else, but then it would be fine again.” So it [this attitude] was always taught that no matter what I did … everything was gonna be fixable.

As Amy grew older, her father's comments were directed toward specific career possibilities rather than toward general activities. For instance, her father communicated his perceptions of the benefits of accepting a particular job offer,

My father also works for the federal government. So when I got this government job he was excited because he likes the benefits. He's always enjoyed his work and he knew that it would be a good secure job for me, as compared to some of the more lucrative positions in private industry.

Also, 7 participants mentioned similar messages about computers or careers from their parents. Most individuals who recalled encouragement from their parents did not report it with a level of detail similar to Amy's; we coded these individuals as having received general encouragement, or a positive socioemotional climate, rather than direct statements of support. In addition, 7 individuals who eventually entered an IT job indicated that they had received general encouragement from their parents; this is approximately the same rate of encouragement received by participants who had not entered IT careers. These comments were similar to Dan's when he said, “My parents have always been supportive,” and did not suggest that parents pushed their children into a particular career field or job.

In sum, parents were often mentioned as sources of support, encouragement, assistance, and even initial exposure to the world of computing and technology. Their influence as sources of access to computers appeared early in participants' lives, but nearly all parents continued to play prominent roles during adolescence and young adulthood. Often, parents helped their children into an IT career path by providing broad encouragement or by paying for college tuition as their children sought to obtain official credentials, but encouragement or financial support was not unique to participants who remained on an IT career path. Only a few participants did not mention their parents while describing their career path. Among the majority who did mention parents, their comments were primarily positive.

Since many individuals who entered an IT career mentioned having early access to computers, we thought this might be a source of differential socialization. In the earlier quantitative surveys conducted with the whole longitudinal sample at age 21, participants noted whether they had computers in their homes at various times in their lives. We performed cross-tabulations to examine early access to computers by ethnicity and gender; results are presented in Table 3 . Participants' recollection of having a computer in the home during their elementary school and middle school years differed significantly. Throughout these years European Americans were more likely than African Americans to have access to computers in their homes. By high school, only African American females were less likely than expected (by chance alone) to have access to computers in their homes. European American participants continued to be more likely than expected to have computers in their homes during their high school years. If access to a computer in the home is enough to start children on the path toward an IT career, these results suggest that the European American participants would be more likely to enter an IT career than African Americans participants. However, it is likely that access to computers during childhood is not enough by itself to evoke movement toward an IT career. Furthermore, if it were enough, then other circumstances in youth's lives would need to be implicated in the gendered composition of the IT workforce.

Note: Percentage refers to the percentage of individuals in each demographic category (i.e., African American females). Adj. resid refers to the adjusted standardized residuals.

Question 2: How Do Educational Experiences Influence Children's, Adolescents', and Emerging Adults' Progression Toward or Regression Away From an IT Career?

During the career interviews, participants were asked specifically about their memories of English classes, mathematics classes, and computer science or engineering classes during their entire educational history. From their responses, it was clear that their computer science and technology courses varied widely in content: Some participants were able to take advanced courses while in high school, whereas others only enrolled in very basic courses such as introduction to the Internet.

When describing their experiences in courses or in school, participants' comments revealed several distinct, but sometimes overlapping, themes. First, 6 individuals reported feeling capable in computer classes or while completing coursework. These comments took the form of describing their good grades or feeling that computer activities were easy for them; such reports reflect the benefits of high feelings of self-efficacy or competence that are theorized to be driving forces in career choices ( Eccles et al., 1983 ; Lent et al., 1994 ). Not surprisingly then, 4 of these 6 entered the IT field.

Of the participants, 2 individuals who did not enter IT, 1 who entered IT but left by the time of the interview, and 1 who was still in IT mentioned that challenging courses provided reinforcement of their career aspirations for the IT field. In contrast, 2 participants who entered IT and 2 who did not mentioned that their courses proved to be too difficult: They felt underprepared for the coursework or struggled to receive passing grades. For instance, when describing one of her college courses, Amy said,

I took introduction to programming because for a while I thought I might want to make that switch [into an IT major]. [The class was] Programming in C[++]. That was terrible … the projects built on each other … sometimes I'd be so far behind on a previous project that I couldn't even get to the second project because the second project goes from the first one.

Despite her experience in this class, Amy did try to enter a major that required intensive computer use but was unable to do so because the program was too selective. Instead, she majored in a math-intensive field and pursued a non–IT career after graduating from college. Other research has shown that students make internal comparisons about their performance in multiple domains ( Marsh & Hau, 2004 ) and likely prefer the content area in which they feel more capable ( Eccles et al., 1983 ). Struggles doing well in difficult classes made these 4 participants question whether persistence in the IT field was worth the effort, and 2 of them chose a career field other than IT.

One theme that was always mentioned in a positive way was having a class-related opportunity to solve problems and make computers work. Of the participants who described their classroom experiences this way, 4 were in IT jobs at the time of the interview, 1 had entered IT and left, and 2 were not in IT. These 7 participants expressed this theme in several ways, such as working hands-on with computers, diagnosing and resolving problems, and seeing one's efforts pay off in a functional manner. These comments all involved working through a problem (either a real problem or an assignment) and attempting to solve it; often participants reported appreciating feedback from the computer that the problem had indeed been solved. Comments about problem solving appeared in many areas of the interviews; only some of these instances involved talking about classes. Angela fondly recalled the problem solving in her early computer classes when she said the classes “were really fun. I mean, it was just learning about computer science and being able to get computers to do something.”

Of the participants, 6 seemed to have little or no exposure to computers before taking courses in middle school, high school, or after high school. In fact, 3 people described their first or only computer courses as being introductory, where they learned how to type or navigate the Internet. All of these individuals spoke of these basic courses in a positive way, but only 1 eventually entered an IT career.

For the students who did not have extensive previous exposure to computers, basic classes were useful and interesting. However, 4 other participants who were already experienced with computers felt that their courses were inadequate or outdated. For 3 participants (all of whom entered an IT job, though 1 left IT before the interview), coursework included using programming languages that were not relevant to their eventual jobs. The 4th participant who was dissatisfied with her courses, Melissa, could tell that she had not learned adequate skills to be competitive on the job market. Melissa attended a technical institute to focus on programming and network administration. After not learning as much as she felt she should have and “wasting thousands and thousands of dollars,” she was so disappointed with the IT field that she decided to switch career paths. At the time of the interview, she was pursuing a career in the medical field instead.

In addition to difficult courses and inadequate course content, some participants reported negative encounters with teachers. In the case of 1 individual who was in IT and 1 who had already left the IT field, instructors presented the material in boring, ineffectual ways. In addition, 2 participants who never pursued IT–related jobs felt that their instructors were underprepared to teach the course material.

In sum, educational experiences were often positive in that they provided sources of self-efficacy and interest and they taught valuable computing skills. The qualities that made computer classes and educational experiences beneficial included being challenging (but not too difficult) and being applied and taught in a way in which students could see their efforts pay off. Yet, educational experiences were frequently negative as well and appeared be behind the decision of some participants to not enter the IT field. This occurred when courses were too difficult and students fell behind in their coursework, when teachers were underprepared to teach the class, and when the course content seemed outdated or out of touch with the IT workplace. Thus, although classes are one way to develop children's and adolescents' aspirations for an IT career, the quality of classes and fit of the course to students' skill level must be high to best encourage youth to enter or remain on the path to an IT career.

Since the value of educational experiences and the self-assessments drawn from them varied widely across participants, courses are a likely source of differential socialization by gender or ethnicity. Again, we turned to the larger, longitudinal sample from which these participants were selected to examine whether particular groups of youth were more likely to have positive or negative educational experiences. To do so, we performed cross-tabulations and ANOVAs. We found no gender or ethnic differences in whether youth had taken an IT course, Pearson χ 2 (3) = .369, p = .95. Among those youth who had taken at least one course related to IT, there were no significant gender or ethnic differences in their level of comfort with classmates, F (3, 249) = 1.35, p = .26, or their level of comfort with professors in these courses, F (3, 248) = 1.41, p = .24. There were also no significant differences in their enjoyment of the courses, F (3, 389) = 2.58, p = .05, although there was a trend for African Americans to enjoy the classes more than European Americans. Therefore, although many youth reported negative experiences in their IT–related classes, these experiences did not appear to be systematically related to gender or ethnicity.

Question 3: What Other Formative Experiences Do Emerging Adults Mention When They Recall Their Career Paths?

Other important people.

Although participants did not mention people outside their families and schools as often as they mentioned their parents, a few participants did recall peers, counselors, relatives, and other adults as sources of formative experiences or assistance. For instance, before Dan entered an IT career, he became interested in computers after borrowing a programming book from his friend. Also, 2 participants who eventually entered IT were told by respected adults (a school counselor and a professional in the private sector) that they should enter a computer- or technology-related career. Furthermore, 1 future IT employee was allowed to format the hard drive of a family friend's computer. In addition to these key opportunities, family friends and others often expressed support and encouragement that was similar to the kind provided by parents.

Although networking is not always discussed in the career development literature (though see Lin, 1999 , and Try, 2005 , for a social capital perspective), it was discussed by a number of participants, including those who were in and who were not in IT careers. For instance, Adam and Michael obtained IT jobs at the same company as a friend. Ben was given his first IT job by his uncle and remained in the IT field ever since. Thus, although other individuals were not often involved in participants' career development, they certainly played important roles when they were involved.

To tap into experiences that occur outside of a traditional school setting, participants were asked if they were involved in activities that reinforced their interests or in which they developed new skills or interests. Many participants mentioned something in response to this question, but not all of these responses were related to computers or technology. Of the 5 individuals who were involved in an IT–related activity outside of school or work, all eventually entered an IT career. In addition, 1 person mentioned that his first exposure to computers occurred in a computer programming club in which he was enrolled during primary school. Another individual was involved in a summer camp in which he programmed and controlled robots with a computer. Also, 2 individuals mentioned video games as a source of exposure or continued involvement in technology, and 1 also played with remote controlled cars and made alterations to them with his friends.

