Developing Employability Capital in University Students: A Practical Guide

This comprehensive guide introduces and operationalises the Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM), offering an innovative tool for career development practitioners and academics to prepare university students for a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous labour market.

By adopting a holistic view of graduate employability complemented by Sustainable Career Ecosystem Theory, this book offers interdisciplinary insights from applied psychology, career development, higher education, human resource management, and sociology. The book is divided into four parts:

• Part I begins with the theoretical foundations of a sustainable career ecosystem and the development of the ECGM.
• Part II offers an in-depth exploration of the ECGM, incorporating nine forms of capital, contextual and temporal factors, and personal outcomes.
• Part III presents a 10-step guide to using the ECGM with university students, informed by 19 cases from 26 career development practitioners and academics from across 16 countries and 6 continents.
• Part IV encourages readers to consider the implications for other actors within a sustainable career ecosystem and concludes with a summary of the key takeaways for each chapter.

Whether used in one-to-one sessions, group workshops, or as part of university curricula, this book makes the ECGM accessible and easily applicable for anyone seeking innovative strategies to support university students in achieving sustainable and fulfilling careers.

William E. Donald is Associate Professor of Sustainable Careers and Human Resource Management at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, UK. He is also the founder of Donald Research & Consulting (Est. 2022).