THE DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED EMPLOYMENT SELF-CONFIDENCE AND PERCEIVED EMPLOYMENT CHALLENGES - A POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO YOUTH CAREER COUNSELLING

Abstract

This paper is focused on analyzing youth perception on employment self-confidence, in order to best anticipate their behaviour and action pattern related to perceived employment challenges. The main purpose of current study is to analyze the dynamic relationship between perceived employment self-confidence and perceived employment challenges in career counselling of 432 last year students and young graduates from 4 European countries. The dynamic relationship identified, demonstrates that extreme scores (low and high) on perceived employment self-confidence hamper perceived employment challenges, making clients much more vulnerable in the face of future professional uncertainties, creating a vicious circle which outputs reflect an active/passive professional opportunities searching behaviour pattern. In the end, this inconsistent behaviour will only damage clients perceived employment self-confidence. Meanwhile, balanced perceived employment self-confidence will trigger healthy perceived employment challenges, engaging youth clients in a positive search behaviour quest for professional opportunities.