Edward participated in an extracurricular club involving electronic music and hosting social events for other students. When describing why he enjoyed electronic music he related the creation of music to the creation of screen savers, which was the activity that drove his early interest in computers. He said, “Sound is another pattern just like screen savers. There is light and sound and audio and it really has the same love for me.” Although electronic music is not often discussed as being related to information technology, several individuals said that they were interested in the creation or production of music. These individuals viewed music production as a creative outlet with which they could utilize their skills in computer technology.

Finally, 7 people, 6 of whom entered IT, mentioned early summer jobs or internships that used or developed their computer skills. In addition, 2 people taught schoolchildren basic information about computers and enjoyed both figuring out how to make computers interesting to others and having the opportunity to teach young children. Others learned new skills, such as graphic arts or how to install a computer network. Overall, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs served to expand the set of possible careers that participants considered and help individuals weigh various career options.

Workplace experiences

Once youth enter career-track jobs, their experiences in the workplace can either solidify their commitment to the field or convince them to pursue an alternative occupation. To understand the situation of the IT job market, we focus here on the negative workplace experiences in IT jobs. Of the 10 participants who were employed in IT at the time of the interview, 7 reported negative workplace experiences, as did both of the women who left the IT field before the interviews were conducted. In addition, 3 participants who at one time had a job in the IT field mentioned negative experiences with coworkers. Crystal found that her colleagues were too competitive; the other 2 participants were frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm or technical knowledge held by their coworkers. Edward was considering leaving his job (but staying in the IT field), partially because of his experiences with coworkers. In reference to his company and workplace experiences, he said,

Their technical department is absolutely horrid. There's not a single person in there who does the computer trade with enthusiasm because they like it. It's all [just] a job to everybody … I've been inherently struck that the only people I want to work with are those that love to do it [their job/work with computers].

Beyond negative experiences with coworkers, 5 participants had difficulties with their supervisors in IT jobs. At times, supervisors were unsupportive of participants' growth and performance or were too rigid in the way they managed their employees. Although these experiences were not uncommon, no participants suggested that problems with supervisors led them to seek new jobs or careers. There were also several individuals who mentioned positive experiences with their supervisors. Generally, experiences with supervisors in IT jobs did not appear to be systematically different from experiences with supervisors in non–IT fields.

The third kind of complaint about IT jobs was a negative working environment. For participants who worked in a negative environment, their jobs did not allow them to express their personalities or feel comfortable with their social identities. For instance, 1 woman felt as though she couldn't be as “goofy” or lighthearted as she would like to be when she was employed in an IT job. Another man wanted more opportunity to be creative in his tasks at work. Both women who left the IT field reported sexism in their workplaces; in addition, 1 experienced racism and 1 encountered ageism. As an example, when asked whether she enjoyed her previous job in IT, Rachel replied,

Well, there wasn't a lot of gratification in the computer programming thing [job] because it was so natural to me that a lot of people felt I was arrogant. And I wound up getting fired because there were a lot of older people in the company and they didn't like some young woman with no college degree knowing more then they did.

Unfortunately, ageism and racism also appeared in interviews with non–IT professionals, but sexism only appeared in relation to male-dominated careers such as law enforcement. Although only two occurrences of sexism were reported in relation to IT careers, it is important to remember that we interviewed few women who were ever in an IT career (see Table 1 ). Thus, although we found little evidence for racism and sexism in the IT field, we found enough evidence that it may present a significant hindrance for women and minorities who are employed in IT jobs. In fact, when asked why women are underrepresented in IT, 10 of the 26 participants mentioned that male-oriented classes or career fields (including the IT field) can be intimidating to women or can maintain biased hiring and promotion decisions. In the minds of many participants, women may choose careers in which they will be less likely to encounter sexism or barriers due to their gender.

This study sought to examine theorized external influences on individual career development in the context of a specific career field in which both women and members of some minority groups are underrepresented. We considered the supportive and obstructive factors associated with entering and staying in an IT job in an attempt to determine how social supports and contexts continue to influence emerging adults as they enter their career tracks. We found clear evidence that these external influences exist in childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, even though most participants had career aspirations or had made career-related choices by early adulthood, the influence of parents, peers, and others remained salient in their career pathways.

Most of the social influences found across interviews appeared to change in developmentally appropriate ways as participants entered full-time jobs. For instance, parents' messages during childhood centered on general activities; as their children entered adulthood, parents spoke of their expectations and perceptions of specific jobs. Experiences provided by others also changed, from the opportunity to play with computers casually to the opportunity to interview at a particular company. These changes indicated that emerging adults' parents, peers, and significant others do not become less influential in the process of career development. Rather, they continue to play similar roles while adapting their communication and assistance to emerging adults' new circumstances ( Arnett, 2004 ; Whiston & Keller, 2004 ).

When possible, emerging adults seek jobs and careers that provide self-fulfillment and expression of their identity, often engaging in exploration of such careers through several jobs in a short period of time ( Arnett, 2004 ; Hamilton & Hamilton, 2006 ). Therefore, it is not surprising that several of the participants in this study had already held multiple jobs in different fields. Experiences in the workplace allowed participants to continue exploring themselves and career fields in meaningful ways, leading to greater satisfaction with career choices ( Blustein, Phillips, Jobin-Davis, Finkelberg, & Roake, 1997 ).

Although workforce experiences were very useful for the career development process, such experiences also appeared to be the one most likely related to underrepresentation of women in IT occupations. On the one hand, actual discrimination may be a cost that leads women and minorities, like Rachel and Crystal, away from IT jobs. On the other hand, anticipated discrimination may have an even larger impact on individuals' career trajectories ( Gottfredson & Becker, 1981 ). Many individuals discussed the difficulty of choosing a male-oriented career field or the potential for discriminatory hiring and promotion practices in such fields. Workplace barriers and difficulties, either anticipated or actually experienced, are incorporated into emerging adults' career plans and may play a subtle yet powerful role in women's and minorities' career choices.

Career development involves many choices throughout the life span. Unlike some occupations, entry into an IT career path appears to begin quite early, often with direct manipulation of computers and problem solving. Activities, educational experiences, and encouragement from one's social network can persuade individuals to remain on the IT path or in some cases to select another path that is more valued or in which one has more confidence. The study of retrospective accounts of career paths confirms and highlights important contextual aspects of developmental theories. As such, future research in career development might examine occupational changes made by adults and how these are related to life span development.

Children born in recent years are more likely to have computers both at home and at school than were the participants in this study ( Bae, Choy, Geddes, Sable, & Snyder, 2000 ; Parsad & Jones, 2005 ). However, increased access to computers does not mean that children are engaging with computers in a meaningful way. Rather, children and adolescents often engage in “soft” computing activities ( DeBell & Chapman, 2004 ). They work with user-friendly, preprogrammed software, browse the Internet, and communicate with friends. Although many of the participants in this study (both in the qualitative sample and the larger sample from which it was drawn) had access to computers in their homes or schools during childhood, being exposed to computers was not enough to develop interest in entering a computer-related career. Thus, children who have access to computers may not be engaging with them in ways that will promote the skills needed by the future IT workforce or attract them to computer programming, engineering, or maintenance. Interest in computers and the IT field develops through processes similar to those of other occupational interests. Therefore, engaging educational programs, summer camps, and other opportunities are needed if the IT field seeks a large, diverse workforce in the future.

Acknowledgments

Authors' Note: This research is supported in part by NSF grant EIA 0089972 on Women and Minorities in IT awarded to Jacquelynne S. Eccles and Pamela Davis-Kean and by a grant from the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan to Pamela Davis-Kean. The original data collection was supported by funding from the MacArthur Research Network on Successful Adolescent Development in High Risk Settings and by NICHD Grant R01 No. 033437. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Ariel Sankar-Bergmann, Rebbeca Tesfai, Cynthia Winston and graduate students at Howard University, and Nicole Zarrett.

Biographies

Emily Messersmith received her PhD in education and psychology from the University of Michigan and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Developmental Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She studies the development of adolescents' and emerging adults' plans, goals, and choices, especially those regarding education and work.

Jessica Garrett received her PhD in educational psychology at the University of Michigan in 2007. Her research focuses on the development of motivation for decision making over the life span with a focus on understanding how contextual factors influence individuals' decisions and how individuals coordinate decisions in multiple life domains in the transition to adulthood.

Pamela Davis-Kean received her PhD in social/developmental psychology at Vanderbilt University in 1996. Her research focuses on the development of self-esteem over the life span; the impact of parental education attainment on children; the role that families, schools, and significant figures play in the development of children; and why gender plays a role in IT occupations. Davis-Kean also has expertise in methodology and statistics primarily focusing on psychometric properties of questionnaires.

Oksana Malanchuk serves as the administrator on the Maryland Adolescent Development In Context Study (MADICS). She received her BA (psychology) and PhD (social psychology) degrees from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the study of social and personal identity development, specifically gender, ethnic, political, and occupational identity, as well as the development of self-esteem.

Jacquelynne Eccles is the Wilbert McKeachie Collegiate Professor of Psychology, Women's Studies and Education, as well as a research scientist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Over the past 30 years, she has conducted research on a wide variety of topics including gender-role socialization, teacher expectancies, classroom influences on student motivation, and social development in the family and school context. Much of this work has focused on the adolescent periods of life when health-compromising behaviors such as smoking dramatically increase.

