IAEVG Cape Town, 2011 Tannis Goddard. Far too many highly educated young workers end up in jobs that require less education or fewer skills than they.

IAEVG Cape Town, 2011Tannis Goddard

Far too many highly educated young workers end up in jobs that require less education or fewer skills than they have or do not match their field of study or aspirations

What are the best ways to help them reach their full potential on the labour market and get their career in motion?

CareerMotion provides rigorous evidence on whether Web-based technologies can improve the career choices of young workers

• Can the provision of LMI through Web-

based career guidance intervention increase participants’ confidence in obtaining the type of career they want?

• Will participants who have greater confidence be more effective in using the information to find a better job?

Ran from February to September 2010 involving over 500 PSE graduates of British Columbia, aged 20 to 40, who felt they were underemployed or overqualified for the work they were doing

Participants were offered the opportunity to receive access to a custom-designed Career Development Services website for 5 weeks

Participants were randomly assigned to two research groups – program and control – with only the program group receiving access to the Web-based tool

Job search clarity

Match between job and skills and

aspirations

Job search self-efficacy

Web-based career

assistance and LM

information

Career Decision-Making Self-

Efficacy

Job search intensity or

intention

Career planning and exploration

Mediating factors:

Attitudes, subjective norms, personal characteristics and circumstances, labour market demand, social networks

Lower confidence ← Moderate confidence → Higher confidence

Lower confidence ← Moderate confidence → Higher confidence

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CONTROL GROUP

Recruitment of participants through broad outreach

Online sign-up and baseline survey

Online follow-up survey after 5 weeks and at 1 year

CareerMotion Web-based Intervention — 5 weeks

PROGRAM GROUP

CareerMotion PROJECT FLOWCHART

The intervention was designed by Career Practitioners at Training Innovations in BC to:◦help participants understand their current

career reality◦help them understand their own skills and

career aspirations ◦equip them with the labour market

information, skills and confidence necessary to make career-related decisions

CareerMotion WEBSITE

2 surveys (baseline & 5-week follow-up) collect information on:

• Demographics: age, gender, education, and household composition

• Employment: schedule, wages, occupation, unemployment duration, expected wages in next job

• Attitudes and Norms: over-qualification, employment constraints, networking resources, job satisfaction

Effective in helping participants increase their confidence and competencies in making career decisions

Effective in empowering them to take the next steps in achieving their career goals

These effects were sustained one year after the program ended◦At the one-year mark, participants continued

to make greater use of labour market information resources and were more actively engaged in job search activities

At the 5-week mark, no observed differences in participants’ underemployment status or job search activities

At the one-year mark, evidence that CareerMotion enabled participants to achieve slightly higher employment rates in high-wage, longer tenured positions

◦ Induced participants to make career transitions, particularly in different positions with the same employer

◦ Participants were more likely to report a better job-skill match and that they were more satisfied in their current employment

Five-week mark One-year mark

Program Control Impacts Program Control ImpactsCareer Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

0.38 -0.15 0.53 *** 0.44 0.03 0.41 ***

Job Search Self-Efficacy 0.45 -0.02 0.47 *** 0.49 0.09 0.40 ***

Job Search Clarity 0.36 0.16 0.20 * 0.45 0.26 0.19 *

Career Exploration 0.04 -0.09 0.13 0.40 0.26 0.13

Career Planning 0.44 0.18 0.26 ** 0.53 -0.06 0.26 **

Networking Comfort 0.13 -0.06 0.19 ** 0.21 -0.27 0.08

Networking Intensity 0.02 -0.01 0.03 -0.19 -0.63 0.25 *

Job Search Intensity 0.00 -0.04 0.05 0.44 0.22 0.22 *

Job Search Intention -0.06 -0.14 0.08 -0.38 -0.63 0.25 *

LMI Usage 0.25 -0.05 0.30 *** -0.09 -0.41 0.32 **

LMI Ease of Reach 0.29 0.08 0.21 * 0.54 0.14 0.41 ***

Job Satisfaction 0.14 0.08 0.06 0.38 0.31 0.07

Life Satisfaction 0.09 -0.02 0.10 0.30 0.20 0.10

Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Job Search Self-Efficacy

CareerMotion Undergraduate career course

Two-week seminar for UI

applicants

CareerMotion

CareerMotion had a greater effect on users who accessed it more frequently

Further research could explore ways to encourage greater usage of such a program

Areas worth exploring:◦ One-on-one interactions with a trained

professional or adviser within the intervention◦ Dialogue and networking with peers