12/01/2024

The Path from School to Work: Career Self-Management Behaviors and Their Allies

Nurten Karacan Ozdemir & Hakan Buyukcolpan

Given the unpredictable, uncertain, and complex characteristics of the current labor market, which have been exacerbated by COVID-19, college students need robust career self-management behaviors, such as career exploration, learning, and networking skills (Hirschi & Koen, 2021). Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) explains how individuals' career choices are influenced by their self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal goals, as well as the supports and barriers they encounter in their environment (Lent & Brown, 2013). To understand how career services professionals can empower students to develop these skills, we examined the predictors of career engagement for a successful transition from school to work by a complex social cognitive model of career self-management (Karacan-Ozdemir & Buyukcolpan, 2024; Lent & Brown, 2013). Career services professionals can use this research to help college students effectively manage their careers and transition from school to work in today’s rapidly changing career landscape.

Multiple Challenges Call for Proactive Behavior

In addition to the recent adversities in the global world of work, the youth in Türkiye face multiple challenges. The young population (15–24 years) accounts for 15.2% of the total population, surpassing many European countries (Turkish Statistical Institute, 2023a). With almost 7 million students and 900,000 graduates annually (Council of Higher Education, 2023), youth unemployment stands at 17.1%, and the unemployment rate of university graduates is 10.7% (Turkish Statistical Institute, 2023b). This labor market highlights the need for proactive career behavior, such as career engagement, especially for a successful transition from college to work for Turkish youth.

The Study

With a sample of 460 Turkish junior and senior university students, we examined the direct and indirect relationships between social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, career decision self-efficacy (CDSE), vocational outcome expectations (VOE), and career engagement (CE) during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Key Findings

We observed the following positive influences and results:

• Enhanced SEL Skills Led to Greater CDSE: Students with strong SEL competencies tended to have higher confidence in their career decisions.
• Direct Link Between SEL Skills and VOE: SEL not only boosted self-efficacy but also positively influenced students’ expectations about their vocational outcomes, which in turn enhanced their career engagement.
• Serial Mediation Model: The relationship between SEL skills and CE was serially mediated by CDSE and VOE, illustrating a pathway where SEL skills improve CDSE, which then enhances VOE, leading to increased CE.

Implications for Practice

This study illuminates comprehensive, proactive career behaviors in school-to-work transitions, integrating SEL skills as a more amenable variable alongside CDSE and VOE as personal agency factors within the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) framework. This study also provides a nuanced understanding of successful school-to-work transitions within an Eastern culture.

The importance of incorporating SEL into higher education curricula to holistically prepare students for workplace challenges was illuminated in our study. Career services could enhance their effectiveness by implementing SEL programs to cultivate workplace competencies like communication, collaboration, and problem-solving. These soft, transferable, or durable workplace skills are important for college graduates to possess (National Association of Colleges & Employers, 2024) and appropriate for career centers to include in redesigned programs. Career centers could offer training, interactive workshops, role-playing exercises, simulations, and real-time practices to teach SEL skills in demand in the workplace, such as flexibility, confidence, self-awareness, time management, stress management, budgeting skills, empathy, respect for others, social awareness, communication skills, teamwork, conflict resolution, problem-solving, decision making, and work ethics (Yoder et al., 2020). Career service professionals, however, must remember that effective SEL programs include repetitive practices, evidence-based techniques, assessment, and evaluation. They also should target one skill at a time (Lawson et al., 2019). Through such initiatives, graduates are not only prepared for success in the workplace but also foster proactive career behaviors such as career exploration and networking. 

In addition, career centers could offer interventions that strengthen students’ personal agency by promoting CDSE, VOE, and CE, especially in times of crisis like COVID-19. Career service professionals can help college students develop decision-making skills, which are crucial for efficiently selecting targeted job areas and fields rather than just focusing on obtaining a job anywhere. The career centers can offer workshops and training for teaching and practicing decision-making steps before students begin the job search process. Students with efficient and informed decisions might have higher outcome expectations, which would help them to navigate the job search and networking process more effectively and successfully. Given that youth may be more vulnerable to unemployment, career professionals may consider incorporating hope-generating outcomes (Santilli et al., 2017; Sung et al., 2013) into their missions, integrating hope-infused strategies into strategic plans and providing training to career center professionals so they can distinguish between realistic and false hope.

