Unemployment and precarity have become key features of 21st century work. Employability is presented as a solution to these issues. Individuals are exhorted to manage their employability, in order to be able to exercise choice in the labour market. While employability is individuals' responsibility, governments, employers and educational bodies simply provide opportunities for its development. Higher education is a key site for this process, as employability rhetoric increasingly informs policy and practice. It is founded on rhetoric that emphasises flexibility, skills and marketability, shaping students in certain ways with the risk of being deemed unemployable as the consequence of disengagement. At the same time, there has been a rise in employer presence on university campuses. Recruitment is no longer its key feature. Traditional 'milkround' recruitment has been replaced by year round marketing campaigns. As a result, students are continually exposed to a selection of employers promoting a specific image of work and work orientations. The theoretical framework of this study is informed by works of Antonio Gramsci and Mikhail Bakhtin. Gramsci's notion of 'common sense?' is central to analysing the rhetoric on work and employability present on campus. I also give voice to students by recounting how they as 'dialogical selves' engage with such 'common sense'. These issues are explored through an analysis of data gathered during seventeen months of fieldwork. This includes longitudinal interviews with students, participant observation, documents, interviews with careers advisors and non-participant observation of career consultations. From this, I argue that there was a strongly normative image of work constructed around an orientation I term 'consumption of work'. This image was closely associated with consumption opportunities, marketed to students through corporate presence on campus. 'Consumption of work' was central to shaping students' work orientations and only few of them resisted the 'common sense'. Those who made 'alternative' choices articulated doubt about these, with the challenge to employability as a key reason for it. Employability was presented to students as a lifelong project of the self, where constant acquisition, development and selling of skills were necessary to maintain a position in the labour market. Many students embraced the rhetoric of skill 'possession', but were 'playing the game' when 'demonstrating' skills. Conforming to what the employers were willing them to 'demonstrate' and understanding how to do this became the primary condition for achieving employability.

Globally, employees are experiencing extensive change in the workplace. Downsizing, right-sizing or restructuring have become familiar terms in difficult economic conditions and imply that rationalising of jobs is inevitable. Organisations attempt to reduce costs, which in turn places pressure on employees to modify their jobs and seek alternative employment. This increases their intention to leave (Iyo & Brotheridge, 2004). The researcher is interested in determining how satisfied employees are with their life in general, in their jobs, and whether the constructs at hand can lead to an intention to leave. This is information that an organisation might value due to high turnover costs. Employability and autonomy are linked to the above concepts. With reference to the above formulation of the problem statement, the general objective of this research is to determine the relationship between the psychological contract, employability, autonomy, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and the intention to leave of security employees in the Vaal Triangle. The primary objective of this research is to determine the relationship between the psychological contract, employability, autonomy, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and the intention to leave of security employees in the Vaal Triangle. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Constructs were measured by means of the psychological contract (employer obligations, employee obligations), a biographical questionnaire, employability questionnaire, autonomy questionnaire, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and intention to leave questionnaires. The research method for each of the two articles consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. An exploratory factor analysis, as well as Cronbach alpha coefficients, was computed to access the reliability. Validity of the different product moment correlation coefficients and regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between the constructs employed in this research. Significant differences are found between various individual characteristics and the scores of the psychological contract (employer obligations, employee obligations and the psychological contract), the individual characteristics, employability, autonomy, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and intention to leave. Conclusions are made, limitations of the current research are discussed and recommendations for future research and the organisation are put forward. / MCom, Labour Relations Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

