Employability

Employability (also: labor market ability ) is the ability to participate on the labor and professional life. The individual employability is the result of agreement or difference between the demands of the workplace on the one hand and the personal, professional, social and methodical skills as well as individual health and ability to work on the other. The weighting of the factors influencing the employability is controversial.

Description

A clear definition of employability is not available. The majority of current concepts based on the individual's ability to manufacture their own employability. Growing importance gains the ability to maintain the employability given the rapid change of conditions and demand in the labor market. A key factor is the demographic change, which leads to a change in the composition of the age structure of the population and workforce.

Processes of change affect the employability of personal characteristics such as attitudes, skills and attributes. Changes in the conditions on the labor market and in business support and influence this process. Practical importance is the concept of employability in the area of ​​employment policy and concepts of Human Development: So it was agreed in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy of the European Union in 2000, to promote the employability of the part of the European Employment Strategy.

Concepts of promotion of individual employability ask questions of competence and ability to work in the foreground. The concepts of social and methodological skills that are often grouped under " transferable skills or" key skills " are rather non-specific and not differentiated. For an action and developing a specification ( Messbarmachung, operationalization ) is required. There are some listings of employment-related. transferable skills Empirical studies have identified the following characteristics requirement for companies that can affect an individual employability:

• Expertise
• Initiative and activity, recognizing and exploiting opportunities
• Ownership of development goals and
• Goal-oriented action
• Health literacy to the preservation and promotion of work ability
• Dedication and perseverance
• Learning ability and willingness to learn
• Teamwork
• Loyalty
• Communication skills and effectiveness in communication
• Empathy, empathy
• Resilience, ability to deal with unfamiliar situations
• Conflict resolution skills and frustration tolerance
• Open-mindedness and openness to new facts, ideas, processes and experiences
• Capacity for self- reflection.

The list of transferable skills is an idealized profile is (in addition basic conditions of work ability can be provided ). It would be presumptuous to believe that a man can have or develop all the skills listed above in an optimal expression. To get an actionable, realistic picture of employability, therefore, a different point of view is needed. Here, the basic philosophy of the centered on the individual employability concept shows " detect changes in the requirements and understand " - the regular involvement enabled the conformity of one's own skills, attitudes and characteristics with the requirements of the desired professional environment forms a continuous development process.

Not infrequently, the requirement profile of employability evokes amazement, since the presence of transferable skills is regarded as self-evident. However, empirical studies draw a contrary picture. It is by no means obvious that employees bring these key skills. Although the employability -related skills that are deemed necessary and desirable, the actual expression, however, shows considerable shortcomings. Thus, a clear difference between the desire and the actual form of the employment- related skill competencies is visible. Only the professional competence is an exception.

Possible explanations for the apparently insufficient expression could be, among other things in too small an importance that hitherto plays these factors compared to expertise in the education system, in the socialization and social esteem. In the literature, other factors are partly presented, eg Consequences of the social security system can be found on the attitudes and values ​​in society and the individual ( colloquially " collision damage waiver " mentality ). This is the result investigations come at the Institute for Employment and Employability Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen.

Scientific work perspective

From an ergonomic perspective, ability can be understood as " ... the internal potential ( intrinsic or educational and experiential ) to perform an act or to achieve a physical or mental work product " ( Luczak / Frenz 2008, p 25).

The preservation and promotion of the employability represents a task, employers, state and the individual must take equally. For individuals, the assurance of his employability is an incessant process that opened him new perspectives not only to an employer and in a professional field, but across the labor market. The design of the individual job situation is not a one-time task, but arises in the course of life again and again. Especially on Germany's integration into the European policy, the term " employability " established in German politics and is against the background of relevant international discourse an integral part of the labor market and employment policy discourse in Germany.

Social sciences connotation

Has employability from the perspective of individuals following meanings:

• (1 ) an increase in career opportunities in the internal and external labor market,
• ( 2) continuous confrontation and adaptation of skills and qualifications,
• (3 ) Increase self-confidence and responsibility and own final ¬
• ( 4) equal partnership relationship with the employer (see Blancke / Roth / Schmidt 2000, p 9).