Purpose: Our work adds to the debate regarding higher education graduates' skills required in the labour market in Germany and beyond. Design/methodology/approach: Using Q-methodology and the accompanying narrations, we explore German employers' and employees' views (N = 26) on characteristics required at the entry level. Findings: Our findings…

Purpose: This study illuminates the assumption that internships facilitate labor market entry and answers the question of why internships have a positive effect on students' self-perceived employability. It is assumed that internships enable more positive employability perceptions by reducing career-entry worries -- the worries of not finding a…

Introduction: Examining the connection between vocational training and the world of work, nowadays it is essential to mention the "gap", which keeps on growing, between training and the economy due to the quick technological changes. Purpose: The purpose of the research is scientific investigation of the demand process of competency…

It was investigated how domain-specific knowledge, fluid intelligence, vocational interest and work-related self-efficacy predicted domain-specific problem-solving performance in the field of office work. The participants included 100 German VET (vocational education and training) students nearing the end of a 3-year apprenticeship program as an…

Responses from 108 Australian, 50 U.S., 39 German, 28 Thai, and 16 Hong Kong human-resource managers examined their views of the hiring process. Differences among the countries appeared in the importance of certain resume and cover-letter components, the preferred length of resumes, and the amount of time spent reading resumes and cover letters.…

As a result of the "risk society" (in which career and adult transitions are less orderly and predictable), young people have adopted various transition behaviors--strategic, step-by-step, taking chances, and wait-and-see--as they follow different paths: higher education, training for skilled or semiskilled occupations, unskilled…

German Socio-Economic Panel data (1984-90) were used to compare employment experience of apprenticeship graduates to that of university, vocational school, and secondary school graduates. Apprentices had fewer unemployment spells in transition to first employment; 70% left their training firm in the first 5 years. Results support the view that…

Among 320 young adults in matched German and English labor markets, long-term occupational goals and the behaviors used to achieve them depended not only on past socialization in family and school but also on identity formation related to experiences during transition to employment. Five career patterns are described and linked to transitional…

In eastern Germany, reunification involved economic and political transformations that have resulted in new education, training, and employment structures. A study of young adults in Leipzig and their transition to employment focused on how the interplay between institutional structures and individual actions produced career outcomes. Similarities…

Two pilot projects on environmental profiles in the chemical and metal industries and in the public sector were conducted in four countries. Two aspects were studied: job requirements in selected enterprises and departments of the civil service and the occupational competencies of the staff carrying out these tasks. Studies on the chemical and…

Two alternative paradigms can be identified in the concepts and programs of training and employment policy in Europe. One approach focuses on developing a secure status for young people beginning their working life. An alternative approach concentrates more on strengthening individual responsibility to empower individuals to find their own way in…

The dual job training system in Germany is an essential market parameter of the country's economy and a part of the country's growth policy. By improving human capital (by providing training in high-tech sectors) it will also help safeguard Germany's future as a major industrial nation. Training primarily takes place in handicraft and industrial…

The question of whether the term "intermediate skills" has a distinctive meaning across business and industry in the United Kingdom and in its major competitors was examined. The study focused on the following sectors: housing construction; broadcasting; the care sector; the exercise, health, and fitness sector; and engineering (high…

This book examines the transition from higher education to the labor market in 10 countries. Although the individual papers do not follow a rigid standard format, they all consider the following issues: (1) how the labor market for graduates is organized; (2) how vocational orientation is achieved in degree courses in individual countries; and (3)…

The education-to-labor market transitions experienced by young people in England and in eastern and western Germany were compared. The eastern German portion of the study was based on a 1996 study that included a survey of 100 trainers and 1,000 apprentices in 12 companies; in-depth interviews with 18 trainers, career advisers, and others; and…