Give Me Your Hand

"Give Me Your Hand" is a project of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), funded by the Movetia Foundation. The project involves the development and implementation of a career intervention to support graduates in their transition from university to working life.

We draw on the theoretical framework of Savickas' career construction approach and involve stakeholders from various stakeholder groups, such as students, career counsellors and HR managers. The intervention is used at universities in Switzerland and abroad and is supported by digital elements developed in collaboration with Department of Computer Science of HSLU.

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Project

Challenges

  • University-to-work-transition
  • Ambiguity
  • Uncertainty
  • Doubt
  • Limited support services
  • Higher risk of mental health impairment due to challenging situation
  • Risk of persistent unemployment

Intervention Programme

  • Based on Savickas' Career Construction / Life Design approach
  • Empowerment to take responsibility actively & autonomously
  • Enabling successful transition from university to work through career adaptability
  • Stakeholder network (students, alumni, career advisors, HR professionals)
  • Exercises & group discussions
  • Starts few months before graduation & ends few months after graduation
  • Online sessions

Benefits

  • Individual self-reflection
  • Development of own narrative
  • Exchange with (international) peers
  • Feedback from peers
  • Insight into international culture & labour market
  • Expansion of cultural skills
  • Autonomous participation
  • Support beyond graduation

Sources

  • Haase, C. M., Heckhausen, J., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2012). The interplay of occupational motivation and well-being during the transition from university to work. Developmental Psychology, 48(6), 1739-1751. https://doi.org/10.1037/A0026641
  • Hirschi, A., & Valero, D. (2015). Career adaptability profiles and their relationship to adaptivity and adapting. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 88, 220-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2015.03.010
  • Johnston, C. S. (2018). A systematic review of the career adaptability literature and future outlook. Journal of Career Assessment, 26(1), 3-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072716679921
  • Koen, J., Klehe, U.-C., & Van Vianen, A. E. M. (2012). Training career adaptability to facilitate a successful school-to-work transition. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81(3), 395-408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2012.10.003
  • Nurmi, J. E., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2002). Goal construction, reconstruction and depressive symptoms in a life-span context: The transition from school to work. Journal of Personality, 70(3), 385-420. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911011058343
  • Robinson, O. C. (2019). A longitudinal mixed-methods case study of quarter-life crisis during the post-university tran-sition: Locked-out and locked-in forms in combination. Emerging Adulthood, 7(3), 167-179. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696818764144
  • Savickas, M. L., & Porfeli, E. J. (2012). Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(3), 661-673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.011
  • Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.-P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck, R., & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3), 239-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004
  • Schoon, I., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2009). Conceptualizing school-to-work transitions in context. In I. Schoon & R. K. Silbereisen (Hrsg.), Transitions from school to work: Globalization, individualization, and patterns of diversity (S. 3-29). Cambridge.

Team

Our Team at the HSLU

Prof. Dr. Verena Batt

Prof. Dr. Verena Batt
Lecturer & Deputy Head of the Competence Centre in Service & Operations Management

Verena is a marketing professional and teaches various courses in marketing, statistics, and strategy in the Business Administration and Business Psychology programmes. In parallel, she is active in research in the fields of services marketing and management.

Prof. Dr. Domingo Valero

Prof. Dr. Domingo Valero
Lecturer & Associate at the Competence Centre for Business Development, Leadership and HR

Domingo is a psychologist and lecturer. He teaches statistics and psychology courses in the Business Administration and Business Psychology programmes. He also engages in research, predominantly on psychology related topics.

Zorica Dragic

Zorica Dragic
Master Assistant & Associate at the Competence Centre for Business Development, Leadership and HR

Zorica is a Master's student in Business Administration with a specialization in People Management & Organisation at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. In addition, she engages in research in different fields in her role as master assistant.

Partner

Partner Universities

The project team in Lucerne is collaborating with professionals from five other universities on three different continents who will respectively implement the intervention programme at their universities.

University of Lausanne, Switzerland (https://www.unil.ch/central/en/home.html)

Kozminski University, Poland (https://www.kozminski.edu.pl/en)

University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business, Croatia (https://www.unizg.hr/homepage)

Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay (https://udelar.edu.uy)

African Leadership University (ALU), Mauritius/Rwanda (https://www.alueducation.com)

Timeline

Project Timeline

The work on the project has started in September 2023. So far, a stakeholder network has been established and extensive desk research has been conducted. Based on this, the intervention has been outlined and will continuously be updated where necessary. Simultaneously, the recruiting has started as well and is still ongoing. In April 2024, the first interventions will take place. The pilot project is set to be terminated in August 2025 with the intention to incorporate it as a permanent programme into the offer of HSLU.

Project Timeline

Interventions

The intervention programme consists of five coaching sessions over a time period of approx. half a year. The first session is held in plenum at the HSLU facilities, while the next four sessions will be conducted online. Each session will last two hours.

1. Session (on site)

  • Organization/administration
  • Psychoeducation
  • Building commitment

2. Session

  • Personal characteristics
  • Personal values
  • Personal needs
  • Life themes

3. Session

  • Vocational interests
  • Identifying suitable work environments

4. Session

  • Concrete implementation plan
  • Completion of personal ID-card (= personal guide)

5. Session

  • Updating ID-card
  • Questions/concerns