ERIC Number: ED193494
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1980-Mar
Pages: 134
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Extent and Nature of Vocational Change among College Graduates: 1964-65 to 1977.
Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia. Human Resources Center.
A study of 5,085 University of Pennsylvania 1964-65 graduates twelve to thirteen years after graduation showed that many individuals have the capacity to move across occupational boundaries and have done so. Graduates were from twenty-three different schools not including medical, law, dental, and veterinary students. Four instruments were developed: a pilot questionnaire to test the basic Job Change Questionnaire, a short form for "non-respondents," and the Radical Change Questionnaire used for supplementary followup with selected individuals. Findings showed that some moves have been reactions to advantageous career opportunities which arose; others were for self-actualization. The study also showed that the concept of expected "career track" for a given educational program is too narrow. Many different types of careers can stem from a given education or initial work experience. The critical factor appears to be the interplay of the individual personality with education, occupational experiences, and industrial and physical work milieu over time. Evidence produced by the study indicates that the multi-track career is more prevalent than indicated in the literature and that the majority of graduates who have made radical shifts in their occupations do not regard this as aberrant behavior, citing continuities between the occupations they left and those they entered. (KC)
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia. Human Resources Center.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A