Contributor Information

Emily E. Messersmith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jessica L. Garrett, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Pamela E. Davis-Kean, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Oksana Malanchuk, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Jacquelynne S. Eccles, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

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Effects of career development learning on students’ perceived employability: a longitudinal study

• Published: 27 September 2022
• Volume 86 , pages 297–315, ( 2023 )

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• Thuy Thi Hai Ho   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1729-8961 1 ,
• Van Hong Le   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8688-7797 1 ,
• Duong Tuan Nguyen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5918-9851 2 ,
• Chi Thi Phuong Nguyen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2139-3731 3 &
• Ha Thi Thu Nguyen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4847-3072 4  

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This study investigates the relationship between career development learning (CDL) and students’ perceived employability (SPE) with the mediating role of human capital. Using a quantitative method based on structured questionnaires to collect data from 512 Vietnamese students before starting their internship at businesses and 322 of them after 4 months, the results of the partial least square Structural Equational Model analysis showed that CDL positively affects SPE over time. Besides, the study explored the mediating effect of human capital in the relationship between CDL and SPE. In particular, scholastic capital and cultural capital play mediating roles while social capital failed to be in the relationship between CDL and SPE. This study is expected to enrich current literature on students’ employability and human capital theory. From practical aspects, the findings of this work can be of benefit to higher education institutions in supporting their students to enhance their employability in labour market.

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Introduction 

Employability has received substantial attention from different stakeholders, including both higher education (HE) institutions and students (Cheng et al., 2022 ), as HE plays an important role in equipping students to find suitable jobs, and students realize the increasing competitiveness of the job market (Byrne, 2022 ), which is severely affected by turbulent situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. To enhance students’ employability, a better fit between HE and workplaces must be ensured because unemployment often results from a mismatch between graduates’ qualities and those demanded by employers (Bennett et al., 2016 ).

Previous research on employability has acknowledged the importance of holistic approaches to this topic, specifically approaches that take into account a combination of resources beyond a skill-centric focus (Cole & Donald, 2022 ), including factors such as personal characteristics, academic achievements and graduate skills (Byrne, 2022 ). Among various such approaches, a focus on capital — such as human capital (Schultz, 1961 ) — has been widely adopted to understand the resources that are necessary to promote graduates’ career readiness (Wallis, 2021 ). Human capital theory implies that education is a form of individual investment aimed at obtaining explicit returns regarding the individual’s career path, with the purpose of ensuring that individuals, by investing in their education, develop their human capital to increase their competitiveness in the labour market (Cai, 2013 ; Nimmi et al., 2021 ). The literature on human capital in the context of employment has often considered the consequences of this factor, such as employability (Caballero et al., 2021 ; Donald et al., 2019 ) and career success (Frederiksen & Kato, 2018 ), but has appeared to give only limited attention to the means by which human capital is developed (Islam & Amin, 2022 ). This study proposes that career development learning (CDL) is an antecedent of students’ investment in their human capital and, accordingly, positively influences their employability.

Career development learning (CDL), which focuses on the design of education and practice to help students acquire the qualifications that are necessary for their future careers (Watts, 2006 ), serves as a possible way of reducing the mismatch between HE and the workplace in terms of students’ employability (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ; Healy et al., 2022 ). Despite several discussions of CDL and the employability of graduates (Römgens et al., 2020 ), there remains a lack of interdisciplinary exchange between career development and graduate employability (Healy et al., 2022 ). Although previous empirical studies have acknowledged the importance of career development competence (e.g., Bridgstock, 2011 ; Jackson & Wilton, 2017 ) as well as that of career planning skills and proactivity (e.g., Jackson & Tomlinson, 2020 ) for students’ success, studies using quantitative methods (e.g., Jackson & Tomlinson, 2020 ; Jackson & Wilton, 2017 ) have highlighted the limitations of the cross-sectional approach, which cannot explain causal relationships.

To address this research gap, this study adopted a longitudinal quantitative approach to investigate data collected by questionnaires distributed over two waves to examine an integrated model that explains the ways in which CDL affects students’ perceived employability. This study confirms the relationship between CDL and perceived employability and explains the mechanism by which CDL influences perceived employability via the comprehensive development of human capital. It also confirms the goal of CDL, which ranges beyond the task of facilitating employability to emphasize an individual’s growth and lifelong learning (McIlveen et al., 2011 ). In addition, this study aims to overcome the limitations of previous cross-sectional studies with respect to investigating the causal relationships that have important implications for different groups of stakeholders in the context of HE.

Literature review

Students’ perceived employability.

Perceived employability is defined as ‘the individual’s perception of his or her possibilities of obtaining and maintaining employment’ (Vanhercke et al., 2014 , p. 539). While Vanhercke et al. ( 2014 ) emphasized the possibility of maintaining current employment, this study focuses on the possibility of becoming employed in the future. We conceptualize perceived employability as referring to students’ beliefs regarding their likelihood of success in the labour market (Pitan & Muller, 2020 ). When students are on the verge of entering the workforce officially for the first time, they must define their desired jobs as well as the competencies required for these jobs to maximize their employability (Rothwell et al., 2008 ). This task requires students to undergo a process of internal evaluation with regard to both personal attributes and environmental factors. While environmental factors cannot be controlled by HE institutions, students’ personal competencies can be enhanced via the teaching and learning offered by universities (Holmes, 2013 ; Tomlinson, 2017 ). HE institutions must therefore take the initiative to strengthen students’ personal capital and CDL, with a view to improving students’ perceived employability (SPE).

• Career development learning

The term ‘career management’ was used in the 1980s to describe the policies and practices used by large business organizations to develop the careers of middle and senior managers (Watts, 2006 ), before being widely used to refer to career self-management (King, 2004 ). A vital aspect of career development is learning that can be administered by educational institutions (Donald et al., 2021 ). Universities have begun to focus on strategies that adjust the curriculum framework to promote CDL among their students (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ) because CDL may increase students’ awareness of employability and allow them to optimize their employability (Smith et al., 2009 ). CDL involves informing, guiding and assisting students to evaluate the labour market and their desired careers critically while developing the knowledge and skills that are necessary (McMahon et al., 2003 ; Smith et al., 2009 ) to manage their careers in a competitive and constantly changing labour market (Karmel & Carroll, 2016 ).

• Human capital

The notion of human capital — as developed by Schultz ( 1961 ) and elaborated by Becker ( 1964 ) — can be considered to refer to the sum total of resources that an individual accumulates in various ways to secure future monetary and nonmonetary returns (Nimmi et al., 2021 ). This notion assumes that people invest in themselves to enhance their value, hence developing their employment prospects (Cai, 2013 ) and improving their position in the labour market (Shivoro et al., 2019 ). Useem and Karabel ( 1986 ) proposed that an educational institution could provide three distinct types of human capital to its students — namely, scholastic capital (educational attainment), social capital (personal contacts and network ties) and cultural capital (the capacity to decode valued symbolic meanings and objects). These three types of capital highlight the value of a university education with respect to enhancing employability via the perceived value of educational credentials, including knowledge and skills, relationships and culture. They are, therefore, elements that constitute human capital (Baruch et al., 2005 ; Donald et al., 2019 ).

Hypothesis development

Career development learning and students’ perceived employability.

The extant literature has indicated that students’ perceived employability increases over their years of university study, corresponding to their accumulation and continual improvement of their confidence, experience and self-esteem, which are achieved through personal development supported by their university’s CDL initiatives (Donald et al., 2018 ). According to Watts ( 2006 ), CDL addresses the critical issues of directionality and sustainability in the context of students’ personal development. Concerning the first aspect, CDL creates favourable conditions for students by engaging them in work-integrated learning (McIlveen et al., 2011 ) and by supporting them in the task of discovering whether their strengths and capacities match their employment expectations. Moreover, cooperation between universities and employers with respect to CDL implementation, such as via internships, industry project units, career fairs, career talks, building networks and job application support, improves students’ understanding of the labour market and their confidence regarding their future employment (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ). With respect to the second aspect, CDL helps individuals accumulate skills and knowledge throughout their course of study (McMahon et al., 2003 ; Smith et al., 2009 ) and guides them by way of a self-assessment of their accumulated knowledge and skills in relation to their future career development (McIlveen et al., 2011 ).

Previous studies have demonstrated students’ awareness of the relevance of CDL to their employability (e.g., Donald et al., 2019 ). Students perceive that CDL provides them with career advice from lecturers, recruiters, alumni and career services, which is helpful in improving their employability (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ). However, students also highlight the ineffectiveness of some provisions due to a lack of sufficient engagement or specific, personalized advice, thereby requiring universities to develop appropriate ways of overcoming these issues. Donald et al. ( 2021 ) confirmed the role of the university in the task of preparing students to embark on the university-to-work transition in the context of a competitive labour market, especially in uncertain times such as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on this discussion, we propose the following hypothesis:

H1: Career development learning positively affects students’ perceived employability.

Human capital and students’ perceived employability

Scholastic capital.

According to Useem and Karabel ( 1986 ), scholastic capital refers to educational attainment and has a positive impact on the individual’s career outcomes. This term indicates the amount of knowledge that an individual acquires and the implied importance of education for students’ preparation for their future careers (Baruch et al., 2005 ). Knowledge obtained in the context of HE encompasses not only the specific knowledge conveyed by a study programme, which indicates ‘what I know’ (Luthans et al., 2004 ), but also the skills obtained from training at the university, indicating ‘what I can do’ to perform a job well (Caballero et al., 2021 ). Knowledge, which is expressed through academic performance, is often considered by employers to be an important indicator for evaluating a potential graduate (Tomlinson et al., 2021 ). This indicator is particularly helpful when the candidate has limited work experience (Kasler et al., 2017 ). Additionally, skills are important capabilities on which recruiters rely when evaluating a candidate; hence, fresh graduates with better skills are more competitive in the labour market than their counterparts (Finch et al., 2013 ; Mahajan et al., 2022 ). Particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, different skillsets, such as digital competencies, communication skills, management skills and teamwork skills, are perceived as necessary by both employers and students (Mahajan et al., 2022 ).

Although Caballero et al. ( 2021 ) could not find any relationship between knowledge and SPE, they did find that graduates perceive a positive effect of skills on their employability. Moreover, other previous studies (e.g., Donald et al., 2019 , Baruch at el., 2005) have argued that scholastic capital is an important indicator of SPE. Thus, this study proposes that the more scholastic competencies students possess, the more confident they are regarding their employability. We thus posit the following:

H2a: Scholastic capital positively affects students’ perceived employability.