Successful School-to-work Transitions

In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of integrating SEL into career development to support career decision-making and engagement in higher education, especially in Türkiye's challenging labor market. The results of the study reveal that SEL skills positively affect CDSE, VOE, and CE. By promoting SEL, career centers can better prepare students for future work and the workplace and encourage proactive behaviors such as networking and decision-making. The research also underlines the need for career services to promote hope to help students successfully navigate their career pathways, especially during crises like COVID-19.

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References

Council of Higher Education. (2023, May 13). Number of students by education level. https://istatistik.yok.gov.tr/

Hirschi, A., & Koen, J. (2021). Contemporary career orientations and career self-management: A review and integration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 126, 103505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103505

Karacan-Ozdemir, N., & Buyukcolpan, H. (2024). Testing a social cognitive model of career self-management with Turkish undergraduate students. The Career Development Quarterly, 72(3), 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12352

Lawson, G. M., McKenzie, M. E., Becker, K. D., Selby, L., & Hoover, S. A. (2019). The core components of evidence-based social-emotional learning programs. Prevention Science, 20, 457–467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0953-y

Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (2013). Social cognitive model of career self-management: Toward a unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(4), 557–568. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033446

National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2023, November). Job outlook 2024. https://www.naceweb.org/store/2023/job-outlook-2024

Santilli, S., Marcionetti, J., Rochat, S., Rossier, J., & Nota, L. (2017). Career adaptability, hope, optimism, and life satisfaction in Italian and Swiss adolescents. Journal of Career Development, 44(1), 62–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845316633793

Sung, Y., Turner, S. L., & Kaewchinda, M. (2013). Career development skills, outcomes, and hope among college students. Journal of Career Development, 40(2), 127–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845311431939

Turkish Statistical Institute. (2023a, May 17). Youth in statistics, 2022. https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Istatistiklerle-Genclik-2022-49670#:~:text=Türkiye%20nüfusunun%20%15%2C2%27,949%20bin%20817%20kişi%20oldu

Turkish Statistical Institute. (2023b, Nov 17). Labour force statistics. https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Isgucu-Istatistikleri-III.-Ceyrek:-Temmuz---Eylul,-2023-49381 

Yoder, N., Atwell, M. N., Godek, D., Dusenbury, L., Bridgeland, J. M., & Weissberg, R. (2020). Preparing youth for the workforce of tomorrow: Cultivating the social and emotional skills employers demand. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.

Hakan Büyükçolpan, Ph.D., is a research assistant in the Guidance and Psychological Counseling at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University, Zonguldak, Türkiye. After earning a BA from Ankara University, he had his master’s degree in 2019 and PhD in 2023 in the area of guidance and psychological counseling from Hacettepe University. His main research interests include career counseling, mental health counseling, and school counseling. He may be contacted at hakan.buyukcolpan@gmail.com

Nurten Karacan Ozdemir, Ph.D., works as an assoc. professor at the Department of Psychological Counselling and Guidance at Hacettepe University and has more than ten years of experience as a school counsellor. She is a distinguished scholar with extensive national and international research projects and publications, including research articles, books, book chapters, presentations, symposiums, and workshops. The collaborative and cross-cultural research projects she is involved with in career counseling and guidance include “STEM Career Competencies” with Boston University (2023-present), "Career Adaptability and Psychological Skills of University Students," a collaboration between France and Türkiye (2023-present), "Connecting Social and Emotional Learning to Professional Development for Educators and Effective Teaching," implemented in 17 countries (2019-present), and "Career Builders," supported by NCSU and the Research Triangle Institute – International (2017-2018). She teaches various undergraduate and graduate courses, such as Contemporary Approaches to Career Counseling and Guidance, Assessment in Career Counseling, Individual and Group Counseling Practicum, and Field Practicum. Her research interests encompass career counseling and guidance, STEM career development, career adaptability, cross-cultural career competencies, program development and evaluation in career counseling, and multicultural career counseling.