In 2017, Slovak employment services (Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family) developed a specific framework of factors with the objective to operationalize the concept of “personal employability” that would allow to better monitor the impact of the counselling programmes and promote the individualization of the service to the specific needs of jobseekers.
The initial version of the framework is inspired by existing European practices and was developed in consultations with counsellors and employers. The model contains 16 items formulated as career management skills, divided into four areas, inspired by foreign practice: 1. Identity and motivation, 2. Strengths/potential, 3. Horizons and planning and 4. Networks and relationships.
The framework was tailored for the target group of adults in the situation of unemployment, and many jobseeking competences are included among career management skills. The framework is used as a checklist during the initial interview of a counselling programme to assess the situation of the jobseeker and his career management skills. This assessment leads to set learning goals of the counselling programme. The same checklist is used during the last interview to assess the progress of the jobseeker.
Initial testing of the framework (n=873 jobseekers) showed a significant increase in all the indicators between initial measurement and measurement after the counselling process. The most significant positive impact was measured on jobseekers knowledge of different ALMPs, ability to prepare CV and motivation letter, action planning and self-presentation. The testing also lead to the identification of a common g-factor and to further optimisation of the construct validity of the tool. The framework is now used for impact evaluation of all internal and external counselling services at Slovak employment services.