Social capital

Social capital refers to the total number of relationships that an individual has, encompassing networks of contacts, family members and friends as well as memberships or affiliations and occupational social networks (Donald et al., 2019 ). These connections, including mentors or advisors, offer jobseekers job-related information, guidance and support (Zamudio et al., 2014 ). Social relationships can also influence recruiters by providing positive recommendations that can be decisive in selection situations (Stiff & Vugt, 2008 ) or conveying resources that range beyond a job seeker’s skills, abilities and knowledge (Lin, 2002 ). The positive effects of personal relationships and social networks on SPE have been identified in previous studies (Caballero et al., 2021 ; Tomlinson et al., 2021 ). Therefore, we hypothesize the following:

H2b: Social capital positively affects students’ perceived employability.

Cultural capital

Cultural capital, a notion originating in Bourdieu’s (1977) cultural reproduction theory, pertains to knowledge of the dominant conceptual and normative codes inscribed in a culture (Jæger, 2011 ) and has the ability to ‘facilitate or hinder social mobility’. For students who are new to the labour market, cultural capital can be addressed via participation in extracurricular activities, cultural activities and hobbies (Donald et al., 2019 ; Jæger, 2011 ). DiMaggio ( 1982 ) argued that students who exhibit higher levels of cultural capital or a high level of involvement in elite status cultures receive more attention and support from and are better rewarded by teachers than other students. In the context of HE, an individual who obtains a high level of cultural capital might receive more attention from employers. Previous studies have demonstrated that cultural capital promotes educational success (Jæger, 2011 ) and employability (Donald et al., 2019 ). Therefore, we posit the following:

H2c: Cultural capital positively affects students’ perceived employability.

Career development learning and human capital

CDL is believed to constitute an important part of both the social and economic quest for human capital by facilitating further human capital development via the formal education system. If education is a form of investment aimed at the development of human capital, CDL provides advice regarding investment options. Watts and Sultana ( 2004 ) argued that CDL acts as Adam Smith’s famous ‘invisible hand of the market’ that helps an individual make educational decisions wisely and invest in their human capital effectively. By offering career advice activities, opportunities to communicate with alumni and employers and courses on career skills, students can acquire an overview of the labour market and a sense of their own identity (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ; McIlveen et al., 2011 ). Consequently, they can prepare action plans strategically to obtain the knowledge and skills required by prospective employers, especially when in the context of resource constraints and periods of change. Moreover, Lee ( 2014 ) found that student engagement in learning affects academic performance, while Folsom et al. ( 2005 ) indicated that the positive impact of career planning courses and career development leads to higher levels of academic performance. Therefore, we posit the following:

H3a: Career development learning positively affects students’ scholastic capital.

University initiatives that link current students with industry professionals via mentoring schemes, networking events featuring alumni, competitions including challenges from businesses, career fairs and internships can help students broaden their relationships and network, thereby enhancing their social capital (Gilani, 2020 ). In particular, activities that offer students the opportunity to participate in real work and cooperate with other individuals can lead to sustainable interactions and trusting relationships, which in turn strengthen students’ social capital (Janasz & Forret, 2008 ). Moreover, CDL can support students in developing their networking skills not only with respect to career development topics but also by providing networking experiences with industry professionals. Through networking behaviours, students establish relationships to form their networks, becoming embedded in larger social networks (Batistic & Tymon, 2017 ). Networking behaviours also improve students’ social capital by affecting the scale of their social network, the strength of their relationships, the pattern of their relationships and the benefits of their social networks (Forret, 2006 ). Thus, we hypothesize the following:

H3b: Career development learning positively affects students’ social capital.

Human capital can erode due to changes in the world, which can have a negatively impact on the usefulness of prior learning (Hooley, 2021 ). In such a situation, education and lifelong learning become wise strategies for sustaining career growth (Healy et al., 2022 ). With regard to cultural capital, Bourdieu and Richardson ( 1986 ) considered educational institutions to be sites of cultural reproduction that promote students’ cultural capital, in turn facilitating their mobility. Universities, therefore, are increasingly diversifying their CDL activities. HE offers both academic and nonacademic activities in which students can participate. While academic activities develop students’ scholastic capital, nonacademic activities that are considered to be forms of informal learning (Marsick & Watkins, 1997 ) — such as extracurricular activities in major student clubs, leisure clubs, competitions and volunteering — are believed to improve students’ cultural capital. Moreover, researchers have confirmed the significance of informal learning for the acquisition of cultural capital (Lulle et al., 2021 ). Thus, we posit the following:

H3c: Career development learning positively affects students’ cultural capital.

Human capital mediates the relationship between career development learning and students’ perceived employability

One assumption is that CDL may affect employability via its influence on human capital. Students who engage in CDL activities as a way of investing in their human capital can increase their employment confidence accordingly (Donald et al., 2018 ). Bridgstock et al. ( 2019 ) proposed that CDL, when integrated with HE curricula, could benefit students’ employability, as it supports the progressive formation of identity and the development of a set of meta-level capabilities. Furthermore, human capital can erode due to changes in the world, thereby having a negatively impact on the usefulness of prior learning (Hooley, 2021 ). In such a situation, education and lifelong learning become wisdom strategies for sustaining career growth (Healy et al., 2022 ).

CDL plays an important advisory and educational role for students. In advisory terms, career guidance or mentorship programmes help students clarify their career directions (Smith et al., 2009 ) by enhancing their understanding of their possible career trajectories (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ), thereby influencing their learning objectives, career decisions and plans and highlighting the resources that are required to implement those plans (McIlveen et al., 2011 ). The establishment of career objectives can help students develop their human capital via the acquisition of greater education and experience (Direnzo et al., 2015 ). Hence, they are likely to obtain greater scholastic capital, which might be advantageous in the employment market. Thus, we posit that the following:

H4a: Students’ scholastic capital mediates the relationship between career development learning and students’ perceived employability.

Similarly, students who accumulate greater CDL tend to apply greater effort to the tasks of broadening their social networks and managing their relationships for employment purposes. Mentoring and alumni relationships developed through networking events, career days, thematic panels and career counselling are perceived to be beneficial for students’ career prospects (Banović, 2022 ). In educational terms, CDL aims to improve students’ employability in a sustainable manner by providing them with the knowledge and skills that are necessary in the workplace. For example, students can take advantage of the opportunity to practice networking when participating in project-based learning, university and industry educational collaborations and alumni connections. By establishing and maintaining contacts that might provide relevant resources, students can enhance their employability (Batistic & Tymon, 2017 ). Direnzo et al. ( 2015 ) found evidence that career planning can lead to higher employability by fostering social capital. Therefore, we propose that CDL influences SPE by providing students with the means of developing their social capital.

H4b: Students’ social capital mediates the relationship between career development learning and students’ perceived employability.

McIlveen et al. ( 2011 ) argued that CDL acts as a mirror for reflection, given that learners use CDL to reflect on themselves. The importance of self-reflection for employability has been emphasized in the extant literature, such as by the DOTS model of career development (Watts, 2006 ) and the CareerEdge model of graduate employability (Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007 ). The model of cultural mobility presented by DiMaggio ( 1982 ) suggested that individuals who view themselves as having a lower socioeconomic status than others have an extra incentive to invest in their cultural capital to offset their comparative disadvantages in other domains. CDL is thus believed to increase students’ confidence in their future careers by motivating them to improve their cultural capital. We therefore hypothesize the following:

H4c: Students’ cultural capital mediates the relationship between career development learning and students’ perceived employability.

The conceptual research framework is shown in Fig.  1 .

The conceptual research framework

Procedure and participants

A questionnaire was originally developed in English based on previous relevant studies. Subsequently, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese using a back-translation process with the support of two university lecturers to assure the content validity of the measurement scales, as recommended by Bracken and Barona ( 1991 ). A pretest was conducted with the participation of 15 students. The official survey was administered via the platform Survey Monkey and distributed online to all target participants over two waves. Target participants were senior students, who represent potential and suitable objects to investigate the topic of employability. Namely, senior students, who are usually in their last year of a bachelor’s programme or have accumulated between 90 and 120 credits throughout their whole course of study (MOET, 2007 ), are on the verge of participating in the labour market. We delivered questionnaires via email to all senior students at a university in Vietnam (after obtaining the agreement of the university’s board of management). As the student’s official email was generated by combining the student’s ID with the university’s domain, the authors were able to download the list of all students’ emails from the website to determine the total population and send the appropriate number of emails. We ensured that the purpose of the research was well explained to all target respondents at the beginning of the questionnaire.

The first wave of the survey (August 2021) was conducted before students started their compulsory internships at businesses, and the second wave (December 2021) was conducted after their internships. Each survey period lasted for 4 weeks. During the first wave, we obtained 512 responses from 970 target respondents (for a response rate of 52.7%). Based on the respondents’ emails used during the first wave, we sent the questionnaire in the second wave. Ultimately, 322 respondents completed the survey, and valid responses were collected (62.8%). The response rate of the second wave exhibited a slight increase thanks to the repetition of some questions in the second phase, which might have caused students to be more familiar with the survey.

In this study, all measurements were adopted from previous relevant studies and scored on a five-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 — strongly disagree to 5 — strongly agree). SPE was measured using six items adopted from Pitan and Muller ( 2020 ). Sample items included ‘I feel confident that I will be able to find appropriate work after leaving the university’ and ‘I am generally confident of success in job interviews’. Cronbach’s alpha value for this variable was 0.916.

CDL was measured using five items developed by Dacre Pool et al. ( 2014 ). In the first wave of the survey, the students rated their assessment of statements regarding the outcomes of CDL. Sample items included ‘I know what I want to do when I finish my degree’. Cronbach’s alpha value for this concept was 0.840.

