Due to digitisation, automation and demographic change employees are increasingly required to develop and maintain their employability throughout their working lives. Accordingly, public career counselling services are confronted with an increasing need for career counselling from all age groups. However, for the adults 40plus with professional education, little is known about what effects of career counselling are desired and achieved and which are relevant indicators that could be used to measure those. The study therefore aims to explore the effects of public career counselling for adults 40plus that are expected by different stakeholders namely individuals, organisations and society and propose relevant indicators to measure those effects. First, we conducted a literature research to gather described effects and impacts of career counselling. Then we conducted qualitative interviews with former clients 40plus, Human Resources managers and representatives of work integration offices representing the different groups of stakeholders (individual, organisation, society). Finally, we will propose indicators to measure those impacts and will validate these with vocational counsellors. So far, our results show that literature describes various effects of career counselling, but the needs and expectations of adults 40plus are not particularly specified. Our qualitative data will provide insights about what effects this target group strive towards and whether companies and work integration offices have specific requirements what career counselling should achieve for this group. Specifying the effects that different stakeholders expect from public career counselling services might provide useful evidence that can be used to design interventions for adults 40plus. In addition, the results might provide answers to questions about the extent to which public guidance services should cooperate with companies to provide guidance to older workers.