This thesis reports a research study to measure the impact of industrial sponsorship on student, academia, and industry. The thesis provides a review of the literature in the field of engineering education, university-industry collaboration and student sponsorship. It describes the design of the study and methods of data collection and data analysis. It then presents a discussion of the impact of sponsorship. The research project was conducted at Loughborough University from 2006-2009. It has captured existing practice across sponsored and non-sponsored programmes within the Engineering Faculty at Loughborough University together with a small number of national and international sponsorship schemes. Data were collected from the undergraduate engineering students, graduates, sponsoring/non sponsoring companies, and the academic staff of engineering departments using questionnaires, interviews and documentary analysis. This study highlights the values and issues of the relationship between employers and students during their undergraduate study from the perspective of students, employers and academic staff. It takes a mixed-method approach to assess the attitudes and perception of individuals from these parties and identify the barriers which limit further engagement in order to propose guidelines for further improvements. The results show that the majority of the stakeholders valued industrial sponsorship as a way of developing the quality of undergraduate degrees and generating enough of the high quality engineers that the industry needs. There was close agreement on these matters between the parties involved. Overall the findings of the research showed that the parties main expectations of sponsorship schemes were largely met by the reality of sponsorship. Greater awareness of the details of sponsorship schemes, including how they work and what is involved, would make employers more likely to offer sponsorship and encourage more students to apply for sponsorship. Conclusions are drawn on the benefits that sponsorship offers, the incentives for these stakeholders, the role of sponsorship in building a relationship between students and their future employers, its contribution to the attainment of learning outcomes, the degree of sponsorship attractiveness to the investigated companies, the obstructions which limit partnership and recommendations for further developments.

This study represents the intellectual biography of an idea. That idea is the Welfare to Work regime of the New Labour government of Tony Blair over the period 1997 to 2007. This Welfare to Work regime is situated within a concept of an Enabling State developed in speeches by New Labour Ministers, particularly Blair, Gordon Brown, David Blunkett and the brothers Ed and David Miliband. The study elaborates the concept of 'enabling', traces its origins back, partly to the debates at Putney at the end of the English Civil War, partly through working-class history, and partly through the transformation of Gladstonian Liberalism wrought by New Liberals such as T.H. Green, L.T. Hobhouse and J.A. Hobson between 1880 and 1914. lt will argue that New Labour can be understood only by reference back to these origins. The study will also define the Enabling State by defining its opposite, the Disabling State created, albeit unintentionally, by the Conservatives between 1979 and 1997. The study employs a subset of Discourse Analysis, Speech Act Theory, to study the Labour speeches, since there has yet not been elaborated a 'theory of the Enabling State'. A participant observation is also employed to discuss how 'enabling' works at the level of individuals. The study is an attempt to 'read history backwards' as it were: to define the enabling state as it exists now, at least at the level of rhetoric, and then, as practical history, to trace lead ideas back to their sources, and to find antecedents: not cause and effect, for that is too difficult, but to find practices, traditions, concepts and discourse on which New Labour have been able to draw. This study will argue that, far from abandoning traditional Labour values, New Labour has found new ways to realise them.