The measurement of students’ human capital was mainly based on the framework developed by Baruch et al. ( 2005 ), which covers three kinds of capital that educational institutions may provide to students: scholastic capital, social capital and cultural capital (Useem & Karabel, 1986 ). Specifically, scholastic capital was measured using eight items developed by Baruch et al. ( 2005 ) and Jackson and Chapman ( 2012 ) and subsequently adapted by Jackson ( 2013 ). Examples items include ‘My degree course has improved my teamwork skills’ and ‘Knowledge from my degree course will help me in securing graduate employment’. Social capital was measured using 6 items developed by Baruch et al. ( 2005 ) and Steinfield et al. ( 2008 ). Sample items included ‘I expect to secure graduate employment based on my network of contacts’. Cultural capital was measured using 5 items adopted from Jæger ( 2011 ), which measure the cultural capital of students regarding their extracurricular activities or encouragement to participate in hobbies offered by the university. Cronbach’s alpha values were 0.866, 0.837 and 0.769 for scholastic capital, social capital and cultural capital, respectively.

Control variables included student age, gender, part-time experience, internship experience, language proficiency and extracurricular participation. These factors have been indicated to be associated with SPE. Students’ ages were provided by respondents in numerical form. Gender is a binary variable (0 is male 1 is female). Part-time experience, internship experience and extracurricular participation were measured by asking yes/no questions. Language proficiency was assessed in terms of six levels in accordance with the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) standard, which is categorized in terms of six levels.

Data analysis

The partial least square-structural modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to test the research model over two stages of assessment using SmartPLS 3.0 software (Hair et al., 2019 ). In the first stage, the measurement model was tested to demonstrate satisfactory reliability and validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981 ; Hair et al., 2019 ). In the second stage, structural model assessment and hypothesis testing were performed using PLS-SEM, which facilitates simultaneous analysis of multiple relationships, using the bootstrapping technique with 5000 resamples (Hair et al., 2017 ).

Descriptive analysis

Table 1 displays the statistics for each construct as well as their correlations. Among respondents, females accounted for 74.2% of responses, while males accounted for 25.8%. Although female students constituted most of the sample, this proportion is representative of the population of an economics university in Vietnam. The percentage of female students in schools emphasizing socioeconomics consistently ranges from 75 to 80% (Moet, 2020 ). The average age of the sample was 20.922, which precisely reflects the student population targeted by the survey. Students with part-time employment experience accounted for 79.8% of respondents, while those with internships accounted for 34.0%, and those who participated in extracurricular activities accounted for 34.0%. Concerning English proficiency, 24.0% of respondents rated themselves at the level of upper advanced or proficient, 41.3% at the intermediate level and 38.8% at below the intermediate level.

Common method bias and multicollinearity

In this study, a longitudinal research design was used to collect data to mitigate the possibility of common method variance (CMV). We ensured the robustness of the freedom of CMV and collinearity via the demonstration of inner VIF values and by employing Harman’s one-factor test and conducting EFA analysis (Kock, 2015 ). All constructs had an inner VIF value lower than 2.0, and the observed eigenvalues of six factors were 2.379 (i.e., larger than 1.0). The cumulative variance of four factors was 59.478%; that is, more than one factor was identified, with no single factor explaining the majority of the variance. It can thus be concluded that this study was not threatened by CMV.

Multicollinearity refers to highly correlated associations among measurement items included in a model (Hair Jr et al., 2017). It is crucial to confirm the freedom of multicollinearity before testing the hypotheses in the research model (Hair et al., 2019 ). The VIF value of single items is assessed by reference to the critical value of 3.33 (Kock, 2015 ). In this study, the VIF values for all factors were smaller than 2.0, thus satisfying the requirements associated with multicollinearity issues.

Measurement model assessment

Table 2 indicates all values that demonstrate the adequacy of the measurement model assessment. All Cronbach’s alpha values exceeded 0.70 (ranging from 0.769 for cultural capital to 0.916 for SPE), and all CR values exceeded 0.5 (ranging from 0.852 for cultural capital to 0.935 for SPE). Therefore, the convergent validity of the research constructs was ensured (Hair et al., 2019 ). In addition, the AVE was larger than 0.5, ranging from 0.517 for scholastic capital to 0.705 for SPE. The Fornell-Larcker criterion was also satisfied due to the indication of a diagnosis value larger than the correlation values among constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981 ).

Structural model assessment

The results of the model fit assessment indicated that the criterion for model fit were satisfied since the chi-square value was 1120.952 at p  < 0.05, and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) was 0.07 (i.e., smaller than 0.08) (Hair Jr et al., 2017). The value of R 2 for SPE was 0.503, indicating a moderate value. Accordingly, the prediction of SPE in this model was relatively substantial. The R 2 values of scholastic capital, social capital and cultural capital were 0.122, 0.106 and 0.111, respectively. In this study, f 2 effect sizes were relatively small, and \({Q}^{2}\) values were all greater than zero. Thus, the PLS path model has predictive relevance with respect to the construct under study (Hair et al., 2019 ). Table 3 presents the results of structural model testing.

Hypothesis 1 posited that CDL positively affects SPE. The results show that this relationship was significant at β  = 0.234 ( t  = 4.435, p  < 0.001). Thus, Hypothesis 1 was significantly supported.

Hypotheses 2a, 2b and 2c predicted positive associations between human capital and SPE. While SPE was significantly affected by scholastic capital ( β  = 0.266, t  = 4.036, p  < 0.001) and cultural capital ( β  = 0.249, t  = 3.788, p  < 0.001), SPE was only marginally associated with social capital ( β  = 0.117, t  = 1.929, p  < 0.054). Thus, the results significantly supported Hypotheses 2b and 2c and marginally supported Hypothesis 2b.

Hypotheses 3a, 3b and 3b examined the impacts of CDL on the scholastic capital, social capital and cultural capital of students. The results indicated significant impacts of CDL on scholastic capital ( β  = 0.350, t  = 5.791, p  < 0.001), social capital ( β  = 0.326, t  = 4.582, p  < 0.001) and cultural capital ( β  = 0.334, t  = 4.731, p  < 0.001). Therefore, H3a, H3b and H3c were supported.

Hypotheses 4a, ab and 4c focused on the mediating effect of human capital on the relationship between CDL and SPE. To test this mediating effect, we followed the procedure developed by Preacher et al. ( 2007 ), which emphasizes the use of indirect effects, to demonstrate the mediation analysis. The results presented in Table 3 indicate that the indirect effect of CDL on SPE via scholastic capital was significant ( β  = 0.093, t  = 3.568, p  < 0.001). Thus, Hypothesis 4a was supported. Exhibiting the same pattern, the indirect effect of CDL on SPE via cultural capital was also significant ( β  = 0.083, t  = 2.911, p  < 0.001). Thus, Hypothesis 4c was supported. In contrast, the indirect effect of CDL on SPE via social capital SPE was nonsignificant ( β  = 0.083, t  = 1.611, p  = 0.107). Therefore, Hypothesis 4b was not supported.

Discussion and conclusion

This study confirmed that CDL positively affects SPE over time. This result is consistent with the proposed conceptual model and the conclusions of previous studies (Bridgstock et al., 2019 ; Pitan, 2016 ). The findings imply that CDL is important for students with respect to enhancing their perceived employability. By engaging in CDL, students can develop clear directions for their career paths and seek out information regarding the labour market and the education system, including information concerning the qualifications that they will require for their occupations.

This study found that scholastic capital and cultural capital play mediating roles in the relationship between CDL and SPE. This finding is potentially the result of students’ belief that ‘extracurricular activities’ and ‘hobbies’ are vital elements that they want to display in their applications to signal their capabilities to potential employers (Clark et al., 2015 ). Thus, they are motivated to invest their time and effort in these activities with the expectation of enhancing their self-confidence, self-awareness and professional skills (Clark et al., 2015 ; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021 ). Previous studies have shown that extracurricular and leisure activities, in which students invest substantially to develop their personal resources, can lead to higher SPE (Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021 ; Nimmi & Donald, 2022 ). Our findings imply that when students’ understanding and perceptions of the requirements of the employment market are acquired via CDL, they are more prone to invest in their academic education, extracurricular activities and cultural activities. Accordingly, their scholastic capital and cultural capital increase, thereby favourably affecting their perceived employability (Caballero et al., 2021 ; Donald et al., 2019 ).

Surprisingly, social capital, which has been proven to have an impact on SPE in previous studies (Caballero et al., 2021 ; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2021 ), was not found to mediate the relationship between CDL and SPE. To explain this result, we call attention to the extant literature (e.g., Byrne, 2022 ; Holmes, 2013 ), which has considered three aspects of graduate employability: ‘possession’, ‘position’ and ‘process’. ‘Possession’ refers to the skills and attributes that a student has; ‘position’ involves social positioning and status; and ‘process’ emphasizes the degree to which it is important to students that they ‘act in ways that lead others to ascribe to them the identity of being a person worthy of being employed’ (Holmes, 2013 , p. 549). It can thus be seen that, although CDL might offer networks to students, students might fail to utilize and convert this capital into employment-related benefits. This issue affects not only students but also many other job seekers (Trimble & Kmec, 2011 ). This finding complements the work of Batistic and Tymon ( 2017 ), reinforcing the claim that students tend to increase SPE when faced with a combination of strategic exploitative and general networking behaviour.

Regarding English language proficiency, its positive influence on SPE highlights the importance of students being able to improve this capability adequately. In the context of globalization and the 4.0 era, English serves as a bridge that connects an individual to the rest of the world. The ability to use foreign languages in general and English in particular is also a requirement for recruitment in some contemporary professions. The higher the student’s level of English language proficiency is, the greater the accompanying enhancement of SPE (Nghia et al., 2019 ). Both schools and students should therefore develop a specific agenda to improve students’ English-language proficiency with the aim of increasing their chances of finding employment upon graduation.

By exploring this topic beyond the level of direct relationships, this study enriches our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effect of CDL on SPE via scholastic capital and cultural capital. This study also broadens the literature on CDL and human capital theory in relation to employability. In other words, CDL acts as an advisor, educator and source of reflection for students so that they can invest appropriately in their knowledge, skills and cultural activities, which are then converted into scholastic capital and cultural capital, thus enhancing their employability. This research also responds to the call of recent studies conducted in a similar context (e.g., Caballero et al., 2021 ) by contributing an investigation aimed at improving our understanding of SPE. Understanding undergraduates’ self-perception of graduate employability is essential to mitigate the effects of a potential mismatch between their perceptions and the perceptions of other stakeholders (Donald et al., 2019 ).

