مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

The changes which have occurred in the labor market in recent decades have resulted in a more flexible attitude to career development given that, among other demands, many workers will have to change jobs a number of times. Although this notion is accounted for in current proposals such as the Life Design approach (Di Maggio, Ginevra, Nota, Ferrari, & Soresi, 2015; Nota & Rossier, 2015; Savickas et al., 2009), a change in the dynamics of the labor market has been observed for decades suggesting, for example, the benefits of developing skills to survive the ‘workquake’ of the ‘۹۰s, and making proposals to promote an active response to not only successfully enter the labor market but to thrive within it (Bolles, 1994). It could be said that, to a certain extent, a job for life is something of the past, and hence vocational development theories based on the person-environment fit are losing practical relevance in relation to other approaches which promote a more active and dynamic attitude towards career development such as the Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013).

Within this theoretical model the paradigm known as “Life Design” arises (Savickas, 2012) which, by means of life stories, facilitates the exploration of how individuals have constructed their careers. In some cases, people may have to go through a process of deconstruction in order to clarify certain misconceptions. Following this, an individual will reconstruct their situation to include the corresponding modifications to correct the misconceptions (reconstruction); this process allows for adjustments to be made in order to minimize profound conflicts and facilitate the improvement of self-efficiency. Finally, the process of co-construction allows a new identity to emerge, offering new meanings which lead to action in career development.

In line with this shift in the dynamics of the labor market, and therefore in career development trends, the present study aims to examine the validity of the Career AdaptAbilities Scale (CAAS) with Spanish university students, continuing a line of research that has investigated the CAAS in other countries and languages, such as Belgium, China, Italy Portugal, and South Africa (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). As the scale has already worked well in many languages and different samples, this study aimed to address a major gap in the market to use the scale, namely in Spanish, a language spoken by almost 500 million people worldwide, of which more than 40 million live in the USA (Instituto Cervantes, 2015).