The dissertation analyzes labour market projects co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) targeting unemployed migrants and ethnicized groups. The analysis is qualitative, discourse-oriented and based on Foucault’s concept of governmentality. More specifically, it is highlighted how the target groups are ethnicized through discourses of employability and learning. The thesis consists of four articles. In the first three articles, focus is mainly on how the projects present themselves through their project descriptions in the ESF project bank and the fourth article is mainly based on ethnographic material. Overall, this dissertation highlights different aspects of inclusion work directed towards migrants and ethnicized target groups that can be seen as problematic and sometimes contradictory. Tendencies to individualize unemployment and thus positioning the unemployed project participants as responsible for their situation is interrogated in the thesis. Further, it is analyzed how culture and ethnicity is used in ways that are likely to strengthen the target groups ‘Otherness’ in relation to a ‘Swedishness’ that often become synonymous with what is perceived as normal and thus widening the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’ when the stated goal is the opposite. This dissertation can serve as a starting point to reflect on how inclusion efforts and labour market projects seeking to produce social inclusion and employability may be at risk to categorize people in different ways, which can sometimes be problematic in relation to what the efforts seek to achieve. / I avhandlingen studeras arbetsmarknadspolitiska åtgärder, i form av projekt finansierade av Europeiska socialfonden (ESF), riktade mot arbetslösa migranter och etnifierade grupper. Analysen är kvalitativ, diskursorienterad och utgår från Foucaults begrepp governmentality. Mer specifikt belyses hur projektens målgrupper etnifieras genom diskurser om anställningsbarhet och lärande. Avhandlingen består av fyra artiklar. I de tre första artiklarna fokuseras främst hur projekten framställer sig själva genom projektbeskrivningar i ESFs projektbank och den fjärde artikeln utgår främst från etnografiskt material. Sammantaget belyser avhandlingen olika aspekter - som kan ses som problematiska och ibland motsägelsefulla - av inkluderingsarbete riktat mot migranter och etnifierade målgrupper. Det handlar om tendenser att individualisera arbetslösheten och därmed i hög grad ansvariggöra de arbetslösa projektdeltagarna för sin situation. Det handlar också om att använda kultur och etnicitet på ett sätt som riskerar att förstärka målgruppernas ’annorlundahet’ i relation till den ’svenskhet’ som inte sällan blir synonymt med vad som uppfattas som normalt och på så sätt vidga gapet mellan ’vi’ och ’dem’ när den uttalade målsättningen är det motsatta. Avhandlingen kan fungera som en utgångspunkt för att reflektera kring hur inkluderingsinsatser och arbetsmarknadsprojekt riskerar att sortera och kategorisera människor på olika sätt, som kan vara problematiska i relation till vad insatserna vill uppnå.

Employability is a field of research and a concept that has developed considerably over the past century. Today, employability contributes to discussions in higher education, psychology and even labour market politics. What influences employability is thus of great importance to a number of stakeholders. Since employability consists of assets that make an individual employable, the employer’s perception of employability is essential. An area within organisational strategy called ambidexterity discusses the competitive advantage that can be obtained by hiring staff with certain characteristics, indicating that there could be a relation between ambidexterity and employability.   The purpose of this study is to explain how organisational ambidexterity influences employers’ preference in regards of employability. To do so, a conceptual model was developed from theoretical research. The model included: education, experience and personal characteristics. A questionnaire was used to collect data in order to explain the relation between ambidexterity and employability.   The findings of the study did not show that organisational ambidexterity influences employer preferences regarding employability considerably even though indications that a relation exists were found. Moreover, the study findings indicated that other factors such as gender and age of recruiter might have an influence on employer preferences instead.