This study has several practical implications. First, HE institutions should increase their communication with students regarding the significance of CDL. The more that students recognize the effects of CDL on their future careers, the greater their belief in their future employability. Developing students’ career interests beyond the level of asking them to reflect on their human capital could assist them in using their time at university to develop their professional career identities (Meijers & Kuijpers, 2014 ). Second, educators should educate students regarding the ways in which they can translate their personal capital into values that are beneficial for their employment. Rather than separating knowledge and skills, CDL develops human capital that is necessary not only for an individual’s career but also in life in general. Third, HE institutions must improve the effectiveness of CDL by offering and incorporating a wide range of supplementary activities, such as university-based learning activities, work-integrated learning or extracurricular activities featuring mentoring using portfolios or other reflective tools (Goldfinch & Hughes, 2007 ), as well as by improving the quality of career advice services (Donald et al., 2018 ). In addition to offering these activities, universities should ensure that such activities are accessible to all groups of students (Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021 ). From the student perspective, they should participate actively in CDL activities, including by researching the labour market, listening to employers regarding job requirements and opportunities and participating in work-integrated learning (Buckholtz & Donald, 2022 ; Pitan, 2016 ).

This study faces several limitations. First, the study was based on a sample that was limited to one country, which restricts the generalizability of the findings. This limitation highlights the importance of future work featuring more diverse samples as well as the incorporation of cultural factors into the research model. Second, the boundary conditions of the baseline relationship between CDL and SPE were not investigated in this study. Third, this study explored employability only from the perspective of students. Future studies should examine this topic from different perspectives, such as those of educational institutions and employers.

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The present study is a part of the research project of Foreign Trade University, Vietnam, Code: NTCS2021-69.

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Ho, T.T.H., Le, V.H., Nguyen, D.T. et al. Effects of career development learning on students’ perceived employability: a longitudinal study. High Educ 86 , 297–315 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00933-6

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Exploring university students’ career resources profiles to cope with career insecurity and promote employability.

1. Introduction

1.1. theoretical framework, 1.2. psychological career resources, 1.2.1. time perspective, 1.2.2. resilience, 1.3. social career resources, 1.4. present study, 2. materials and methods, 2.1. participants and procedure, 2.2. measures, 2.2.1. time perspective, 2.2.2. resilience, 2.2.3. social career resources, 2.2.4. career insecurity, 2.2.5. employability, 2.3. statistical analysis, 3.1. career resources profiles, 3.2. profile comparisons, 4. discussion, 4.1. limitations and future research directions, 4.2. implications, 5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Antonio, A.A.; Chiesa, R. Exploring University Students’ Career Resources Profiles to Cope with Career Insecurity and Promote Employability. Soc. Sci. 2024 , 13 , 455. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13090455

Antonio AA, Chiesa R. Exploring University Students’ Career Resources Profiles to Cope with Career Insecurity and Promote Employability. Social Sciences . 2024; 13(9):455. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13090455

Antonio, Audrey Ansay, and Rita Chiesa. 2024. "Exploring University Students’ Career Resources Profiles to Cope with Career Insecurity and Promote Employability" Social Sciences 13, no. 9: 455. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13090455

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What’s Holding Back Your Career Development?

• Helen Tupper
• Sarah Ellis

Four common challenges and how to overcome them.

Career challenges like reorganizations, layoffs, and a lack of personal fulfillment can feel like big bumps in the road, but instead of seeing them as obstacles, start to look for the opportunities. Personal career development is critical for resilience in the face of uncertainty and change. The authors, who train over 100,000 people a year in career development, have identified four common challenges that get in the way of people’s growth. They categorize them as when, who, what , and where challenges. Here’s how you can think and act creatively to overcome these challenges and continually invest in your career development.

Change and uncertainty are now a given in our careers. As a result, people are re-evaluating what they want from their work. For many, the traditional career ladder has been replaced by “squiggly” careers — non-linear career moves where progression goes beyond promotion and allows people to develop in different directions. In the context of constant change, personal career development is now a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.

• Helen Tupper is the co-founder and CEO of Amazing If , a company with an ambition to make careers better for everyone. Together with her business partner Sarah Ellis, she is the author of two Sunday Times bestsellers, The Squiggly Career  and Y ou Coach You . Sarah and Helen are also hosts of the podcast Squiggly Careers, which has had 4m downloads, and their TED talk, The best career isn’t always a straight line , has been watched by almost 2m people.
• Sarah Ellis is the co-founder of Amazing If , a company with a mission to make careers better for everyone. Together with her business partner Helen, she is the author of two Sunday Times bestselling books, The Squiggly Career and You Coach You. Sarah and Helen are also hosts of the podcast Squiggly Careers, which has had 4m downloads, and their TED talk, The best career isn’t always a straight line , has been watched by almost 2m people.

Partner Center

• DOI: 10.18415/ijmmu.v10i12.5320
• Corpus ID: 266674008

Servant Leadership and Career Development: Supporting Employee Growth

• Nathasya Fressilia Agusta , Ahmad Azmy
• Published in International Journal of… 18 December 2023
• Business, Psychology

One Citation

.leadership styles and organizational outcomes: a theoretical investigation, related papers.

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Career Development Grants

Career Development Grants supports the career progression of women by funding to women preparing to advance or change careers or re-enter the workforce. Primary consideration is given to women pursuing their first advanced degree or credentials in education, health and medicine, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and social sciences. Grants are available to support full-time or part-time coursework such as a second bachelor’s or first master’s degree, a certification program, or specialized training in these fields.

Award Details

The award ceiling for Career Development Grants for a degree program is $20,000 and for non-degree programs is $8,000. Grant funds are payable to grantees only and are disbursed as follows:

• Degree Programs: Two equal payments at the beginning and the midpoint of the grant term
• Non-degree Programs: In full, either at the beginning of the grant term or at the program start

Fields of Study

Career Development Grants are available to pursue degree and non-degree programs in education, health and medicine, STEM and social sciences, except for the following degree programs:

• Architecture (M.Arch.)
• Computer/Information Science (MS)
• Engineering (ME, MS)
• Mathematics/Statistics (MS)
• Business Administration (MBA)
• Medicine (MD, DO)

Applicants in terested in pursuing these degree programs are encouraged to consider AAUW’s Selected Professions Fellowships .      

Eligibility

• Applicants must be or identify as a woman.
• Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree earned on or before June 30, 2017.
• Applicants must be pursuing a degree (such as a second bachelor’s or first master’s degree) or a non-degree program (such as a certification program or specialized training) in education, health and medicine, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and social sciences.
• Applicants must pursue their study in the U.S. at an institution accredited by the U.S. Department of Education .
• Applicants pursuing degree programs must be enrolled in their programs during the entire grant year.
• Applicants pursuing a second bachelor’s degree must enroll in a program that differs from the field of study in which they previously earned a bachelor’s or associate degree.
• Applicants pursuing non-degree programs such as a certification program or specialized training must be enrolled in their programs for at least six months during the grant year.
• Applicants who have demonstrated resilience in overcoming life challenges beyond their control, such as socioeconomic status, discrimination, limited academic resources or opportunities or other adverse circumstances (preferred) .    
• Applicants who were the first in their family to attain a bachelor’s degree (preferred) .  
• Applicants who hail from or lead single parent households (preferred).
• Applicants who reside or will matriculate at a school in Arkansas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee or Indiana (preferred) .  

Citizenship & Immigration Status

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Disqualifying Factors

The following are not eligible for consideration:

• Members of the AAUW Board of Directors.
• Employees of AAUW, including paid or unpaid, part-time or temporary employees, consultants, interns and contract employees.
• AAUW Review Panelists.
• Immediate families (i.e., spouses and dependent children) of individuals described in the points above.
• Applicants for another national AAUW fellowship or grant, in the same year.
• Previous national AAUW fellowship or grant recipients (excluding Community Action Grants or branch or local AAUW awards).
• Applicants who are recommended for an award, however, whose discipline or institution of study is different than envisioned at the time of application will be disqualified.

Selection Criteria

• Academic excellence, as demonstrated by academic records and achievements, recognition from professors, and/or institutions, and other forms of distinction.
• Potential to make contribution to chosen field as a practicing professional and role model for other girls and women.
• Demonstrated commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities or professions.
• Feasibility of applicants’ ability to complete their program of study based on sufficient, holistic financial support.
• Special consideration will be given to applicants who demonstrate their intent to professionally serve under resourced populations and communities or to pursue public interest areas.

How To Apply

How to apply.

International Scholarship & Tuition Services (ISTS) serves as the application portal for AAUW Career Development Grants. Please follow the steps below to start the application process:

• Review the eligibility criteria to ensure you are eligible.
• Click the Apply Now button below to access the application and create an ISTS account. If a program key is requested, please use the following program key: AAUW-CDG
• Follow the instructions provided in the Applicant Guide.

If you experience technical difficulties, please contact [email protected] or (866) 795-4892.

Application Requirements

In addition to a narrative application, all applicants are required to submit the following:

• Letters of Recommendation: Applicants must provide two letters of recommendation from advisors, professors, colleagues or others well acquainted with the applicant, their work, professional qualifications and academic background.

Note: AAUW does not accept references from dossier services, such as Parment or Interfolio, and standardized or form-letter recommendations are discouraged.

• Proof of Degree: Copy of bachelor’s degree earned on or before June 30, 2017.
• Transcripts: Copy of official transcripts confirming conferral of bachelor’s degree. All transcripts must include the applicants’ full name, the school’s name, the degree conferred, and the list of courses taken, and grades received. Transcripts must also include the name of coursework and grades from transfer courses, if applicable. If transcripts reflect transfer courses without grades, a transcript from the institution where courses were taken is required. Applicants who studied at an institution that does not provide a transcript or a list of courses taken, and grades received, or the degree did not require coursework, must provide an institutional letter affirming the same as well as the degree completion date.

