Hopes for the future: demographic and personal resources associated with self-perceived employability and actual employment among senior year students

Abstract

Undergraduates approaching completion of their studies may embrace the prospect of entry into the world of work as a challenge or conversely, may view it with trepidation. This study explores three major personal resources that may be associated with how young undergraduates view their future employability: perceived hope, grit and emotional intelligence. Demographics associated in the literature with perceived chance of employment – gender, age and having a learning disability – were also included in the study. The participants were college students in their senior year (n = 584), studying in a variety of undergraduate programmes. Results show that perceived hope and grit were positively associated with perceived employability whereas the relationship with emotional intelligence was more complex. None of the demographics associated with perceived employability.

Keywords:

• Employability
• hope
• grit
• emotional intelligence
• positive psychology
• college students