Fostering employability and self-efficacy when job flexibility is needed: a training addressed to discouraged adults

An intervention aimed at motivating discouraged people to actively look for a job is reported. Three focus groups on thirty unemployed discouraged adults allowed investigators to identify the reasons which lead people to abandon the search for a job: they lose confidence in their own abilities and they are not able to cope with the complexity of the labor market, conditions that lead to a passive attitude toward job search. Hence, the training which was devised, aimed at promoting self-efficacy in job search, modifying the perception of the labor market and strengthening employability. Twenty-eight of those people who were involved in the focus groups participated in the training. Questionnaires were administered to investigate self-efficacy in job search, perception of the labor market and flexible thinking. Observation and interviews explored the employability dimensions. Results showed a significant increase of flexibility, a change in the perception of some dimensions of the labor market and a higher propensity to consider other employment opportunities. Three months after the training eight participants found a job relocation.

Keywords: Employability, Discouragement, Unemployment, Job search, Selfefficacy, Flexibility.

• Potenziare la flessibilità cognitiva in età anziana: gli effetti di un training Sabrina Rago, Valentina Rita Andolfi, Alessandro Antonietti, Giuseppe Iannoccari, Nicoletta Porcu, Chiara Valenti, in RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA 2/2020 pp.691
  DOI: 10.3280/RIP2020-002011

Valentina R. Andolfi, Marta Cabiati, Promuovere l’employability e l’autoefficacia ai tempi della flessibilita lavorativa: un training rivolto ad un gruppo di adulti scoraggiati in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA " 3/2014, pp 421-455, DOI: 10.3280/RIP2014-003003