A certified English translation is required for all materials provided in a foreign language. Translations must bear a mark of certification or official signature that the translation is true and complete.

If the name differs from the one stated in the application, an explanation must be provided, such as a marriage certificate or a court letter of name change.

Applicants are responsible for the submission of all required documents. Incomplete applications will be reviewed and considered at the discretion of AAUW.

Selection Process

Grants are awarded on a competitive basis according to funds available in a given fiscal year.

Review Panels

Applications to the Career Development Grants are reviewed by panels of distinguished scholars and experts in the following disciplines:

• Health & Medicine
• Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)
• Social Sciences

Review panels meet once a year to review applications for funding. Panel funding recommendations are subject to final approval by AAUW.

Review Process

Prior to the Career Development Grant Panel Review, AAUW’s Fellowships & Grants Team reviews applications for completeness and ensures compliance with eligibility requirements.

Each application is subsequently read by two panel reviewers. Reviewers assess applications based on the selection criteria described above.

Tax Liability

The determination of whether there is a tax obligation associated with the receipt of an AAUW award is the sole responsibility of the applicant. Specific questions regarding income tax matters should be addressed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the applicant’s financial aid office or a personal tax adviser. AAUW cannot provide tax advice.

Changes to Applicants’ Institution or Areas of Study

Applicants recommended for an award, but whose discipline or institution of study is different than envisioned at the time of application will be disqualified.    

Use of Funds

Career Development Grants may be used for tuition, fees and course-required expenses like books and supplies, as well as housing, food, and other living expenses (including childcare).   Awarded funds may not be expended on costs incurred prior to the fellowship term start date or after the fellowship term end date.      

Funds received may or may not be taxable depending on how they are used. It is incumbent on grant recipients to determine any tax related obligations. AAUW does not report Career Development Grant to the Internal Revenue Service and cannot provide tax-related forms or advice to recipients. The determination of whether there is a tax obligation associated with the receipt of an AAUW award is the sole responsibility of awardees. Specific questions regarding income tax matters should be addressed to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the applicant’s financial aid office or a personal tax advisor.     

Is it possible to be notified of my award status prior to April 15th?

No, AAUW is not able to honor requests for earlier notification.

If I had to decline an AAUW award in the past due to eligibility concerns or personal reasons, am I allowed to reapply?

Yes, if you were awarded an AAUW fellowship or grant but had to decline it without receiving your stipend, you are eligible to reapply.

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• Financial Planners With CFP® Certification Earn More and Love Their Careers, Study Shows

Financial Planners With CFP® Certification Earn More and Love Their Careers, Study Shows

CFP® Professionals Earn 10% More Than Other Financial Planners

CFP Board today announced new data from a compensation study that reveals that CFP® professionals enjoy higher earnings and greater career satisfaction than financial planners without CFP® certification.

The CFP Board 2024 Compensation Study found that CFP® professionals earn 10% more than other financial planners after controlling for other factors like job experience, company size and the type of services they offer. The median 2023 total compensation for all financial planners was $192,000.

The study shows high career satisfaction among CFP® professionals, with 85% experiencing a high to very high sense of personal fulfillment. Key job areas rated as good or excellent include stability (88%), work/life balance (82%), career advancement (79%) and compensation (74%). Additionally, 89% of CFP® professionals plan to stay with their current company for the next two years and, of those considering leaving, 67% intend to remain in the financial planning profession.

“It’s no surprise that CFP® professionals are extremely happy in their careers. The findings in the 2024 Compensation Study show that a career in financial planning is quite possibly the best job ever,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE.  “CFP Board is committed to providing this annual research study as a powerful benchmarking resource for firms and CFP® professionals to demonstrate the value of CFP® certification.”

The study shows that CFP® professionals also have greater income potential than financial planners without CFP® certification. Experience plays a crucial role for financial planners, with those who have more than 20 years of financial planning work experience enjoying a median 2023 total compensation of $325,000. For financial planners supervising staff, compensation scales up significantly. Those who supervise six or more staff reported a median total compensation of $400,000 in 2023.

CFP® professionals not only benefit from cash salaries and bonuses but also from valuable employee benefits, including health, dental, life and disability insurance as well as professional development opportunities. Furthermore, CFP® professionals have access to quality retirement benefits and other deferred compensation plans, with packages including defined contributions (98%), profit sharing (42%), stock options (17%), Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) (8%) and pension plans (6%).

Work/life balance is another key highlight of the study, with financial planners achieving a balance that allows them to thrive both professionally and personally. CFP® professionals have a median of 21 days of paid time off (PTO) per year, with 27% having unlimited PTO. Their median hours worked per week is 44.

Download and read the full CFP Board 2024 Compensation Study .

About the Survey

CFP Board commissioned independent research firm Industry Insights to collect compensation data from financial advisors across the United States. The survey generated 1,455 responses with a margin of error of +/- 2.6% at a 95% confidence level. Strict confidentiality of survey responses was maintained throughout the project.

CFP Board is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board consists of two affiliated organizations focused on advancing the financial planning profession for the public’s benefit. CFP Board of Standards sets and upholds standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification — widely recognized by the public, advisors and firms as the standard for financial planners — so that the public has access to the benefits of competent and ethical financial planning. CFP® certification is held by more than 100,000 people in the U.S. CFP Board Center for Financial Planning addresses diversity and workforce development challenges and conducts and publishes research that adds to the financial planning profession’s body of knowledge.

Joseph Feese Director of Public Relations 202-379-2305 [email protected] X: @CFPBoard

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Sustainability, Environment and Development MSc

Year of entry 2025, sign up for masters updates.

Receive the latest information on events, scholarships, important deadlines and subject information. Sign up now

Course overview

Sustainable development is a topical and fast-growing field with a lot of opportunities to make a real difference in the world. Through our Sustainability, Environment and Development MSc, you’ll investigate the challenges associated with achieving development that is environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. You will gain the knowledge, skills and practical experience to allow you to become an interdisciplinary leader who can think critically and contribute practically to enhance sustainability policy and action.

The programme is led by the  Sustainability Research Institute , who have a well-established approach of applying social-ecological systems and participatory approaches to understanding sustainability challenges and co-creating solutions. We use the same framing, providing high-quality transdisciplinary training through research-led teaching on issues where the need for economic development, social equity and environmental conservation meet. The MSc brings together expertise from the School of Earth and Environment,  School of Politics and International Studies , and professional partners to provide many different perspectives on these issues. 

This course draws on theories from both the social and natural sciences, and from professional practice, and is therefore relevant to candidates from a range of backgrounds. Primarily, this is a social science programme grounded in a critical framing of sustainability and development through teaching in social-ecological systems thinking, an understanding of biogeophysical limits, environmental policy, and global inequalities.

We strike a unique balance between fundamentals and practice, embedding a professional skills and field course for all students. Through our programme you’ll have the chance to network through our connections with key players in environment, development and sustainability worldwide.

Once you graduate, you’ll be fully equipped with the extensive knowledge, skills, and practical experience sought after by both the public and private sectors to deliver solutions in critical areas like sustainable economic development, climate change adaptation, governance of natural resources, and conservation.

Why study at Leeds:

• Learn the latest most pressing social and environmental sustainability challenges and proposed solutions from the research conducted across five  globally-renowned research institutes  right here in our School of Earth and Environment which feeds directly into the course.
• Advance your knowledge in key areas like global inequalities, evolution of development theory, resilience, climate change, conservation, environmental policy and governance of natural resources.
• Build your skills in systems thinking, critical analysis, leadership, problem solving, communication and interdisciplinarity.
• Conduct your own significant individual research project, taking advantage of our collaborative links with sustainability, environment and development organisations across the UK and internationally.
• Experience expert practical and theoretical teaching delivered by a programme team made up of researchers covering the social sciences, economics, development studies, environmental management and conservation from within the School of Earth and Environment and the School of Politics and International Studies.

Course details

Early in the course, you'll gain an advanced understanding of the key theoretical, conceptual and practical debates within the sustainability-environment-development field. Learning diverse perspectives and systems thinking, you'll critically evaluate mainstream ideas of sustainable development and environmental management, as well as sustainability challenges and solutions.

Throughout the programme, you'll form a deeper, more specialised understanding of challenges in sustainability, environment and development in the space of climate and environmental governance and policy. You will learn professional skills that transfer to multiple careers, such as communication, participatory methods and project management.

Throughout, you'll be taught through lectures, seminars, and workshops and will approach topics from different angles thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of academics from both the School of Earth and Environment and the School of Politics and International Studies. You'll also be able to apply what you have learned thus far to real-world scenarios through case study work in class and the field course, where you will engage in reflexive learning, dialogue with stakeholders, and develop your ability to critically reflect on the application of academic concepts and theory to practice.

You'll then apply your learning to your own individual research project where you’ll work with a dissertation supervisor, producing an original piece of cutting-edge research on a topic of your choice.

Course structure

The list shown below represents typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our  terms and conditions.

For more information and a full list of typical modules available on this course, please read Sustainability, Environment and Development MSc in the course catalogue

Compulsory modules

Global Inequalities and Development – 30 credits

Discuss the object of development through a series of lectures and seminars that focus on global inequalities. The module intends to give the student an understanding of why and how the world’s inequalities produce advantages and disadvantages in development. The module starts by discussing the origins of development, economic, social, and the political inequalities that lay the foundations for discussions about poverty, education, health, gender and the environment. The module ends by discussing if and how social movements can claim rights and thereby challenge global inequalities.

Perspectives on Sustainability, Environment and Development – 15 credits

Develop a well-grounded understanding of the key theoretical, conceptual and practical debates alongside issues within the sustainability-environment-development field. This module describes diverse perspectives on how social, economic, and environmental issues have evolved and shape development processes in both the Global North and Global South. It embeds systems and critical thinking throughout, so you can critically evaluate mainstream ideas of environmental management and development, as well as sustainability challenges and solutions.

