Successful longer-term career outcomes for VET participants: 1992-2000

A major policy setting for VET in Australia is formulated in terms of the transition from study to work. During the 1990s, considerable restructuring and deregulation of the labour market has taken place. This project provides first-hand evidence of the impact of this on graduates from within the VET sector.

The Youth Research Centre has at its disposal a database as part of a longitudinal study. This database includes 400 - 500 VET graduates who have established themselves in what they consider to be career jobs. A target group which has been chosen from the database for an intensive feedback program provides a unique means of documenting career transition during the 1990s in general, and the transitions of VET graduates in particular. The specific focus of the project was concerned with the question: How do the participants themselves explain their successful career outcomes?

Participants were selected on the basis of the following four criteria:

• their expressed satisfaction or sense of fulfillment regarding career progress
• a job position that is ongoing - permanent or at least a 'renewable contract'
• a position viewed as a career - or at least one with 'genuine career prospects'
• as far as possible, a position related to the field of study

A sample of 303 successful graduates was selected in terms of the four criteria. Those selected were particularly positive about VET studies, with at least three-quarters rating them highly on a range of factors and 95% seeing them as job-related. The main study areas in the sample were business/economics, trades, arts/social sciences/education, and the computing/technology areas. Males were more likely to have achieved highly on all criteria, and particularly in terms of permanency (86% males, and 75% females).

While specific courses and personal networks were rated highly among the major reasons offered for success, the most important factors were particular personal attributes (planning, persistence and flexibility).

This helps to explain the fact that varying combinations of two different modes of career choice were evident from the interview transcripts. One (the career advancement mode) revealed a definite focus on traditional occupational goals, while the other (the life- context mode) assessed career outcomes alongside a set of other personal priorities. These modes were not mutually exclusive. Some respondents were more likely to emphasise one or the other, but most seemed to incorporate both modes in their approach to their careers.

Our respondents were very positive about the contribution their education and training had made to their career outcomes. Of the 238 in the second stage of the project, 213 had indicated that their studies had contributed significantly to their success, with only 23 of them calling into doubt the link between study and career. The issue at stake, therefore, is not their qualifications as such, but how these can then be translated into effective personal outcomes. They argued that the balance between objective factors (about job outcomes and status) and subjective assessments (of career aspirations and attainment) has become much more important in the measure of success.

Factors such as 'permanency', 'ongoing commitment' and 'study-related positions' are still important elements in the makeup of career profiles, and these depend on the qualifications and skills each individual has to offer. However, there was a clear consensus that we now need to pay much closer attention to the subjective weightings given to these factors. Four dominant themes emerged: self-assessment, personal goals, suitable qualifications, and flexibility. The emphasis placed on these suggestions that the shift towards a more flexible workforce is not simply a factor affecting the objective conditions of work, but, that it has also led to a more flexible attitude on the part of employees towards their own definitions of success and career.