This paper discusses and aims to give the reader a greater understanding of how police cadets experiencing stress in relation to their employment status and a gender perspective on male and female cadets experience different demands and expectations. As scientists, we will also study how aspirants handle stress and how they experience the benefit of the work. This is because the one who is rejected by the aspirant will lose all possibilities of becoming a police officer. The essay will primarily highlight the impact of employment status have on stress according to police cadets and how gender can affect the stress. During the research process, the researcher will have worked through qualitative semi-structured interviews with six respondents who work as police cadets. We have analyzed our material by Karasek and Theorell of requirements, control and support model that is about the extent of demand and control individuals have the work-related aspects. We also give examples of how the requirements and control support model works for police cadets in the field with the help of research addressing the topic. The other theoretical starting point is an occupational stress research of Kelloway, Hurrel & Days (2008). Data collection shows, and supported by our theory that the form of employment is creating concerns over future work, and that perceived stress is equal for both men and women. / Polisyrket är ett skiftande arbete som ställer enormt höga krav på varje polis. I jämförelse med andra yrken har polisen en viktig roll i samhället. Polisens huvuduppgift är att göra skillnad i samhället. Att vara polis innebär att samhället förväntar sig att denne ska ingripa i en situation där ingen annan kan eller får ingripa. Situationer som omfattar allt från brottslighet, våld, sorg och kris. Polisen har oftast tillträde till situationer och områden som ingen civilperson har rätt till. Det finns relativt många studier som handlar om olika anställningsformer i relation till stress och osäkerhet, dock upplever vi som forskare att det råder brist på studier som berör polisaspirantens anställningsform. Vi finner därmed ett starkt intresse att forska kring det ämnet.   Nyutbildade poliser sätts på prov under sex månader genom att vara anställd som polisaspirant, detta innebär att man är provanställd. Hur upplever polisaspiranter sin anställningsform i relation till stress? Detta är en fråga som vi forskare kommer att lägga stor vikt på under forskningsprocessen. Polisaspiranten får ingen fastanställning först denne blivit godkänd efter dessa sex månader. Vi har under studiens gång undersökt hur denna form av anställning påverkat polisaspiranten negativt, genom upplevd stress och osäkerhet. Tack vare vårt empiriska material kan vi konstatera att en osäker anställningsform skapar negativ stress som påverkar aspiranten psykiskt då kraven är höga och prövningen lång.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficacy of EPWP employment in enhancing workers’ subsequent employability once they exit these programmes. The study also examined the conditions of EPWP employment to glean evidence about whether or not jobs offered in these programmes are distinguishable from other forms of casual employment preponderant within the South African labour market. Through the use of structured interviews complemented by individual diaries conducted with thirty-two former participants of the Modimola Integrated EPWP in the North West province this study reveals that public works employment is not distinguishable from other forms of “precarious” employment when evaluated against the general indicators of labour market security, minimum wages and benefits, working time, training, and union representation, inter alia. Contrary to the documented policy expectation that EPWP employment will enhance workers’ skills and labour market exposure and thereby improve their subsequent labour market performance, this study reveals that public works employment was not successful in enhancing participants’ access to other employment opportunities. This study found a broad unemployment level of 97% amongst former participants of the Modimola EPWP almost five years after they went through the programme’s training component. The principal reason given by all the respondents was overwhelmingly lack of employment opportunities that required a recipe of skills they had acquired during participation in this programme.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:44:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JULIANA CRISTINA DA COSTA FERNANDES.pdf: 2527312 bytes, checksum: 9d953c8da11fe0291b92de1f1ea0ca96 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-12 / The Technological and Professional Education in Brazil, marked by the sign of the division between manual and intellectual work, dating back to the early twentieth century, with the establishment of Schools of Learning Crafters. This century of existence was marked by advances and setbacks, struggles and hopes to make it effective like integral education. In the last two decades, public policies, particularly, those arising from LDBEN/1996 brought new incentives for this type of human and professional education, increasing the number of institutions, courses and turns, finally, the prospect of effectuation as claimed extension and access democratization and graduation. The Technological Courses gained centrality in the expansion processes and many speeches indicate guarantees of employability. But