Career Planning, Proactivity, and Employability

In today’s fast-evolving labor market, employability is no longer determined solely by academic credentials—it is increasingly influenced by a student’s proactive behavior, structured career planning, and access to career capital. Many students possess high levels of self-awareness and confidence about the job market, yet paradoxically, they often underinvest in deliberate career planning and professional development activities. The interplay between career planning, proactivity, and perceived employability is complex and shaped by various personal, social, and contextual factors. As universities strive to prepare students for an uncertain employment landscape, it becomes crucial to investigate why awareness does not always translate into action and how institutional support can address this disconnect.

Who Can Use These Topics

This research is ideal for students and professionals pursuing the following courses or strands:

College Programs:

• BS in Psychology

• BA in Human Resource Development Management

• BS in Business Administration

• BA in Sociology

• BS in Education

• BS in Development Studies or Social Work

Senior High School Strands:

• Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS)

• Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM)

• General Academic Strand (GAS)

Why This Topic Needs Research

Despite growing interest, several key knowledge gaps remain:

• Disconnect between confidence and action: Many students express career readiness yet still neglect formal planning or job-preparation strategies, suggesting hidden barriers to action (Tino & Fedeli, 2022).

• Low engagement in developmental activities: Students acknowledge labor market difficulty but often underparticipate in internships, co-curricular programs, and job-prep initiatives (Jackson & Tomlinson, 2020).

• Limited validation of career resource profiles: Career strategies vary across regions and cultures, but few studies track how proactivity and support systems shape employability in the long term (Paganin et al., 2025).

• Lack of parental engagement frameworks: Parents shape adolescent employability perceptions, but there’s little evidence on how to support effective career conversations across socio-economic groups (Jackson & Lambert, 2025).

• STEM vs. non-STEM disparities: Career planning programs often serve STEM fields better, leaving non-STEM students with fewer pathways and employer connections (Ming & Paramalingam, 2024).

• Overlooked influence of career shocks: Global events, like the pandemic, expose gaps in how international students adapt their career strategies to sudden changes in context (Tamontseva & Akkermans, 2025).

• Insufficient exploration of thriving and fit: Psychological concepts like person-job fit, motivation, and leadership style deserve more attention in understanding sustainable employability (Jiang et al., 2023).

Feasibility & Challenges by Target Group

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References

Jackson, D., & Tomlinson, M. (2020). Investigating the relationship between career planning, proactivity and employability perceptions among higher education students in uncertain labour market conditions. Higher education, 80(3), 435-455.

Jackson, D., & Lambert, C. (2025). Adolescent parent perceptions on sustainable career opportunities and building employability capitals for future work. Educational Review, 77(1), 60-82.

Jiang, X., Qu, J., Lei, M., & Zhou, W. (2024). How do proactive career behaviors translate into subjective career success and perceived employability? The role of thriving at work and humble leadership. Journal of Management & Organization, 30(6), 2088-2104.

Ming, Y., & Paramalingam, M. (2024). THE IMPACT OF CAREER PLANNING PROGRAMS ON GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY: A FOCUS ON STEM AND NON-STEM DISCIPLINES.

Paganin, G., Mazzetti, G., Guglielmi, D., Chiesa, R., Mariani, M. G., & Van der Heijden, B. I. (2025). Exploring different types of university graduates: a latent profile analysis on career strategies and employability in the new labour market. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 30(1), 2496451.

Tamontseva, M., & Akkermans, J. (2025). Increasing the chances of career success abroad: the role of cultural orientations in the relationship between international students’ protean career orientation, career competencies and perceived employability. Human Resource Development International, 28(2), 275-301.

Tino, C., & Fedeli, M. (2022). Career planning, proactivity, self-employability, and labour market: undergraduates’ perceptions. Form@ re, 1(2022), 262-278.

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