Climate and Environmental Policy and Governance – 15 credits

Apply appropriate theories and insights from theory to understand how contemporary human-environment interactions are governed, who has what roles and how to evaluate governance and policy. A central focus of the module is how the alleged limitations of conventional state-led climate and environmental governance have given way to a proliferation of 'new' and dynamic modes of governance where centres of authority are diffuse and state-market-civil society distinctions blur. The module explores changing modes of climate and environmental policy and governance within and between the international, regional, national and local levels of analysis, illustrating these ongoing processes through practical examples and case studies from both the Global North and Global South. 

Professional Skills for Sustainability, Environment and Development – 15 credits

Learn relevant employability skills from interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and practice related to sustainability, environment, and development. Through the module, you’ll gain a critically engaged understanding of professional practice in sustainability and develop a range of professional skills for future career paths. You'll build a set of key transferable and employability skills such as communications, proposal writing, project management, policy analysis, rapid reviews and cultural sensitivity.  

Sustainability, Environment and Development Field Course – 30 credits

During the programme, you’ll participate in a unique field course, providing crucial experiential learning in a field where context is key. The field course links academic, community, and stakeholder perspectives, allowing you to begin to understand how both theoretical concepts and real-world challenges intertwine when addressing sustainability and development. The field course supports critical reflexivity on the nature of development to address sustainability with a focus on justice and inequity, centred around development in a rural landscape (previously in Tanzania). You'll further your research and professional skills, dealing with issues of ethics, power, and co-produced development research and practice. Through both group and individual work on a particular focal topic, you’ll develop, apply, and/or be directly exposed to the application of participatory methodologies and critically reflect on their value in developing new understanding. 

Research Skills – 15 credits

Explore what defines social science as a knowledge production system as well as the existence of different research paradigms and strategies. You’ll build an understanding of the relationships between theory, conceptualisation, method, hypotheses or research questions, evidence and measurement in the context of social sciences, as well as issues related to objectivity, generalisability, reliability and utility of research. You’ll also become familiar with appropriate social sciences research designs (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods) and build the common research skills relevant for the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data that will help support your dissertation project – and your future professional career.

Research Project – 60 credits

You'll apply the knowledge and skills you developed in both semesters 1 and 2 to a research project. Under the guidance of your supervisor, you’ll define, plan and investigate a research question in a subject area that interests you. Through this project, you’ll build invaluable skills in collating, critically analysing and carrying out research. You’ll produce a research paper and accompanying dissemination product for a relevant stakeholder, demonstrating your diverse communication skills alongside other transferable skills in time management, working independently, and organisation which will prepare you for your future career – whether that be in academia or industry.

Learning and teaching

You'll learn through teaching methods selected to help you develop subject-specific and transferable skills. To foster a stimulating and inclusive learning experience, classes are structured to contain a range of activities – lectures, practical workshops, discussion, field trips, guest speakers, policy simulations, computer lab sessions, research seminars and project work (individual and group work).

The research-intensive environment of the School ensures that course material is both up-to-date and research-led – meaning that we train you using our current research so you can learn what questions to ask, how to read unfamiliar data and, ultimately, how to tackle the big questions in the field so that you can join the leaders of tomorrow. We also embed research-based teaching - practical exercises focused on real-world scenarios case studies and data that allow you to experience enquiry-based learning. This allows you to explore methodological approaches, software and topics before choosing a dissertation topic.You'll also learn the scientific and rational principles and processes behind the practical approaches used in the world outside academia so that you are equipped to address the challenges of today and tomorrow through multiple career paths.

You'll have support through your dissertation tutor and be assigned a personal tutor, who will maintain contact with you throughout the year and offer pastoral guidance. They will help you to settle into the University and clarify any procedures, as well as helping you prepare for employment upon graduation.

Professional links

We have successful and productive links with many partners with different perspectives on sustainability, environment and development. You'll come into contact with our network of partners throughout the course.

In addition, staff members in the  Sustainability Research Institute  and the  School of Politics and International Studies  maintain their own network of contacts and your dissertation project provides you with an opportunity to build on these links.

We will also support and encourage you to develop your own links so that you can collaborate with institutions that might be beneficial for your future career progression.

In the past, students have worked with companies, UK-based charities, international development organisations, government departments and and international universities. Recent students have worked with Brunei National Energy Research Institute, ASDA (food waste), Tullow Oil Company, and The International Rice Research Institute. Others have joined ongoing research projects in SRI.

Through the field course, you'll also have the opportunity to learn in-depth about a local context through the people living and working there, which enables you to look at the real world beyond just concepts and may provide useful for your own networking.

Programme team

You'll be taught by a world-leading team of researchers covering the social sciences, economics, development studies, environmental management, climate sciences, and conservation from within the School of Earth and Environment and the School of Politics and International Studies. Many are also members or affiliates of research centres, such as:

• Centre for Global Development
• Leeds Centre for African Studies
• Priestley Centre for Climate
• Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
• Sustainable Cities Group
• Water@Leeds .

Our team of experts are active in national and international research and policy, such as the  Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services , the  World Commission on Protected Areas  and the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change .

On this course you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.

We use a diverse range of assessments that will develop and showcase your skills and abilities. Assessments might include academic and professional written work, presentations, rapid evidence reviews, diagramming, policy analyses, and written exams. Additionally, your final Masters research project will be in the form of a journal article with an accompanying dissemination product, the form of which is your choosing.

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in social sciences such as (but not limited to) international development, geography, politics, sociology, environmental management, sustainability, environmental science, or in a related subject.

Applicants with any of the following will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• A bachelor degree with a 2:2 (hons), or equivalent, where applicants can demonstrate relevant work experience or aptitude in a relevant specialist field.
• Professional qualifications and relevant experience.

International

We accept a range of  international equivalent qualifications . For more information, please contact the  Admissions Team .

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications .

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Science (6 weeks)  and Language for Science: General Science (10 weeks) . 

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals.  Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional .

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses .

How to apply

Application deadlines

Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

30 June 2025  – International applicants

12 September 2025 – UK applicants

Click below to access the University’s online application system and find out more about the application process.

If you're still unsure about the application process, contact the admissions team for help.

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students . We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

Admissions policy

University of Leeds Admissions Policy 2025

This course is taught by

School of Earth and Environment

School of Earth and Environment Postgraduate Admissions Team

Email: [email protected] Telephone:

UK: £14,000 (Total)

International: £30,500 (Total)

Read more about paying fees and charges .

For fees information for international taught postgraduate students, read Masters fees .

Additional cost information

Standard travel and accommodation costs associated with compulsory field trips are covered by the University. However, you must pay for some subsistence, incidental or personal expenses such as suitable clothing, footwear and any related visa costs associated with overseas travel.

There may be additional costs related to your course or programme of study, or related to being a student at the University of Leeds. Read more on our living costs and budgeting page .

Scholarships and financial support

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There may be help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government.  Find out more at Masters funding overview .

Scholarships

Career opportunities.

Studying our Sustainability, Environment and Development MSc will give you a holistic and in-depth understanding of some of the greatest challenges faced globally — alongside a skill set that is sought after by employers and highly transferable across a range of careers. The types of opportunities open to you as a specialist in this field will no doubt be rewarding, with the potential to take you all over the world.

We typically find that graduates assume, or continue careers, in sustainability, environmental management, or development research, practice and policy. Our alumni work in the research, public and private sectors and within local, national,gl and international institutions.

Plus, University of Leeds students are among the top 5 most targeted by top employers according to  The Graduate Market 2024, High Fliers Research , meaning our graduates are highly sought after by some of the most reputable companies in the field.

This course is ideal if you want to continue on from undergraduate studies, are looking for a career change, or if you’re keen to enhance your existing skill set so that you can progress in your career in industry or academia.

Our graduates have secured positions including:

• Senior Research Officer, Climate Change Third World Network
• Policy Officer, Endangered Landscapes Programme
• Civil Servant, DEFRA
• Field Environment Advisor, Tullow Oil Kenya
• Global Ambassador, Raleigh International
• Environmental Advisor, London Mining PLC , Sierra Leone
• Consultant, Sustainability Consultancy — Canada
• Advisor on Agricultural Pollution, Natural England
• Global Programme Manager, Renewable World
• Sustainability Consultant - BREEAM, EDCM Consulting

Careers support

At Leeds, we help you to prepare for your future from day one — that’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers. The  University's Careers Service  is one of the largest in the country, providing a wide range of resources to ensure you are prepared to take your next steps after graduation and get you where you want to be.

• Dedicated Employability Officer — gain quality advice, guidance and information to help you choose a career path. From CV and cover letter writing to supporting you with job applications, our School’s dedicated Employability Officer is on hand to help maximise your capabilities through a process of personal development and career planning.
• Employability and networking events — we run a full range of events, including careers fairs and industry talks in specialist areas and across broader industries, with employers who are actively recruiting for roles, giving you the opportunity to network and engage with industry sponsors. 
• Employability skills training – to support your transition to the workplace, we embed training in a range of key transferable skills valued by employers such as research and data analysis in all our programmes.
• MyCareer system — on your course and after you graduate you’ll have access to a dedicated careers portal where you can book appointments with our team, get information on careers and see job vacancies and upcoming events.
• Opportunities at Leeds — there are plenty of exciting opportunities offered by our Leeds University Union, including volunteering and over 300 clubs and societies to get involved in.

Find out more about careers support .

Related courses

Science and technology for sustainability msc, climate futures: science, society and politics msc, sustainability and business msc, sustainability and consultancy msc, air quality solutions with data science msc, rankings and awards, 82nd in the world.

QS World University Rankings 2025

Top 50 in the world for Environmental Sciences

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024

Student profile: Kolade Victor Otokiti

Studying Environment and Development at Leeds offers unparalleled and unique approaches to addressing a wide variety of emerging socio-economic concerns and complex environmental challenges. Kolade Victor Otokiti, Environment and Development MSc