in what terms? This thesis, integrated to the Line of Research Education, Society and Culture, proposed to interrogate which mediations are established between the technological training and the employability, revealed by egress of the Systems Analysis and Technology Development Course, of the IF Goiano Campus Urutaí, designed with an emphasis on the notion of skills required to respond to the market conditions for the professional technologist performance. Was the employability actually accomplished? To answer this question, it was chosen to privilege the voices of egress, entering students from 2003 to 2008, 108 egresses, which 65 accepted to participate of the research. The conducted reflections were addressed, theoretically, in official documents and researchers like Antunes (2005), Cunha (1977, 2000), Ciavatta (2005), Frigotto (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010), Kuenzer (2005, 2010), Manfredi (2002), Ramos (2011), Saviani (2005), among others. In the research design of quantitative and qualitative methodological matrix, the following procedures have been defined for the empirical basis: analysis of official documents (national and institutional), interviews (01 Course Coordinator, 04 managers and 02 Attendant) and a questionnaire (Egress). Secondary data were provided by the Department of Higher Education of the Institution, locus of the research. The egress revelations, by the purpose of employability, proved the marketing optimism of the job security is not always effective. Among 60.19% (65) egress, it was found that 93.84% (61) are in the labor market, which, at first, it revealed high employability. However, the data presented have complained that the 61 egress who reported being in the labor market, only 29.51% (18) are exerting activities inherent to their training area. Thus, in reality, the marketing "promises" disseminated by the public policies have not been obeyed in the Systems Analysis and Technology Development Course of the IF Goiano Câmpus Urutaí. / A Educação Profissional e Tecnológica no Brasil, marcada pelo signo da divisão entre trabalho manual e intelectual, remonta ao início do século XX, com a criação das Escolas de Aprendizes Artífices. Esse século de existência foi marcado por avanços e retrocessos, lutas e esperanças para efetivá-la como educação integral. Nas duas últimas décadas, políticas públicas, em especial, as decorrentes da LDBEN/1996, trouxeram novos estímulos a esta modalidade de formação humana e profissional, ampliando o número de instituições, cursos e turnos, enfim, a perspectiva de efetivação da tão reivindicada ampliação e democratização do acesso e diplomação. Os Cursos Tecnológicos ganharam centralidade nos processos de expansão e muitos discursos apontam para garantias de empregabilidade. Mas, em que termos? Esta tese, integrada à Linha de Pesquisa Educação, Sociedade e Cultura, propôs-se a interrogar quais mediações são estabelecidas entre a formação tecnológica e a empregabilidade, reveladas pelos egressos do Curso Superior de Tecnologia em Análise e Desenvolvimento de Sistemas do IF Goiano Câmpus Urutaí, concebido com ênfase na noção de competências, exigidas para responder às condições mercadológicas para atuação profissional do Tecnólogo. A empregabilidade de fato se efetivou? Para responder esta questão, optou-se por privilegiar as vozes dos egressos, ingressantes de 2003 a 2008, 108 diplomados dos quais 65 aceitaram participar da pesquisa. As reflexões realizadas foram aportadas, teoricamente, em documentos oficiais e pesquisadores como Antunes (2005), Cunha (1977, 2000), Ciavatta (2005), Frigotto (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010), Kuenzer (2005, 2010), Manfredi (2002), Ramos (2011), Saviani (2005) dentre outros. No delineamento da pesquisa de matriz metodológica qualitativa e quantitativa, foram definidos os seguintes procedimentos para a base empírica: análise de documentos oficiais (nacionais e institucionais), entrevistas (01 Coordenador de Curso, 04 Gestores e 02 Servidores) e questionário (Egressos). Dados secundários foram fornecidos pela Secretaria de Ensino Superior da Instituição, locus da pesquisa. As revelações dos egressos, a propósito da empregabilidade, comprovaram que o otimismo mercadológico da garantia de emprego, nem sempre é efetivado. Dos 60,19% (65) egressos, constatou-se que 93,84% (61) estão no mercado de trabalho, o que, a princípio, revelou alta empregabilidade. No entanto, os dados apresentados denunciaram que dos 61 egressos que declararam estar no mercado de trabalho, somente 29,51% (18) estão exercendo atividades precípuas à sua área de formação. Desta forma, na realidade, as promessas mercadológicas veiculadas pelas políticas públicas não foram cumpridas no Curso Superior de Tecnologia em Análise e Desenvolvimento de Sistemas do IF Goiano Câmpus Urutaí.

