Employability and Self-Regulation in Contemporary Careers

As they have become increasingly boundaryless, contemporary careers are often depicted as ones wherein workers are employable, proactive, and self-regulative. Reorganization and technological innovations are only some of the developments that contemporary careers face. An often agreed upon definition of employability is: being able to gain and maintain work, both within and across organizations. The employability concept is characterized for its shifts in meaning throughout time, depending on changing labor market conditions and government policies. In addition, several scientific contributions emphasize different aspects of employability. The concept of self-regulation can bridge the gap between several employability theories, in the sense that different employability approaches (different contexts) are all results-oriented, that a performance orientation and a learning orientation are both relevant and that they assume the deployment of strategies and the removing of obstacles to get to the result. This chapter deals with employability approaches in some frequently occurring work situations: the unemployment context, the organizational context, and the reorganizational context. Furthermore, practical implications for career counseling, and guidance for contemporary careers—wherein employability and career self-management fulfill important roles—are provided.