O uso recente do termo Empregabilidade refere-se às competências, habilidades e atitudes gerais esperadas para uma pessoa conquistar e manter um trabalho ou emprego. O crescimento das exigências de qualificação laboral e a complexidade do tema têm aumentado o número de pesquisas na área, destacando-se o estudo das características pessoais, crenças e atitudes que podem exercer influência sobre a eficácia nessa conquista. A presente pesquisa objetivou a construção e validação de uma Escala de Empregabilidade que visa avaliar quais os fatores que estão relacionados a um resultado positivo na busca de emprego. A amostra inicial foi composta por 628 estudantes universitários de ambos os sexos, dos cursos de Administração, Engenharias e Psicologia de instituições públicas e privadas do Estado de São Paulo. O instrumento proposto foi composto por 88 itens, referentes a 11 (onze) fatores/variáveis, aplicados de maneira coletiva, em uma escala tipo Likert de quatro (4) pontos cujos descritores são "seguramente sim", "creio que sim", "creio que não" e "seguramente não". Após 9 (nove) meses da primeira aplicação os participantes foram contatados por email para saber se estavam ou não empregados em sua área de formação, o que resultou em 274 retornos. Tal amostra serviu de base para a validação do instrumento. As análises estatísticas permitiram redefinir a Escala obtendo-se 57 itens, dispostos em 4 fatores/variáveis denominados: Eficácia de Busca; Dificuldade de busca; Otimismo; e Responsabilidade e Decisão. Os valores estatísticos foram suficientes para confirmar sua fidedignidade e indicá-la para estudos futuros. Dentre os resultados mais significativos tem-se que os sujeitos com maior índice de auto-eficácia de busca de emprego conseguem colocação mais rapidamente, bem como as auto-valorações positivas como confiança, extroversão e auto-estima foram diferenciais significativos na conquista de uma ocupação, entendendo-se que a obtenção do emprego é mais influenciada pelos traços de personalidade, do que pelas características biográficas. Os alunos das Engenharias apresentaram melhor desempenho que aqueles da Administração e da Psicologia, notando-se ainda que os formandos de instituições privadas obtiveram melhor pontuação total no instrumento. Conclui-se que a Escala de Empregabilidade proposta conseguiu discriminar adequadamente os comportamentos relacionados a um resultado positivo na busca de emprego. Vale ressaltar que, os agrupamentos realizados neste estudo demonstraram uma relação importante com a conquista profissional, o instrumento também diferenciou satisfatoriamente os participantes que conseguiram êxito dos que não conseguiram êxito profissional. A criação da Escala de Empregabilidade buscou compreender mais sobre as variáveis relevantes à conquista profissional e espera contribuir para as áreas de Psicologia do Trabalho e Avaliação Psicológica. / The recent usage of the expression Employability refers to skills, abilities and general attitudes that a person is expected to have in order to gain and keep an occupation or an employment. The growing demands of working qualifications bringing an increase of research in this area, particularly in the study of personal features, beliefs and attitudes that can exert influence on the efficacy for conquering a job. This study had the purpose of constructing and validating an Employability Scale designed to evaluate factors related to a positive result in the search of an employment. The initial sample comprised 628 university students, both male and female, attending administrative, engineering and psychology courses from public and private institutions in the state of São Paulo. The instrument had initially 88 items referring to 11 factors/variables, applied in a collective way in a type of four-point Likert scale, in which the descriptors were "surely yes", "I believe so", "I believe not" and "surely not". Nine months after the first application the respondents were invited by e-mail to inform whether they had jobs or not within their area of study, which resulted in 274 answers. This sample was the basis for the validation of the instrument. The statistical analyses allowed the redefinition of the scale obtaining 57 items arranged in the following four factors/variables: Efficacy of Search; Difficulty of Search; Optimism; Responsibility and Decision. The statistical values were sufficient to confirm the trustworthiness of the scale and to recommend it for future researches. Among the most significant results, it showed that subjects with a greater score of self-efficacy in the search of a job manage to find a position faster, and that positive attitudes such as confidence, extrovert and self-esteem were meaningful differentials to obtain an employment. It was understood that the conquest of a job is more influenced by personality traits than biographic characteristics. Engineering students showed a better performance than the administrative and psychology ones. Also, graduates from private institutions had a better total punctuation. It can be concluded that the proposed Employability Scale managed to adequately discriminate the behaviors related to a positive result in the search of a job. It is worth stressing that the groupings arranged in this study showed an important relationship with professional success. The instrument satisfactory differentiated the successful participants from the ones that did not succeed. The creation of the Employability Scale tried to understand more about the relevant variables for professional success and is intended to contribute to the areas of Psychology of Work and Psychologic Evaluation.